Gallery - Ironskin

Circassian Armor worn in 1908 This picture was ta

Circassian Armor worn in 1908

This picture was taken during a charity event in 1908 near the city of Krasnodar, one of the most southern parts of today's Russia. Some locals were dressing up in old armor (outdated at the time) to raise money after a devastating flood event.

Interestingly the mail hood in the right picture is hanging very loose, yet there are two hooks on each side of the face opening. I assume they are intended for closing the hood around the chin.

Pictures originally posted by estcrh on vikingsword_com.

14th-century men at arms on the silver altar from

14th-century men at arms on the silver altar from Pistoia, Italy

Mail armor was not replaced by plate armor, but rather supplemented. With that, it is more difficult to learn something about it from period artwork because it is often hidden. These figures are a welcome exception.

The man-at-arms to the right is wearing a mail shirt with a breast-place and guard pieces for arms, shoulders, and elbow. Both persons have a bascinet-type helmet with integrated mail aventail.

The altar was created between 1361 and 1371. Pictures by Enza Bruscolini on pinterest.

Rudolf II - painted with fancy mail sleeves This

Rudolf II - painted with fancy mail sleeves

This fashionably Habsburgian nobleman became Holy Roman Emperor in the year 1576. You see him in jousting cuirass. Note the brass lance rest near the left armpit.

Underneath he is wearing very fine mail sleeves with brass hems. The tiny rings look like 5mm to me. In this size, the mail behaves a lot like fabric. The artist found a very good way to represent that.

I imagine that one would even be able to see the mail tailoring seams on the original oil painting. Only the resolution here is too limited.

Which element of his style would you adopt?

Painting by Martino Rota (1520-1583). Found on commons_wikimedia_org - uploaded from dorotheum_com.

Haubergeon about 15th century This 11.4kg hauberg

Haubergeon about 15th century

This 11.4kg haubergeon has a lot to tell. Firstly the rings are a mixture of riveted and solid rings. Of which the solid rings look like they were made by drifting - not punching.

You can see that there is a circular collar around the neck. It is split down to the chest with overlapping sides. On both sides you still find massive rivets, that must once have held leather buckles to close the gap.

There are also some tailoring features to observe: The short sleeves are tapering in a line starting from below the armpit. Furthermore there are triangles inserted around the shoulders that reach until the front. They give additional mobility. And there is a skirt-like expansion at the front from the hips down.

I find it remarkable that a short-sleeved haubergeon has these tailoring features. This is much more necessary on long-sleeved mail garments. Perhaps it used to be long-sleeved once.

This is object NG-NM-3890 from the online collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Thank you @niallstev for showing this to me!

Bascinets with suspended nasal parts: Likely you

Bascinets with suspended nasal parts:

Likely you see the chin and you intuitively think: Does this part connect to the top? Yes, it does. This part is called bretache. And this style was widespread around Germany and Italy from 1340 to the 1370s. There were mail and plate versions of the bretache.

The helmet usually is a bascinet type. The nasal part was folded up from the aventail at the chin and hooked to the helmet. Such helmets could be worn under a great helmet for fighting on horseback with a lance. The great helmet would be taken off before close-combat for more vision and better breathing - leaving the fighter protected by the bascinet with attached mail-part (aventail).

What do you think about the cross-shaped-clasp? Does it work like a hook or does it fit perfectly and rely on friction?

Sources: To the left: Relief from the Doge's Palace in Venice, Italy. Dated 1350-1370. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto via commons_wikimedia. Top right: Effigy of Berthold V von Zahringen from the city museum of Freiburg, Germany. Dated 1354. Picture by themcs_org. Bottom right: Painting from Klosterneuburg, Austria. Dated 1335-1340. Picture by Institut für Realienkunde. imareal_sbg_ac_at

Mail Cape - Museum Piece and Period Print Here is

Mail Cape - Museum Piece and Period Print

Here is the mail cape from the Art Institute of Chicago. It must likely have been made in Germany between the years 1520 and 1570. The horseman is from 1578. He was carved into wood and then printed onto paper.

The cape is expanding downwards with built-in wedge shapes. They start at shoulder height at the side, and at mid-chest in the front. The neck has a more dense weave. Yet these rings are still linked in 4in1-pattern as the rest of the piece. They are just smaller and relatively speaking stronger in their crosssection. All rings are riveted - as far as we can judge by the picture.

There is a thin hem of brass rings at the top and a broad one at the bottom. It seems as if two lines of this hem have been cut out. It could also be there was a wedge of mail inserted to the front that had fewer lines of brass rings, to begin with.

