Hi everyone
today we show off our latest project. This thick garment will serve as base for a scale mail armor.
the lucky owner posing with his new outfit
It looks a bit like a gambeson with an altered pattern. And I admit it`s a bit speculative because we have no archaeological finds for garments on which the scales were sewn. All we have are several murals from Bulgaria and the Balkan region.
The armor our friend Stefan is planning on recreating is from the period of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom – between 12-14 th. centuries. The garment you see is made of linen and thick wool. It`s not as thick as a gambeson, but it`s strong enough to carry the weight of the scales and thick enough to minimize the damage from a full strength sword blow. The pattern is based on pictorial sources from the bulgarian church Boyana(13. cent.) as well as murals from the serbian church in Nerezi and the greek church in Kastoria.
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- Boyana church mural, Bulgaria
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- Warrior saint from Nerezi Serbia
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- Detail on sleeve slit
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- Again Kastoria, Greece
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- Kastoria, Greece
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- Scale armored warrior saint from Kastoria, Greece
This is Stefan`s second scale armor project. His first work was a great success – he reconstructed a lamellar armor from the same period and location and had more then one chance to test the mobility, weight and protection qualities of his work. We are all proud to say the results were excellent. It provides very good protection while keeping you mobile and not weighting too much. Needless to say, we will be monitoring his work with great interest and keep you posted on his progress. 🙂
A photo from our latest battle, with our friends from Chigot – medieval reenactments. Notice the lamellar armor on the left 😛