Day 9 - New Armor Sample

It's been a while since my last post, but I've spent that time designing how to do the muscle armor, and I think I've found a good balance of color, thickness, texture, and comfort. I threw together this sample tonight to see what one of the chest pieces might look like. Looks pretty promising so far. I cut 1/4" thick strips of white EVA foam (craft foam) and stuffed them into the braided sleeving. Then I sealed them tight inside by using a craft hot knife (basically a soldering iron with special tips) to cut/melt the ends. I temporarily laid them out on a 3" wide strip of tape on the back, then put two strips on the front to secure it to my t-shirt. I originally intended on using black foam, but as chance had it, there was a foam and fabric store (mostly for furniture) that only had white. I went for it just so I could get a sample of 1/4" thick foam. That thickness was tough to find in the craft stores in my area. They only carried the 2mm thicknesses, not 6mm. Anyways, long story short, the white worked to my benefit, because it added a sense of depth and texture to the braiding. It was no longer black on black. If you looked at it straight on, you could see the white mixing with the black to produce a fairly accurate gray color from a distance. Up close you can see the white a little better (still looks good up close). And at an angle, the white foam gets completely hidden underneath, revealing a solid shiny black.

I think I'll use a similar effect for the helmet, except use 2mm thick sheets instead so it doesn't get too big. The helmet is already a little on the large side. Don't want Nomad to end up with a giant head. :)