Pictures: Top right: From the book "Kunst- und Lehrbüchlein" by J. Amman, 1578, now held by the library "Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel", Museum Nr. 23.2.1 Geom. (140). All other pictures: Art Institute of Chicago: Reference Nr 1982.3029.

Mail-shirt with buckles, 3rd century AD This mail

Mail-shirt with buckles, 3rd century AD

This mail-shirt is intriguing because it is from Roman times, but from outside the realm of the empire. It was found in a swamp called Thorsberg Moor in northern Germany. Local Germanic tribes had allegedly deposited war booty and other treasures there as a sacrifice to their gods.

The rings are riveted and solid. And the solid rings look perfectly roundish. They could have ben fire welded from wire.

Pictures by Toni Kästner alias @bainagraftu taken in the Gottorf museum. Thank you for showing this to us!

Mail-bevor from the Churburg armories, about 1480

Mail-bevor from the Churburg armories, about 1480

A bevor is a type of protection mainly for the throat and surrounding areas. Alongside the seemingly more popular plate-bevor, few mail-bevors existed. And I only know of five pieces that have been preserved until today. One of them is the mail-bevor inside the private armories of the family Trapp inside Churburg castle in southern Tirol, northern Italy.

The mail-bevor is likely from 1480, southern Germany. It has a beautiful dense weave around the neck and a well-shaped chin. It must have reached below the nose. The top has a hem with one line of tiny riveted rings. They serve the purpose of pulling the hem tight. The mail must have been suspended from the top.

On the right side of the wearer, there is a gap in the mail to open it. It is not surprising to find it on the right side, which is typically less exposed during fighting.

Pictures by Ironskin. Discover more about the castle here: @churburg_castelcoira

Multicultural Mail Shirt: European and/or Oriental

Multicultural Mail Shirt: European and/or Oriental?

At first glance this mail shirt which is kindly shown to us by @monster_fish_taxidermy looks like many others from the 15th-century. The top part and the majority of rings make me think of an origin in central Europe - likely the city of Nuremberg, Germany. Yet it is expanding far down below the hips with slits for horse riding. The lower part is made with different rings. And this addition looks somewhat Ottoman from what I've seen. Was is made in the Occident and modified in the Orient?

Now we don't have a story of provenience to backtrace the origin. Yet we can learn more by looking at the armor: Generally, I have the impression that this is not very posh, but rather a cost-effective armor. The rings look super well made and safe, but unlike comparable pieces, it is lacking the extra bling and features such as brass rings, super-dense rings around the collar, and shoulder tailoring. Perhaps it was produced for storage or for export. The short sleeves seem to have been intended at the time when it was manufactured.

What else? The way the armpits are tailored with a 90° seam reminds me of other European mail shirts. It is done very professionally. Many Oriental mail shirts of the time are tailored with inserted triangles, equally elegant and elaborate.

The front is open with an overlapping gap. There is a band of smaller rings that look like a later addition. @nicholaschecksfields is extremely competent pointing that out. And If I quote him correctly these rings look like 16th-century. That band could have been added because the wearer found it uncomfortable to have the enclosure system (buckle or hook) sitting in front of his neck/chest. Maybe it interfered with his other armor parts. With the added bands the buckle could have been shifted to the side of the neck.

The armor was cleaned and restored by Jeroen from @monster_fish_taxidermy with help from @marijevanstraalen. It is now in his private collection. Thank you, Jeroen for making these pictures available to us.

Jeroen and I are curious about your opinion. What do you think when you look at this mail shirt? Was I speculating too much?

Chainmail find from the ground This rusty lump of

Chainmail find from the ground

This rusty lump of almost 18kg iron and copper rings was found in Sumy Oblast, northern Ukraine.

The rings are riveted/solid of approximately 8mm inner diameter. The copper rings have been preserved quite well. They can even be moved. And they apparently have positively impacted their iron counterparts, which are clumped together.

The copper alloy rings seem to form a grid pattern across the sheet. That is remarkable. Most of the time copper-based rings are placed near the edges of a shirt. The center is reserved for the more sturdy iron-based rings.

What time is it from? I have no idea. My best bet is on the early middle ages though. What do you think?

This is a good opportunity to suggest to you @kolchugnoekrugevo He is frequently sharing pictures of mail armor, especially eastern ones.

Pictures uploaded by AnnaGastello on violity forum. https://forum.violity.com/viewtopic.php?t=1957876

Some call it Orc Armor... ...others call it a wor

Some call it Orc Armor...

