The Armour Archive

I saw this, and it's something I would like to someday make (the leather face part).

http://www.pbase.com/darter02/image/84631823
http://www.pbase.com/darter02/image/84577280

http://www.pbase.com/darter02/image/53388203
http://www.pbase.com/darter02/image/53381251

How would you do this?

You can make a mempo like the one in the first two pics out of hardened leather. If I were to go about that project, I would start by taking a piece of leather approximately 1 foot square (probably 8-10 oz thickness), wetting it until soft & pliable, then shaping it by dishing it into the shape of the face with a hammer/mallet and a dishing bowl or stump.

I would start with the most protruding features, like the lips, then the tip of the nose and the puffed out cheeks. I would work from the center of the leather square outward. This technique is very similar to "raising" a steel helmet.
Once the face is shaped and has dried, I would cut out the mouth, nasal and strapping holes, and trim away the excess leather around the edges until its in the proper mempo shape.

Afterward, I would dye and then harden the leather. There are multiple ways to harden leather, and I would recommend looking into them and deciding which method you feel comfortable using.

For the second, more ornate mempo, it appears to be mosty made of flat pieces of leather sewn together, with a few folded pieces of leather also sewn together to make the chin, etc. That one may actually be easier to construct, if you use soft, predyed leather and a sewing awl, or just a stitch punch and a needle & thread.

I don't know how much leatherwork you do, and this may take a couple of tries before it comes out right, but it would be very cool to see.
Good luck with it.

Cut out the flat pattern in posterboard to get it right. Then lay it out on sole leather and cut it out. Finish up the edges, bevel them and all, or else it'll look like shit. Then soak it in room temp water. After at least an hour or so take it out. It should be totally saturated and again; ROOM TEMPERATURE. Let it set out in the air until it;s about the consistency of clay. As it dries it gets to this real rubbery stage. That's when you take a ball peen hammer and dishing stump and shape it to the shape you want. Once you get it formed you put it in an oven at the temp 180 degrees. Check it every few minutes or so to make sure its not scorching, cracking or drying out too far and getting brittle. This is a real hands on part and you'll need to be aware of how leather reacts to heat drying like this. I suggest doing a scrap piece forst asd a test. That way you'll see how it works without risking your work.
After its rock hard, take it out of the oven and let it cool. Then you dye it or paint it.
That's how I'd do it, if I were gonna do it.

Try a youtube search for leather mask
should give you a few ideas.
greenpocky
PaganArtGuy
TigerTorreArt
All have good articles.

a better option would be checking with the folks over on
http://tousando.proboards.com/index.cgi and track down the owner/armourer and the manufacturing process.

When thoroughly wet, veg tan leather becomes remarkably pliable. In fact, there's a stage where it is too soft to do any successful molding - it won't hold shape.

You wet your leather thoroughly, let it stop bubbling. Take it out and let it dry for a while, until it won't drip anymore and it will hold shape when you bend it. At this stage you can do a great deal of moulding and forming. you can use hammers, your hands, a smooth stick - all kinds of things will work.

You're sculpting with an odd sort of clay, effectively.

Animal is right about finishing the edges, although it doesn't have to be done before you do your forming. Beveling after forming is difficult, but can be done.

I generally dye before hardening (I find the leather takes dye differently after hardening and prefer the look I get dying before hardening). Painting with acrylics I do after hardening. I've had acrylic paint shrink and ruin a piece when heated, so I don't do that.

The first example is a fairly straightforward molding project. The second is a much more complex construction project and molding the chin could be a challenge. I wouldn't recommend starting with a design similar to the second example.

Actually, the second example is much simpler. There's less leather in it than you think. It's a steel menpo, with the leather bits over it. Not a grill like the first example. It's far less complciated that it looks. (It's Akira Minamoto's stuff.)

That first example is a great half-great, half-awful thing. Love the egawa. Love that it's on a maezashi. Love the molding of the leather(though it looks a lot more like plastic to me). Hate that the mezashi is in the wrong place on the helm. Hate that the face armour os stuck out on a grill.

But then, it's so easy to make decent Japanese stuff that I hate seeing conversion helms.