Homemade Samurai Kozane Armour - the O-Sode

This instructable will initally help you to make the shoulder protection of ancient Samurai armour known as the O-Sode. To make the scales (kozane) for the armour, I experimented with tanned leather, plastic, rawhide, rice paper (washi) and ready-made metal scales. Each of these different materials worked really well as kozane so whichever material you choose to use from this selection in order to make your own sode, or even a full set of armour, will ultimately depend on your final purpose e.g. SCA, cosplay or display? It will also depend on how much time you have because making kozane for a full set of armour takes a lot of hours. Hopefully the lessons that I have learnt and will pass on in this Instructable will reduce the amount of hours for you. If you don't have time to spare and budget is not an issue then go directly to the ready made metal kozane. However, if you are feeling creative and enjoy a challenge then choose either the rawhide, plastic, leather, or paper (or cardboard) and start making your own!

My o-sode was 24cm wide with 16 kozane in each row. It had 6 rows which altogether measured 30cms long when hanging. You can of course make yours bigger or smaller. The suggested size is about 30cm wide with 7 rows.

To make Rawhide kozane you will need:

• Dog chews

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pets-at-ho...

• Gorilla glue

https://www.screwfix.com/p/gorilla-glue-wood-glue...

• A wooden or MDF board on to which you will nail the sheets of rawhide. I had a board that was approx 50cmx40cmx2cm

• Panel pins and hammer

• Craft clips to hold glued kozane together while they dry

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N49BBDM/ref...

Paper kozane:

• Washi rice paper. You can also use newspaper and pva glue if you wanted

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aitoh-Origami-Paper-18-in...

• Rice glue. I used Stamperia Velo Glue for Rice Paper

https://www.craftstash.co.uk/stamperia-velo-glue-f...

• large paint brush to apply the glue

Plastic kozane:

• Plastic glazing packers/shims 24mm wide, approx 3mm thick.
  

https://www.toolstation.com/broadfix-mixed-glazing...

• Isopon p38 body filler

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bodyfiller-Repairs-Vehicl...

Leather kozane: I used an offcut of leather, 1.5mm thick purchased from a fabric shop. I glued two pieces together to make a final kozane that was 3mm thick.

Metal kozane: ready made kozane from Eldesarian Metal Works.

https://www.facebook.com/EldesarianMetalWorks/

GENERAL MATERIALS

• Black gloss spray paint to paint the kozane and wooden slat

https://www.screwfix.com/p/quick-colour-spray-pain...

• Low viscosity Craft Resin to apply to the kozane

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/page/24CAF87E-8605...

• Small amounts of Red and white acrylic paint and small paint brush. Use these to add decorative touches to the final piece.

• For lacing you will need Extra-wide flat shoe laces 10mm-12mm (for this sode I used 3 pairs of 150cm red laces and 1 pair of 120cm black and white laces)

https://www.feetunique.co.uk/extra-wide-shoelaces...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shoe-Laces-Flat-Boot-Sn...

• Leather cord lace 3 mm Square or Leather thong cord 2mm. Approx 50cm per row to lace together 16 kozane.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076H9NZRG/ref...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-Real-Genuine-Leathe...

SHIKI flat rod across the back of a row of kozane, held in place by leather thong, to keep the row rigid. This is optional. You can use rawhide or a piece of metal or a piece of stiff cardboard). I used sheet steel 1.5mm thick, 5mm wide and cut to a length slightly shorter than a row of kozane.

MATERIALS FOR THE KANMURI-ITA (curved metal plate at the top of the sode)

• Sheet steel 0.7mm thick, approx 8cm high and cut to the length of a row of kozane. You can use any other type of metal available to you that is relatively easy for you to cut and curve in to the shape that you want.
• Gold faux leather embossed piping used to look like a piece of gold metal edging around the Kanmuri-ita. Note you can use real metal if you want.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5mm-Faux-Leather-Emboss...

• Gorilla glue contact adhesive clear used to glue the chamois and decorative strings in place

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorilla-Glue-2144001-Cont...

• Inkjet T-shirt transfer paper to print pattern on to the chamois cloth

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PPD-Inkjet-Transfer-Sheet...

• Natural chamois leather cloth

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016BV977I/ref...