...others call it a work accident. This is a shirt that we freed from rings with loose rivets. We typically do this to improve the quality. Just this time we didn't fill it up with new rings but decided to keep it as it is. Doesn't it look wild? I imagine a tall, brutal and raw creature wearing this on a hunt for human flesh.

This Orc Armor is looking for a new owner. The rings are 9mm riveted and solid. Message me if interested.

#orcarmor #orkrüstung #orcarmour #larparmour #fantasychainmail #costumearmor #cosplaycrafting #cosplaychainmail #europeanarmor #islamicarmor #maille #chainmailweaves #chainmailart #cottademalla #larparmor #cosplayarmor #cosplayarmour #orcscale #dwarfarmor #elvisharmor #elvenarmor #chainmail #dungeonsanddragons #fantasyarmor #fantasyarmour #ironskin #cosplay #larp #fantasy #armor

Mail-Armor of Leopold III, Duke of Austria This a

Mail-Armor of Leopold III, Duke of Austria

This armor was supposedly worn by the duke of Austria while he was trying to secure his influence in Switzerland. He died 1386 in the battle of Sempach, fighting against the old Swiss confederacy.

About the seals: First thing that meets the eye is the big brass plate with an Austrian Coat of Arms in red and silver. To the right of it, there is a small brass seal that reveals the origin of the armor. It has the Coat of Arms of the city of Nuremberg with an inscription: "STAT NVRMBERG" (City of Nuremberg).

About the construction:
The mail armor has a slit that reaches from the left armpit all the way down. It facilitates putting on the armor and can be closed with four buckles. Around the neck, there is a 4cm high collar that is manufactured twice as strong. The weight of the mail armor is 9kg. It is 77cm to 82cm high and 158cm wide.

About the rings: The rings are generally riveted & solid iron rings. Yet there but is a patch of riveted only weave in the back. The riveted rings are 4.7mm in inner diameter and 0.5mm strong. The solid rings are 3.8mm in diameter and 1.0 mm strong. Around the wrists, there are cuffs with 30 rows of brass rings. Similar rings are at the bottom hem. These brass rings were once gilded. On the left side, you can see all 30 rows. In the middle of the front, some brass rings are missing.

About the provenance: Inventory lists confirm the history of the armor back until 1629 and with less certainty to 1490. Chronicles say that Leopold III also had left behind a coat of arms. The textile found its way into a Dominican monastery where it was used as a chasuble - a religious clothing - until the monastery burned down in 1575.

The armor is housed at the Historic Museum Luzern, Switzerland. Picture and info from Verein Freunde des Historischen Museums Luzern respectively Josef Brülisauer.

Mail bevor with kettle helmet, mail making tools a

Mail bevor with kettle helmet, mail making tools and other works of @matth_iaszimmermann

You can't imagine how deep my jaw was dropping when I recently saw some works of Matthias Zimmerman. Over the last 25 years, he has tackled a lot of mail projects - mainly for the 15th-century which he is reenacting.

He had the chance to restore a few original pieces from private collectors and with that fellow countryman, Matthias gained an admirable skill-level in making rings. Especially outstanding are the iconic watershed-shapes of late medieval mail. That is where the overlapping area of the ring is forming a little roof around the rivet.

Noteworthy is also his version of a mail bevor. It is attached to the leather lining of the kettle helmet. Independently of Matthias, I and others were doing versions that are worn separately with a textile suspension on top of the head.

If you didn't feel the enthusiasm between the lines yet, I can warmly recommend you to follow @matth_iaszimmermann.

Sophisticated Mail Shirt with wrist slits, 1550 to

Sophisticated Mail Shirt with wrist slits, 1550 to 1575

The later in time, the more sophisticated features can be observed on mail shirts. That might be because of mail tailoring techniques increasing in complexity with time or simply the greater number of extant pieces surviving.

This one here is must have been closed on the backside of the wearer. (We are looking at it from the backside). I am proclaiming that because of the way the sleeves are tailored. There are pockets that billow around the elbow pivots. And there are slits at the outside of the wrists. On other mail shirts like object W2944 in the GNM Nuremberg, these slits point to the back when the sleeves are hanging.

Regarding the rings, the piece is beautifully decorated with copper-alloy rings around all hems. The collar rings are made heavier than the general body rings. And there seems to be a third type of ring which is connecting the two meshes.

Many copper alloy rings are closed with iron rivets. This particularity is also found on German mail shirts from the region Westphalia, where they had neighboring iron- and copper industries. It seems to be less common elsewhere.

The mail shirt is referred to as object 1982.2245 within the collection of the Art Institute Chicago. Pictures by the museum.

