Laminar - Tumblr Posts
Tropical Pool Example of a mid-sized island style backyard stone and custom-shaped hot tub design
This leather torso armor has been my Big Project for the week while my normal-job boss is out of town. I made it to go with the robot/drone dragon mask I made earlier (which I still need to make a final post about, ugh).
The mask I designed digitally, but this one was done entirely by hand. I’d had this duct tape dummy torso haunting my room since March (when I didn’t actually need to cut it up for my Magic Meat March costume), so I used it to make the pattern to ensure a good fit to my body.
This project took approximately 30 hours of work from sketch to completion. I made good time, and got photos of basically the whole process, so click the images for commentary if you want to follow along. I’d been aiming to have it done in time for Halloween, though I got some extra time because my local harass-the-townsfolk-in-costume group postponed our outing for a day due to rain.
I was really happy to finally get to make a big armor piece like this. I’ve honestly been intimidated for years by the idea of making a breastplate, and was holding off until I’d built up confidence and skills on smaller pieces. And I think that paid off. While designing this project, I was able to foresee and deal with basically all the issues that would come up (mostly assembly issues of how pieces would fit together). And it meant that when it came time to assemble everything, I actually didn’t run into any problems. The final assembly came together flawlessly.
The design does have a bit of a quirk. I decided to prioritize the aesthetic over functionality a bit--I really wanted to maintain the bands of leather unbroken over the whole piece, so I put the closure in the back with corset-style laces instead of the more practical buckles-at-the-side option. Which means you have to undo the laces super wide and wriggle it over your head, and the shoulders really don’t want to let your arms through. It’s a bit awkward, to put it lightly. But honestly, for a personal project, that’s fine.
For now I think this project will stay mine. It’s very specifically fitted, and I don’t yet know how I’d make it to fit other people. It’s basically fitted like a whole-torso corset. But I’ll be mulling over more modular and adjustable armor design ideas.
Drone dragon visor and armor.
This breastplate was the big personal project I got finished up before last Halloween, but in the rush of prep for conventions in Jan-Feb I forgot to post it.
I had a lot of fun building it. I designed and pulled the pattern off of a duct tape dummy of myself, so it fits me very specifically. (Process shots here.) With the rigidity of the leather and the fit of the design, it basically acts like a corset.
Other photos of the visor can be found here, and it’s up for sale on my Etsy (either this one or custom colors), but the torso will stay a personal piece. I don’t currently have the torso forms that would be necessary to make stuff that is quite this carefully fitted. I still do want to try to work out a reasonable corset design though.
Rustic Pool
Hot tub - large rustic backyard stone and rectangular infinity hot tub idea
Phoenix Water Slide Pool Water slide - huge contemporary backyard tile and custom-shaped lap water slide idea
Pool Tampa Hot tub - mid-sized tropical backyard stone and custom-shaped hot tub idea