Hello all

I have made an armour stand which is basically a large cross with a stand to keep it upright . Hanging my mail and helmet was no problem but I am not sure how could I put my plate arms and gauntlets so they stay in place and look good. Ideally I would like to place a standing sword between both gauntlets in the very standard armour pose.

The armour is a bit of a mix match of pieces: mail with elbow length sleeves, a sugarloaf helmet, no cuirass, plate arms which I lace to the mail when fighting (no pauldrons), gauntlets and leg pieces which I hold using a wide belt, no greaves. All of it covered with a surcoat

Any ideas will be welcome, the only thing I can come up with is tying a rope from one “shoulder” of the stand to the other and hang arms and gauntlets from there as if they were beads but you can imagine how that would look

Thank you

Could you link poiints through the mail and tie the armor pieces in that way?

Bye the way, something that I have found that makes a cool armour stand is a dressmakers dummy. Not that I would have bought one if I had not found one unused in our basement...

Gordon

put an arming jacket under it and shave the cross to fit the arms? just my .01 cent

Thanks for the feedback

I guess I could set the armour the way it is when I wear it, but I feel that way all the free weight of arms and gauntlets will be in the straps and belts without a body under them to hold it. The idea of the dummy is good, thanks

Yeah, I just use my arming jacket, works fine. To get my sword to stand in the middle with the gauntlets on it, I had to run a length of twine from the gauntlet to the inside of the elbow cop and cinch it up tight to get the arms in the bent position, otherwise they were just sliding off the cross guard of the sword. Especially in the middle of the night to scare the hell out of me :eek:

I'd second the idea of using an arming garment beneath, but I think it'll need a rigid form within. Here's one idea for that--

long poplar 1.25" dowel
heavy hemp twine
2 Steel rings large enough to slide over pommel or quillons of your sword

Cut a section of dowel to match the length of your upper arm, another to match your lower arm. Drill through each piece about .25" from each end. Use the twine to join the pieces at the elbow. Use another piece of twine to make a hand from one steel ring. Drill through the end of the stand's shoulder and attach the arm there with another piece of twine. Repeat on the other side.

The theoretical advantage of this (I've never tried it) would be a natural bend to the arms at at least something solid in the garment to carry the weight of the arms. The rings will secure the hands on the sword, and the gauntlets should rest in a relatively natural manner.

If you wanted a more natural look, you could wrap the dowels in foam to the desired dimensions.

Just a thought....