DaveT

I've seen these before at the museum, they are more hyper-realistic iki-ningyo Malcolm. Totally stunning. As I said in the text above the export ones for armour seem to have more of a cartoon / doll appearance. I guess hyper realism in armour = spooky. As to pigment, this is an odd one as they are a reddish brown, like a native american indian. The undercoat is a bright pink. I don't think that the pigments have changed as I made the effort to cut it back a little and the pigment remained unchanged. Also some advancement, yesterday I managed to pull this from the mould. I used Paper-mache which is surprisingly robust. There's still enough of a gap in the next to get my hand in to fix the glass eyes. Human hair is now on order.

Iki Ningyo 生人形 Iki Ningyo are a form of doll, or mannequin. During the late edo period many items of samurai armour were sold to the west as curiosities. The dolls were manufactured as an alternative to displaying armour on a traditional wooden stand. Unlike hyper realistic versions the samurai dolls were almost cartoon like in their features, almost a mixture of woodblock print characters, Noh masks and bunraku puppets. Samurai Iki-Ningyo appear in most national museums and leading private collections throughout the world. They are constructed from wood, plaster and paper, making them rather fragile. With these being so easly damaged they have become somewhat of a rarity, with not many original existing examples to be found in Japan or the west. As a result they have become highly collectable. I have been searching for one of these for over 30 years, and by luck I managed to acquire one in late 2016 from an action site. The head I have is a very good example and is believed to have been made by the artist Kamehachi Masahiro. It has glass eyes and teeth made from ivory. My head was damaged, they were a number of craters, dents and cracks. The mouth was about to cave in with the left hand side of the face. I therefore decided to repair it. During the repair I was able to take a silicone mould of the head. This has presented the opportunity to manufacture a number of reproductions. The progress is slow, but I am getting there. Last week I obtained glass eyes and have made some working roughs. Here are some photo's of the progress. The original head, what you cannot see from the photo was the caved in damaged areas. In this photo I've removed the damaged areas. Rough repair and a copy of the eye. Alternative glass eye. Copy I'll post more photos as this project continues. I will be making a number of full sized mannequins too. The original needs its moustache returned, I guess that will be around late feb 2017. I'd love to know if any other collectors have one of these?

This is something I have to do from time to time. Its sooooo boring. And the stencil's break after a few uses.

I can now put this to a close. After a very long time I can now confirm that the Odoshi UK Project has been a success. I have been able to replicate the original braids, and my odoshi is actually improved over the Japanese version as it is pre-stretched. In the past few months I have been able to lace a few armours and make the odd tweak here and there to produce the best result and record the settings. I noticed that my photo's have popped off from the original posting, so I'll re-post them here. I'd like to thank everyone that has supported me in this venture including Ian Bottomley. We made a concept become a reality.

Sometimes you can pair a mon to a clan. For instance the Hosokawa made use of the etchu style which is very distinctive, same applies to the Date with the oshu/sendai style and the Ii with their red Hikone armours. Stepping aside from that its near impossible to marry a mon with a clan. As the others have said, they were used too widely by so many.

I think we are talking about both. Here's my one. These kabuto are hard to find. Momoyama period.

Pointing out the difference between oni and shikami was valuable. I would have made the mistake. Thank you.

It's not that unique, I've got one. But they are very hard to find.

These are going to be very expensive.

Thanks Denis, Ive picked up a little contract to supply odoshi to a company thats makes gendai armour, that should cover the investment Ive made, making the silk venture fun and rewarding

Hi All, Today I've been trying my hand at making silk sageo. I was wondering about the lengths for each sword specification. Katana - 2 meters Wakizashi - 1.2 meters Tanto - 1 meter Is there any requirement for extra long sageo? Some of you are aware that I make Odoshi-ito, sageo was next on my hit list. Here is a photograph of what I made today as a test, I have a yori-doshi that has a very narrow kurigata, I couldn't find anything thin enough, so I made this one. I have 11 standard colours, and can make patterns, so once I have an understanding of whats required I will crack on. I would welcome any feedback and suggestions guys. When I've finished the testing I will list them in the for sale section. Price wise, cheaper than Namikawa. Made in the UK Cheerrs Dave

Just an update, I've managed to make Silk Sageo. I still need to run some more tests to get this right. This is a little yoroi doshi, I made the sageo thinner and only 1 meter long. Its a slow process running the tests, but as soon as I find a suitable setting I will be able to make these in different colours etc. Basic tanto works out at around £25.00

Show was a great success. Here's a photo of the table, being manned by Northern Token members (Mr Evans, Ingall, Bottomley). P.S pleasure to meet you Dennis.

