Starting my backpack

[mandoman]

Well, I haven't had much progress on my suit, but I happened upon a bunch of cardboard, so I thought I'd start on my backpack, Cap'n Ferin style. I just had a few questions before I start (specifically for the Cap'n, but anyone who has any advice is more than welcome to chime in).

I hope I'm not being like the people from your "Statement from TB" thread, just wanted to ask a few questions about your backpack construction that I couldn't quite grasp from just the pics.

1. How did you make the edge of the main odd-shaped pouch? Here's a pic of what I mean (hope you don't mine me using your pic to show you):



2. Any specific place you got the Shoe Goo? I'm assuming it worked well to stick the vinyl to the ductaped cardboard form?

Just wanted to get those cleared up, as the rest of the backpack construction looks pretty straight-forward. Thanks!

[apollo]

I'm not sure how any of that works, but I got some shoe goo at walmart. It was with the shoes, not the crafts.

[mandoman]

Awesome, thanks bro! I'll make a trip to Wal-mart today for some ductape (I'm out! Ahhhh!) and Shoe Goo. I need to start on my mantle today or tomorrow too. I'm in a GM mood right now, so it's full speed ahead on anything I can work on.

[apollo]

A side note, the shoe goo holds really well to the inside of marine vinyl, but not so much the outside. If you have any of this vinyl you'll know what I mean. It could be that I'm somehow doing it wrong, but I haven't been able to get a lasting bond to the outside of the vinyl

[mandoman]

Hmm, well, I don't think I got the right vinyl to use. I think the maroon vinyl I got for my kama is marine vinyl, but the white vinyl I got has a fuzzy backing instead of a rougher backing like the maroon. Should I get the marine vinyl instead?

That Shoe Goo must be popular stuff, because they only had one tube, and they had no more in the back. I hope one tube goes a long ways.

[apollo]

I think if you glue it well the fuzzy stuff shouldn't be a problem. And if it ends up not working then you've only gained experience in making the backpack the first time (I can find the silver lining in anything). 1 tube should be good I think. They're pretty big tubes.

[snowflake]

what about cutting the edge of the cardboard in many little wings and shape ithem as a curve? Then you can hold them with a lot of tape. I suggest you put a layer of soft material like foam between the cardboard and the vinyl, to have a smoother surface.

[mandoman]

Snowflake, that sounds like a solid idea, thanks! I might wait for the Cap to chime in about his method as well, to see what would work better. I do have extra cotton batting material I'm going to tape to the front to give it a cushiony look.

I'll also test the glue strength with a scrap piece of cardboard and fuzzy-backed vinyl and go from there. I'm really hoping it holds well, since vinyl gets expensive.

I started on the main part of the backpack too. I only got in one pic before the camera batteries died. Any good?

[youngling]

It looks a little thin if you know what I mean the main body looks small. May I suggest something? You need to get a chest plate and make the backpack proportional to the chest plate. Most importantly the flat part on the back. I will post pics of my backpack I am making and if you need some backplate measurements I would be willing to help out.

[admin]

Basically, all the thick parts to my pack were done with foam. THe foam I had was from a laptop shipment box, and it was about 1.5" thick. It was the perfect size for it, so I just cut away all the excess. What you are actually looking at is that piece of foam folded over that corner of the box, with a piece of cardboard cut to the size of the thinner face. Then the duct tape just pulls in that corner to make a rounded edge.