• 3mm wide black and white bakers twine - approx 1 metre, used to decorate

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3mm-Berisfords-Bakers-T...

• A piece of wooden slat cut to the length of a row of kozane. My one was approx 24cmx2cmx2cm (but now finished I wished I had made it 2.5cm longer).

• 2 eye screws - will thread rope through these so that you can hang your final piece or use to attach to your armour

• For decoration 3 daisy rivet screw backs for decoration of the wooden slat. These arrive with their own very short screw so I bought longer screws long enough to screw through the back of the metal kanmuri-ita, through the first row of kozane, and all the way through the wooden slat so that the daisy rivets could be screwed on them and sit on the front of the wooden slat

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/632134871/flower-c...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07P8N5K5B/ref...

TOOLS:

See photos but I would also suggest

• larger hammer for shaping the kanmuri-ita and,

• if you are making paper kozane, a large paint brush for applying the rice glue.

• P60 sand paper to smooth and round off rough edges and also to roughen the surface of any metal used in this project.

• Small round file or something similar to help re-open holes after resin application

• A pillar drill and belt sander are useful but not absolutely necessary.

In these next steps I will explain how to make Kozane from each of the different materials. I will then follow with instructions about making the holes, painting, coating in resin, lacing, and how to make and attach the Kanmuri-ita.

RAWHIDE KOZANE

Start with one dog chew to begin with until you are confident. One dog chew will make about 15 kozane, 1mm thick. Completely immerse dog chew in warm tap water and leave overnight.

Next day unwrap the dog chew and remove excess water with paper towels.

I cut one long sheet into 3 pieces to make it more managable before using small panel pins to nail the rawhide pieces to a wooden board (I used a piece of MDF). Stretch the hide as you nail it. The more pins you use the flatter the sheet will be when dry. Leave in a warm dry, ideally moisture free, spot. They should be completely dry after about 2 days.

Cats sitting on them are optional :).

Create a kozane template and use this to trace out your kozane on to the dry rawhide. Kozane templates can be found on the Sengoku Daimyo website ("Used with permission from Sengoku Daimyo, LLC" 28/4/21). My metal kozane is very similar to No. 2. If I were to do this again I would use No. 1 as a template purely for asethetic reasons.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d1a2aa7e7c...

Cut out using sharp scissors.

The resulting rawhide kozane will be very thin (too thin) so you will need to glue 2 or 3 together using waterproof gorilla glue to make one kozane of approx 2.5mm thick. Note, after a few days the moisture from the glue will actually increase the thickness of the final kozane by about another 0.5mm so you will end up with a 3mm thick kozane. Use bulldog clips or craft clips to hold together while drying. When dry, store in a dry, moisture free place under something heavy to keep them flat until you are ready to punch holes, spray paint and coat in resin. I stored mine between two pieces of MDF with lots of books stacked on top.

Pros and Cons of this material

Pros: relatively easy to make once you have a flat piece of hide; tough, authentic; can make different sized kozane for the different parts of armour.

Cons: you will need lots of dog chews; At 3mm thick they are tough to punch holes into with a standard hole punch; have to glue them together to get the right thickness and over time they do start to pull away from each other. To avoid this you should ideally coat them in resin as soon as possible.

LEATHER

I had a piece of leather approx 1.5 to 1.6mm thick and so I was able to cut it easily with scissors. I glued two kozane together, punched holes before spray painting and coating in resin. This made the final kozane reasonably stiff. Obviously if you can find a thicker piece of leather then there will be no need to use glue.

Pros and Cons of this material

Pros: easy to source; easy to cut and punch holes into; can make different shapes and sizes; definitely can use for cosplay and display.

Cons: can't think of any

PLASTIC

These plastic glazing packers, also known as shims, were easy to cut with a pair of tin snips and I sanded down any rough edges. A belt sander does make the job quicker and easier but hand sanding is just as good. I then filled the back of the hollow plastic packer with Isopon P.38.

Pros and Cons of this material

Pros: easy to cut; sand and punch holes into; definitely can use for cosplay and display.

