New (Work In Progress) Vest

[Skytroque]

Finally deciding to post a Work-in Progress/WIP of my top I'm making. My sewing skills couldn't be worse if I tried (ok maybe a little but not much) and go with the one medium that is familiar: Maille. Estimated total: 1900 scales, 3800 aluminum rings, total weight ~6.5 lbs when done by combining the mirror polish aluminum and engineered plastic. I picked up 1600 plastic, 600 aluminum scales just in case, and then 4200 rings to have extra..maybe bracers when I'm done. I plan to use acrylic spikes mounted along the spike for a little extra personality to it.

http://mernetwork.com/index/attachment.php?attachmentid=28624&d=1427655901

Just the materials. I currently have about 24 scales woven together, so...1.2% done...updated picture will follow when I have something to actually show more than just "Hey I'm starting"

[NerineArcticMermaid]

Nice! Wish I knew how to do that!

[MarkF]

Get comfortable in front of the TV. Your not going to use any backing, just rings?

[Skytroque]

My timeline for this is end of may..2 months shouldn't be bad. And no backing at present - I've never personally had an issue with scale pinching, chain maille, but not scale. As stated, I really can't sew, but if worse comes to worse I can always wear something else under it.

[Skytroque]

aaaand progress! Not terribly far (about 160 scales) but it's coming along...the mirror polish aren't joking.
http://mernetwork.com/index/attachment.php?attachmentid=28924&d=1428729008

[MarkF]

That is going to look way cool!

[Rett]

Looking great so far!

[Keiris]

WoW! Can't wait to see it Skytroque! You can swim in all that metal and it doesn't tarnish?

[MarkF]

Ok Skytroque, looking for an update.
See what happens you put it on the forum and now we are interested.

[Skytroque]

I haven't made much progress as I was traveling over this last week. I'll get more work on it soon though. Though as for tarnishing: it's inevitable in the long run, but with properly rinsing off and cleaning the metal parts (Plastic ones won't really tarnish but still need to be cared for) it'll last a long time.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Ooo! Nice one Sky! Fins crossed the metal links won't pinch you...

[Skytroque]

Here's progress...slow and steady to win the race and not give myself carpal tunnel. the smaller piece will be for the back and eventually work as a dorsal covering sort of. It's hard to see in this pic but there's a silver 'spike' between two of the black scales on the small piece that I'll make go all the way to the end of the vest every 2-3 scales.
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[OceanWhisper]

this is looking great!

[Ilyena]

Looks awesome so far.

I'm always impressed with people who do chain/scale mail. My fingers hurt just looking at it >_<

[Merman Jamie]

Looking awesome so far. Cant wait to see the finished product

[Skytroque]

I'M NOT DEAD YET! Just been busy...This is the spinal column complete with spines. I have a month and a half to do this before dragoncon... /runs in circle panicking.

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[Mermaid Jaffa]

Hurry up! We wanna see the completed thing! Quit wallowing in the shallows!

[Skytroque]

Aaaand progress on the front!
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[Mermaid Kate Silverfin]

So gorgeous! You've done an amazing job! I've done a bit of chain maille before, but never a project this big!

[Keiris]

It looks FANTASTIC!

[Celaeno]

That looks amazing! I've seen people do similar garments by knitting the scales into place, which I think would be more comfortable/flexible to wear than scale mail, but still very time consuming.

[Mermaid Kate Silverfin]

Ooh Celaeno, I've seen that too and it looks awesome. The only problem that would occur is with so many scales the knit may stretch over time, and would stretch super quickly if it gets wet. It might be good for a dry top though!

[Celaeno]

I think it would definitely work better as a dry top, but you could ameliorate the stretch issue by using certain sock yarns that have synthetic elastic fibers in them, if you really really wanted a swimmable top.

[Skytroque]

Finished top to debut at Dragon*CON! -pictures will come when I'm not running around panicking-