Mailshirt with long collar and buckles (1450 to 16

Mailshirt with long collar and buckles (1450 to 1600)

Have you ever thought about how tricky it is to display a historic piece of mail from a museum's perspective? The construction for display is called a figurine. It is difficult to put mail over a rigid construction in the first place.

Furthermore, unlike plate armor, you don't know about the size of the wearer right away. On a wide belly the mail falls deep. On a slim body it falls short. The dimensions of shoulders and upper arms impact the behavior of the sleeves and so on.

About the shirt: This item IE3 of the collection. It has decorative copper alloy rings at the collar hem and the lower hem. The shoulder areas are expanding. The sleeves are tapering with contractions at every fourth ring. The elbow is tailored to be bent by default. The shirt is open under the left armpit and can be closed with buckles. The rings are about 5mmm (estimation) with varying diameter and strength.

This week I had the fortunate occasion to look over the shoulders of curators at the Veste Coburg Collection while they are facing the mentioned challenges. This a topic where rebuilt mail garments can help to supplement the understanding of original pieces regarding their behavior on a human body.

I want to give a huge thank you to the team at Veste Coburg @kusaveste for showing me around - especially to Marcus. This was Christmas and birthday at once for me! Thank you also to everyone reading until here. I will do my very best to share what I saw and learned with you guys following here.

Find vs. Modern Chainmail I didn't even have the

Find vs. Modern Chainmail

I didn't even have the intention to reconstruct this specific piece. Yet recently I had the occasion to photograph one of my handmade meshes next to an original belonging to @antikhd. Both rings are of approximately 4.5 mm inner diameter.

There is no context or other facts known about the original. It can be noted however, that meshes of very small rings were especially common during the Roman period and again in late medieval times. During the latter, they served as extra dense meshes for more vulnerable body parts like the throat and neck.

Thank you, Heiko from @antikhd for dropping by and having a long chainmail nerdtalk with me. Picture by Ironskin.

Laced Mail Coif - face to face: This is the work

Laced Mail Coif - face to face:

This is the work of @haffner.christian from the German reenactment group @die_reisecen. Over the period of three years, he has crafted these 8500 riveted rings by hand and took his time to connect them to an excellently tailored coif.

The relief in the back is from the cathedral of Pamplona, Spain. It can be dated from 1350 to 1360. However, this type of coif is more present during the 13th-century.

If you want to build a laced coif like this yourself, you find a kit with materials and instruction on the ironskin-website. Link in bio.

Mail tailoring explained: You are looking at the

Mail tailoring explained:

You are looking at the back of a mail shirt that I estimate to be from the 15th- to 16th-century. The red and blue lines are there to help you understand the seams. Blue is for rows in the mail pattern. Red is for columns. At each seam, there is one side that is losing rows or columns. It looks like stairs. The other side is smooth. Joined together they expand and contract the weave to have an hourglass-shaped torso or tapering sleeves.

This is armor is housed at the Swedish Royal Armoury. Picture: DIG 19958 respectively Accession Number LRK 32871 on emuseumplus_lsh_se. Edited by Ironskin.

Mail Skirt with triangular fringes Have you come

Mail Skirt with triangular fringes

Have you come across many mail skirts? They seem to be rare - at least rarer than the brayettes from two posts ago.

This skirt is meant to be worn in combination with 15th- to 16th-century plate armor. I made it with inspiration from a German effigy. The fringes here have an edge of brass rings as some mail collars do.

Thank you add @etrenz_113 for developing this project with me!

Pictures: Top right: Effigy of Eberhard IV. the younger inside Stiftskirche Stuttgart, Germany. He died 1419. The effigy as you see it was (re-)made 1576. Photo by Andreas Praefcke on commons_wikimedia. Bottom Right: Detail of a mail collar from the British Museum. Dated 1350. Museum number: 1856,0701.2244. Other pictures: Ironskin.

15th-Century Mail Collar inspired by Wallace A9 T

15th-Century Mail Collar inspired by Wallace A9

This a work of @prettygoodsculptor for @1475barras. Following the original, there is a more dense mail around the neck. Here it is achieved by a 6in1-weave. The extant piece in the @wallacemuseum has a 4in1 weave but smaller and stronger rings. At both pieces, the dense weave also extends a little bit down the chest.

Iconically for this mail collar is the long tail and the decorative brass rings at the hems. There will be a hinge added to the backside for closure as period drawings show it. Furthermore, there will be a liner covering the inside of the neck.

I'm deeply impressed by this collar. And this is even though I have seen the mind-blowing work of @philparkesmaille. What do you think?

Pictures: left&bottom by courtesy of @1475barras, right: from wallacecollection_org

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