Cons: comes in a mixed bag of other depths; only one width size; one side is textured and one side is hollow so you have to use the smelly filler product; costume use restricted to cosplay and display

WASHI/PAPER

As mentioned you could use newspaper or very thick card if you wanted. I just wanted to experiment with something that was authentically used at one time. The washi paper comes in a roll. I simply cut large pieces and glued sheet after sheet after sheet using a big brush until it was about 3mm thick. I left it to dry for about 2 days, used my metal kozane as a template and cut using a fabric roller cutter.

Pros and Cons of this material

Pros: easy to source; easy to cut and punch holes into; can make different shapes and sizes; relatively strong considering it's paper; definitely can use for cosplay and display.

Cons: Have to glue a lot of sheets of paper together.

READY MADE METAL

Pros: ready-made; can be used for cosplay, display etc

Cons: at the moment restricted to one size and shape; no 7th hole on the left so will either have to bend left corner or drill a 7th hole - both of these do help to make lacing easier; Can be expensive if making a full set of armour plus add on postage cost and also import tax if you live outside of USA; also can be a very heavy piece of armour - would suggest mixing metal and and one of the other lighter materials if making full set.

MIMI-ZANE (HALF SCALE MADE FROM THE RIGHT HALF OF A KOZANE)

To keep the depth of each row consistent right up to the edges, it is recommended that you add a mimi-zane (literally means ear scale) at the start and end of each row (see images with black half kozane on front and rear of full kozane).

6 OR 7 HOLES

I added a 7th hole on the left of the kozane because it made lacing so much easier. Some sources suggest bending back the left corner which you could do with the metal kozane if you are unable to drill holes. My metal kozane was used as my top row so I did not need to bend or add a 7th hole because when lacing the top row you start from the 3rd hole from the top. The holes above the 3rd hole are hidden under the wooden slat when attached to the Kanmuri-ita.

I was lucky enough to have access to a pillar drill but you can use a hole punch to make holes.

Take care to make sure your holes are accurately marked out and punched/drilled because they will need to line up for lacing.

Hole size. For the top six holes use a 4mm hole punch or drill bit. Bottom eight use a 3mm hole punch or drill bit.

PAINTING

Spray paint front and back of all kozane with at least 3 coats leaving to dry between coats. I used almost 1.5 cans of paint for 120 kozane.

For the metal kozane, I used p60 sand paper and lightly sanded before painting to help make sure the paint adhered to the surface (I actually also covered them in rice paper but looking back now I don't think this was necessary).

I made some cardboard kozane so that I could practise the lacing. It is worthwhile doing. A good source for lacing instructions can be found on

https://sengokudaimyo.com/katchu/katchuch05

("Used with permission from Sengoku Daimyo, LLC" 28/4/21)

Use the long nose pliers to help you thread the leather thong to lace your kozane together following a pattern of your choice. I only used the 'cross' pattern on my bottom row of kozane because this very bottom row would be on show and I wanted to create a decorative feature. All other rows of kozane were laced together using the more simple pattern.

Shiki

A shiki is optional.

You can add it to either the centre row of holes or the bottom row of holes in each row of kozane.

Cover the shiki with rice paper and gorilla glue and re-spray with the black gloss paint.

I added my shiki to each of my rows because I wanted to ensure that my kozane were stable and would not move so that the resin did not crack. I guess you would not have this concern if you applied the resin to each individual kozane before attaching them to make a row. However, I applied the resin after they were attached. At different periods in history both methods of lacquer (resin) application were used i.e. before or after attaching into a row.

I added my shiki in the centre of each row of holes but I have seen others put their shiki along the bottom row of holes.

Before applying the resin check again that the holes line up and paint the crosses on bottom row in red.

Follow instructions to make up the resin.

Make a very small quantity (I made 5ml each time) and apply to one side first, all over the row of kozane with a small paint brush while sitting in a warm room or outside. Note a cool room will speed up the hardening process and you don't want this while you are applying the resin. You want the resin to remain runny.

Leave to dry for 24 hours. Apply to the other side and leave to dry.

Between coats, give a very light sand if needed, remove any dust and apply another coat.

The resin is not thick so you could apply probably up to 5 coats each side. I only had time for 2 coats.

BEFORE LACING

1. Drill 5 holes evenly spaced into the very top row of kozane. This is where you will eventually secure it to the kanmuri ita.

