Measurement Guide

For custom orders many measurements are needed. Ideally it would be best to have a body mold. Notify me if you would like to come to my shop to have a body mold made. For those living outside California you can do a Google search for "life casting" or "body molds" to see if you can find a professional in your area. If you feel adventurous and have some friends on hand you can try making your own body cast. Here are links to a few excellent guides on body casting.

 http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/bodycast/index.html

http://www.bioweapons.com/materials.htm

Check out their main pages too. They have some pretty cool Stormtrooper and Anime armours.

After a body cast is made and sent to me I can make a steel armature to place in the mold then cast a foam mannequin. This will serve to insure excellent fit of the armour as I make it and later can be placed on a wood base for a display stand. The materials needed to make a positive can be expensive and only serves that individual customer so I treat the stand as a separate order which needs payment in full up front.

The style of armour you are ordering will determine the importance of a body cast. In general, measurements will suffice for historical designs prior to 1425. Custom armour based on pieces after 1425 will be best fit if I have a body cast of you. If late 15th century and newer style joust armour (with exchange pieces) is ordered I will need to have either multiple fittings in person or a body mold to insure the armour will fit properly. These are not absolutely necessary but really do help.

On custom finger gauntlet and greave orders I really prefer to have a positive casting of one hand and one from the knee down. These can be done by yourself fairly easily using alginate and plaster readily found at art supply shops.

Please specify if the measurements were taken with our without padding I.E. a Gambeson.

A - Weight... Be honest now :)
B - Height
C - Circumference around brow
D - Around neck
E - From shoulder peak to shoulder peak across the back
F - Chest
G - Waist measurement, above the hips
H - Lower waist measuring over the hips
I - Upper thigh
J - Knee
K - Around the largest area of the calf
L - Narrowest area of the ankle
M - Wrist
N - Forearm
O - Distance between the inside of the shoulders when your arms are outstretched with your hands touching
P - Straight measurement from the chin to the top of  the head.
Q - Straight measurement Chin to eyes.
R - Shoulder to shoulder across the front
S - Point of the shoulder to the ulna protrusion with arm relaxed at your side (not bent as pictured)
T - Length between the point of the shoulder to the elbow
U - Top of the sternum to the waistline (just above the hips)
V - Bicep circumference
W - Elbow to ulna protrusion
X - Arm pit to hip protrusion
Y - Hip bone protrusion to floor
Z - Bottom of the knee to floor
AA - Hip bone protrusion to bottom of the knee
AB - Inseam
AC - Shoe size

Hands - Either a plaster positive from an alginate mold or send a pair of well fitting leather gloves. Any gloves you send may end up being cut apart for patterns so please don't spend a lot of money on them. Walmart and most hardware stores sell decent thin pigskin gloves for $9 to $15 that can serve well as patterns for custom sewn gauntlet liners.

Pictures can help me determine posture and I always welcome "mug shot" style photos from the front, side and back.

Greaves are very hard to form and fit properly. They may seem rather simple at first glance but they have many opposing curves that take some persuasion to get them to conform for a comfortable fit. any additional information you can provide when ordering greaves such as type of footwear you use will be helpful.