Netting for the Lobster look

Working on the lobster & lobster cage armor.

My initial prototyping was focussed on the wood mounted to the chest of this form. Initially I started by trying weaving techniques to mount the wood pieces into place. After experimenting in my Structural Weaving project I decided that weaving wouldn’t provide a robust solution without an extreme commitment of time.

I stumbled on a dress with net forms designed into it and realized I could solve two problems at once: using the laser cutter I could cut my own net structures and also design the net with mounting holes so I could mount wood onto the form. I quickly laid out a number of samples which you can see bellow. I’m still working on mounding these into a garment pattern.

Laser cut leather net

Similar to the pattern for a “living hinge” this specific cutting pattern allow the leather to pull out to become a net.

Riveted leather

An advantage of laser cutting is that I was able to cut mounting holes while cutting the net pattern.

Rivets in wood

I quickly learned that a washer is necessary to distribute the load of a compressed rivet.

Large net pattern

Cut the largest net pattern out of brown paper. This form was designed to connect to the rest of the pattern for this look, but I was unable to finish all the rivets.