2. Before lacing make sure the holes within each row are lined up. If not then use something small, round and sharp to open up the holes. I used my small round file.

3. Before lacing, take note of places where the two laces will share the same hole and use the file to make that hole much bigger. In my Sode the laces on the left shared the second hole from the top. While on the right side they shared the very top hole.

START LACING

Took me about 2 days with lots of breaks.

Again I would recommend practising with the cardboard kozane first.

Attach the top row to something strong that will allow you to work both the front and back easily. I used plastic ties, wire and a coat hanger and hung the hanger over the doorway. I later moved my coat hanger to a broom stick threaded through a small ladder so that I could sit down (see images).

The black and white lace in these images runs vertically down through all 6 rows. The red lace runs horiztonally attaching one row at a time.

1. Use a new red lace for each row.

2. leave at least 3cm of lace hanging at the start and end of a lace so that you have plenty of lace to knot or tie off. Do not knot or tie off until you have completed adding all rows.

3. Before adding a new row, make sure to make any tension adjustments in the laces, untwist if need be and also make sure that the rows are level.

4. Only once all rows are added and you are happy with the final look then secure any loose lace ends.

As I got toward the 6th row the hard plastic covering on the black and white lace had worn away and so threading through the hole that this lace shared with the red lace became tricky, so I wrapped the end tightly in a small piece of cellotape and this seemed to help.

I do plan to make a lacing video when I get the time.

1. Follow the instructions on how to use the iron on transfer paper. Print and iron on to the chamois cloth. I printed out two A4 pieces to cover the front and back of the kanmuri-ita.

2. Make a cardboard template of the shape and size of your kanmuri-ita. It will be the same length as a row of kozane. Use the template to make the pattern on your piece of metal and cut to size. I was lucky enough to have help from my school Design and Technology department to cut and create the sharp bends and curve in the metal.

To create the curve, the metal was put into a vice, heated with a blow torch, left to cool for 1-2mins. Wearing heat proof gloves the metal was removed from the vice and placed over a cylindrical metal shape and hammered to get the curve.

If you don't have access to a school DT department, if your metal is NOT too thick you could use tin snips to cut it, and a hammer and vice grip to bend it.

3. Before bending the metal, cut the printed chamois cloth to size. Note that the back chamois piece will be longer as it will hang down to cover the back of the first row of kozane.

4. On the bottom of the bent metal drill 5 holes evenly spaced so that they line up with the 5 holes that are in the top row of kozane - they will be used to attach the kozane to the kanmuri ita.

5. Sew the gold binding on to the piece of chamois that will cover the back.

6. Before gluing the chamois to the metal, lightly sand and then wipe clean.

7. Glue the front chamois first and then the back chamois on to the metal kanmuri ita. At this point don't glue the chamois over the 5 holes because you will want to place your screws through these holes

8. Decorate as you wish. I painted a red stripe and glued on the black and white bakers twine to either side of the stripe.

9. Cut a piece of wood (slat) to the length of a row of kozane. The width and depth of the slat should be thick enough to fit into the groove of the bent piece of metal and cover the top two holes of the kozane in the first row. (My slat was too short by 5mm and you could see some of the holes, so I ended up gluing the black and white lace around it). Paint and decorate the wooden slat as you wish. I painted my one black with white patterns and then sealed this with a mat lacquer that happened to be in our home cupboard. You could probably also use resin to seal it.

10. Drill 5 holes in to the slat to match up with the holes in the metal kanmuri ita

So at this stage you should have 5 holes in the bottom of your kanmuri-ita, 5 holes in the top row of your kozane, 5 holes in the wooden slat.

1. Line all of these holes up with the kozane sitting in between the kanmuri-ita and the slat.

2. Thread the 3 screws through the back of the kamuri-ita through to the front of the wooden slat and secure with the button rivet.

3. On the back of the kanmuri-ita cover the screw heads by gluing the chamois down over the top. You will see in the photos that I unfortunately realised this too late and had already glued my chamois down before inserting the screws.

4. Screw in the eye screws through the back and attach a decorative rope.

Note if I were to do this again I would have put the 2 eye screws further apart so that the sode hangs better if hanging on the wall as a decoration.