10-13-2009, 10:13 PM
Quote:How about stiffness-flexibility? Was the tube flexible in bending or stiff,and only the pteryges moving? Differences when wet? When dry,would the shoulder flaps remain straight before fastenning,like shown on the vases? As i understand it,you haven't buit complete thorakes with the natural glues,but what's your estimations?
Khaire
Giannis
When dry, the material retains a fair amount of stiffness, but is easily bent to conform around the body or shoulders; the pteryges move freely as well, comparable to the movement seen on the 'Alexander Mosaic'. But these are not of the same thickness as the main body or shoulder pieces. I have always used between three and five laminated layers of linen to construct these, but they could just as well be made of cord (as in Xen. Anab. 4.7.16). When wet, the material is slightly more pliable but still has enough rigidity to stand upright.
From my personal experience with "natural glues" and laminating linen I would guess that they would most definitely stand upright as is shown on numerous vases. In fact there seems to be little difference between the outward appearance or characteristics (concerning stiffness and pliability, that is) of linen laminated with rabbit glue and PVA glue. They appear to behave and holdup about the same. Many of our patches made from both kinds of glue are close to two years old and have been repeatedly bend and shuffled around, yet they are still in great shape.
Scott B.