I'll be there manning the Northern Token Sales/Trade Table. Please pop over and say hi. Second hall, wall table.

Peter, odoshi lacing is very difficult. Justin has just completed a kabuto, I can vouch for him, so I guess he is your man. The question to identify which style you have This is 素懸威 Sugake http://yoroi.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/lacingodoshi-4.jpg This is 毛引威 Kebiki http://yoroi.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/lacingodoshi-1.jpg

Greg, I have over 30 armours and again as many boxes in storage full of bits, dou, kote etc. When you are ready please contact me, i will be able to dig through and find some that match well. If you have the bug then please feel free to visit the samurai armour forum and interact with the guys there.

Maybe we should commission one.

3 plate zunari, edo jindai, very nice. I have hanpo and armour to match. PM me.

Jeff is on it in the USA. Laser and drag knife CNC.

This was an adventurous pursuit. There were other factors that are invisible, moving heavy 350kg machines into place, re-enforcing and underpinning floors, the whole episode was a challenge. What started out as a simple what if over a cup of tea at the Birmingham Arms Fair with Ian Bottomley eventually grew form concept to implementation to result. I've been using my braid today on an armour and I'm really happy with it. I set out to copy the Japanese version, but produced something better. I worked out how to pre-stretch the braid during the output stage. Japanese odoshi-ito pulls, you can loose 1-2mm. This is a pain when you have to pull a plate tighter at one end as the lacing looks no uniform. But adding the pre stretch the width remains the same. I am rather proud of this accomplishment, and its a very first for the west. Next week I start my new challenge, to produce egawa stencils from metal and not paper. This again is a lost art form, but I have a plan. Egawa is terribly expensive to source from Japan, my aim is to replicate the different designs at a fraction of the price.

Just as an update to this thread, my machines are now fully installed and operational. I can now produce odoshi to the highest quality and to the same weave as what is being made in Japan.

We see the same for papered armour. Many a time the paper is based on an incorrect appraisal that becomes legend. Papers should hold no value, nor add value, as they only reflect a wriiten opinion.

Thats an excellent example of what not to buy, and why attention to detail is so very important 1. It's cheap acrylic, not silk 2. It has the incorrect weave Basically a synthetic boot lace that no self respecting katchushi or collector would use on real armour.

I could beat Namikawa's price. I worked out their costs due to the weight of the silk. Just so everyone knows, odoshi-ito is not the same as Tsuka-Ito. Odoshi silk filaments is around 1/95Mm and tsuka ito is much thiner at 1/285Nm. If there is a type of tsuka-ito that isn't easily available maybe I could fill the gap, colour combinations and custom widths. The world of Nihonto is new to me, so I need to be guided by the community.

I actually have two machines now. I made the error of thinking that all widths of odoshi could be made on a single unit. I'm just relocating them to a new workroom, they weigh in at 350 kg per unit. I should be operational by the beginning of September. The current output will produce 5-10mm. I will need another machine to produce tsuka-ito at 10mm, but should be able to make anything under that. In the photograph below are three examples. It took me months how to work out the correct weave. The orange is the final result, you can see that the weave is tight, yet the thickness is very thin, if that makes sense. The blue below to the left shows what I would call a boot lace weave, its very open, the one to the right is compacted, like a sagio. All made on the same machine after trying hundreds of gearing combinations, tensions and number of strands filaments per bobbin head. The photo below a test where I tried to match the braid used on ashigaru armours. As you can see its pretty acceptable. Next up is sasaberi, with the help of Ian Bottomley we managed to have this special edging made. until now its not been used or available for 100 years. Return to investment? Well I've spent around £20,000 at the moment. I doubt that will come back from odoshi sales, but this is groundbreaking and a first for us gaijin. From raw silk to odoshi.