The Armour Archive

I am currently making a set of splinted vambraces that are held on by two straps and will lace to my elbow cops, my question is how form fitting should they be? should I leave space for my arm to rotate inside or will the laces provide enough flexibility for the rotation. Maybe looser at the wrist and tighter near the elbow, any help would be greatly appreciated

It needs to be a little fitted, or it'll slide down your forearm and chafe your wrist. It also could pull your elbow too low.
Too tight, and it'll restict movement and maybe bloodflow. So, there is a balance.
What are you wearing under it? Could you maybe run the lace through eyelets in an arming garment to act as a sort of point?

Albrecht

thanks for the advice Albrecht, as far as the arming garment goes that is my next project. It wont be anything too fancy, lightly padded , probably not much on the lower arms at all and relatively snug from the elbow down to the wrist. I probably should have made that first but I always seem to do things backwards. I will be sure to leave a little extra room for the garment when I fit the vambraces. I think lacing them near the elbow sounds like a winner, I never really thought about them sliding down but now that you mention it it seems obvious. thats why I posted here, not only did I get my question answered but I gleaned some other valuable info in the process. Much appreciated. Have a good one.

Armor, being heavy or heavy-ish, always slides down. You must hang it according to places where your body gets wider, either directly or indirectly, to keep it in place. From the neck down, these are shoulders, waist, wrists and top of each calf. That's all. Some armor parts use more than one of these, like the breast & back, suspended over the shoulders and securing high on the waist also.

Italian-type arms sling from neck or shoulder by means that varied with the century: points early, buckled straps and spring-pins late. German arms pointed three separate pieces onto a fabric sleeve beneath, which was in turn attached to the arming-doublet, hence hanging the entire assemblage from the shoulders.