Help Needed: Close Burgonet- Can/ House Construction

[RWWT]

The holes over the ears as a persistent mystery. They are frequently found on helmets that are very wide, (there was a fashion for that) and my working assumption was that they were for ties to help stabilize and center the head in the helmet. They may well be for internal strapping to adjust the height of the lining, as you speculate. Whatever they did, it has not left much evidence for us.

I've been pondering some things like you describe, too. This example has me scratching my head on possible arrangements that might be appropriate, though sadly The Met's write up and pictures don't give an entirely clear answer as to what's happening on the inside.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collectio ... mp%3Bpos=1

Another thought I had was that the lower holes might facilitate a more easily removable lining. Wallace has some lining pictures with bra hooks at the lower edge that seem to substitute the typical stitching.



I found those online but haven't been able to get my drive to work on my new computer to get more information on if they are more modern additions. I have to admit that having bra hooks around the edge of my friend's helmet has a certain Weird Science appeal.

[Mac]

I'd be a bit surprised if the hooks on that liner were original. Not because hooks like that didn't exist. They certainly did. But, because they don't seem like a very reliable way to hold the lining in. They will easily come unhooked if they are given any slack. That's OK for a helmet that is sitting in a collection, but can be tragically problematic in a piece of defensive armor. Sure, once it's on your head, they are unlikely to come unhooked, but you would not want a thing that came to be partly detached whenever you took it off. That's just an invitation for trouble. I suspect the hooks were added after the working life of the helmet, to allow the lining to be removed and reinstalled without recourse to sewing.

Mac

[RWWT]

Life stuff and some back and forth between drawings and paper templates has kept me busy for the past couple of weeks, but I think I've finally come up with a drawing for the gorget that I am reasonably content with. I figured I would be remiss if I did not offer Mac the opportunity to once again dash my hopes and dreams into the dirt... I mean, solicit further generosity and wisdom.

Here's the sketch. Everyone is invited to do your worst and tell me what I'm getting wrong.



My thoughts:
1. I may have been a bit more generous than strictly necessary with neck room. I could shrink it a bit, however, the paper template fit my friend pretty well and I am a little paranoid about taking it in more. I suspect that I have some remaining errors between how I perceive things to draw them and how they are in 3D, though I feel like I am making progress in wrapping my head around both and the product improvements so far have benefitted greatly from the effort and multiple, back and forth versions.

2. I am concerned about the front plate allowing sufficient movement of the pectoral and deltoid muscles. The easiest illustration I a think of is it would be difficult to impossible for the wearer to raise his arm to smell his armpit and see if this is his month to shower. Of course, this example falls neatly into "They didn't do that in armor", however the muscle movements are similar enough to various other movements that are necessary in armor.

I think I can get around the worst of this, particularly the pectoral needs, with some volume, roundness and shaping that is hard for me to illustrate in the drawing but seems evident from different views of extant gorget examples. What concerns me most is where gorgets rest on the shoulder and where the deltoid wants to go when one raises one's elbow above a horizontal plane with the shoulder. In the latter part of the 16th century, it seems like front plates got shorter and narrower, however in the earlier half, they seem to be pretty square.

I am not sure if there is something I am not yet fulling understanding on size and shape. My thought, for the moment, is, "build it and see what happens". If anyone has any insight about this and can spare me some trial and error, I'd be grateful!