As some of you may have noticed, The View From LL2 has been on hiatus for the past few months as a result of some conflicts with its contributors’ other commitments. Although Michael must unfortunately retain his status as blogger emeritus, I am now able to resume blogging, and look forward to catching up on all the exciting recent developments on obscure jurisdictional provisions of international law.
I am hoping to kick things back up this weekend with some updates on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman, but in lieu of legal blogging at the moment, here’s a follow up to my armor for lawyers and armor for cats: a suit of armor for survivors of the zombie apocalypse, made out of bottle caps and pop tabs. Sure, maybe it wouldn’t stand up against a sword or arrow, but it’s more than good enough to repel a zombie bite. And it’s a heck of a lot lighter than steel.
Armor for the urban survivor of the zombie apocalypse.
Bottle cap armor, side view with sleeves.
The armored overcoat is made of bottle caps that have had holes punctured on four sides, and then connected with bronze 18 gauge rings with a 7/32″ diameter.
Haubergeon made out of pop tabs from cans. Lots and lots of pop tabs.
The pop tabs are connected using bronze 18g 1/4″ rings. The tabs themselves were surprisingly good to work with, and they offer a lot of possibilities for how they can be assembled together. The green tabs that make up the border along the hem are from Bud Light Limes, and the orange tables along the neckline and halter are from Shocktops. The black tabs in the belt were from Miller 64 cans. (Unfortunately, there are no good beers that have colored tabs for their cans.)
Pop tab armor, back detail.
Side detail for of pop tab armor, showing expansions and contractions in pattern.
I tried to tailor the pop tab armor as much as possible, and while it is still pretty bulky, I was able to give it some shape by removing rows and columns from various points and connecting the edges.
Chainmail purse made out of pennies. Rings are same size as for bottle caps, 18 gauge 7/32″.
In addition to serving as armor, the overcoat can also be converted into a wall hanging by removing the sleeves:
Bottle cap wall hanging.
Close up of wall hanging.
I am not sure how many bottle caps and pop tabs it took to finish the suit, but I am very much indebted to all of my friends who saved up their bottle caps and pop tabs for me, and who made it possible for me to collect enough to finish the armor. Thanks guys!
And lastly, in addition to the zombie apocalypse armor, you can also check out my suit of dog armor (with close up of insignia), baby armor for Z., and a sleeveless hauberk made of steel rings with copper trim.
-Susan
