2/3 armor covering

[Ricket]

Does anyone think it would be especially cheesy to make a suit of chainmaille containing 1/3 rubber o-rings (so that it could stretch over the female body)? The rubber would make it significantly lighter in addition to the fact that the weight would disperse more evenly as it would sit on all the parts of the torso instead of just the shoulders. I am thinking of making a really artsy-looking one to put in my portfolio and eventually sell, but I would also make it legal for fighting because, hey, why not? In order for it to actually stretch, though, I think it'd have push the limits on the 2/3 covering rule. Also, has anyone ever done this? Any unanticipated pitfalls?

[debuenzo]

is rubber a period material?

[Lister]

debuenzo has a point about the period materials. This won't save any weight but here are a couple walkthroughs to make the circles (cups) to properly cover the female areas mentioned.

http://mailleartisans.org/articles/articledisplay.cgi?key=302
http://mailleartisans.org/articles/articledisplay.cgi?key=355

[Syrus]

I'd also say right off the bat, that you'd have problems with o-rings blowing out in combat. Galvanized rubber really isn't that strong until there's a sizable quantity.

[Faolan]

If you want the chain to "strech over a female body" Why not make real chain and just put lacing up the back? So there really is no streching involved.

[Chicken]

Aside from the issue of making it fighting legal, I'm not sure that the concept would work in the first place, I'm afraid. Stretchy clothing works by being (at rest) smaller than the person who's wearing it. The stretchiness allows it to fit, while keeping it as close to the person's form as possible (since the stretchy material doesn't want to be stretched).

Chain stretches differently. If you lay it out as flat sheets, chain starts larger than the person it covers. The weight of the chain then causes it to pull together as much as it can, thus making it form fitting (to a greater or lesser extent). That is, rubber stretches out and chain stretches in.

Rubber rings would only actually stretch (horizontally) if the shirt wouldn't go around otherwise (or because the metal chain is stretching in harder). As a result, I don't think it would really do much unless the shirt were very carefully tailored, since the rubber parts would have to be smaller than the wearer while the metal parts would have to be larger. Since the two would be woven together, it'd be rather tricky to say the least.

It seems like you might have better luck blending together different directions and weaves of chain with different stretching profiles to tailor the shape and weight load more attractively. You might want to check out the forums on the ring lord if you haven't already, there are a lot of people there with lots of experience with "costume" chain that might be relevant, as well as information on dozens of specialized weaves.

Not that any shaping or odd stretching is always necessary in any case. Because chain stretches so strangely it seems much more dependant on shape than, say, spandex, but on the right women plain 'ol 16ga 4-in-1 is * hot... .

Good luck, anyway. Hope that makes any sense at all.

[Kegg]

Ricket, whether it actually can be built or not it probably would be legal according to the current wording of the rules. I have seen chain mail with half of the rings replaced by aluminum rings pass. The surface is almost 100% period material. Just the connecting material is alumimium.

The reason it was passed was that we allow stuff like aluminum pop rivets to hold stuff together. So why not aluminum rings. It's cheesy, but not currently outlawed. I dont see why rubber rings would be different.