I'm wondering if anyone has experience of any kind with undergarment (or undergarb) personal cooling systems or microclimate cooling systems... specifically those you have made yourself rather than spent an insane amount of $$ buying from a commercial company? If you have plans or experience with them under your garb, I am all ears! Any tips or pointers are welcome! If you ran into any problems, be sure to point those out as well.
I ask because I am in the process of fine tuning the ideas for a fully custom all-suede archer costume, long sleeve and full length pants, made entirely of roughout suede, likely deer or elk.
I was planning on adding some tubing into the design which will allow water flow between my skin and the suede without being obvious, and using the quiver as a water storage bladder and a carry-all pouch for the movement and cooling system. My ideal would be for this to be a full-flow unit while walking, as opposed to a unit that needs to be run up to a hose or something every hour or so.
I do have experience with various battery powered water movement units for desktop waterfalls, as well as both small and industrial koi pond waterfall units. I used to raise Betta Splendens and used about 2 miles worth of both rigid and flexible pvc tubing for filtration on breeder racks that held around 5,000 fish.
I'm currently learning about the availability of different cooling liquids that can be used, but so far plain freshwater seem to be about the best option. And I am also looking into leather water bladders and NuCool electronic cooling in a small enough unit it can be fitted into the lower section of a quiver or into a carry-all pouch
My main problem right now is how to deal with the condensation on the outside of the tubing as this can affect the suede...? Any ideas?
There was a study done with a Canadian department in which a water cooled undergarment was used to alleviate thermal strain in personnel working in Explosive Disposal clothing under environmental conditions of 94 degrees F and 80% relative humidity. The subject would do treadmill walking, unstacking/carrying/stacking weighted boxes, etc. This sequence was repeated for 120 minutes or until stress limits were reached. Physiological data recorded included rectal temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, sweat production and evaporation, metabolic rate, and subjective evaluations of thermal comfort and perceived exertion.
The results indicated that wearing the undersuit cooling system was a major help in reducing thermal strain. Rectal temperatures, heart rates and fluid losses were reduced back to values comparable to those when not wearing the explosives disposal suit, while skin temperatures were actually lower with the cooling system than with only a normal police station uniform.
So yeah... I got bored and basically decided to attach some tubes together and wear them. Any tips or ideas I might be overlooking?
I'm really sorry I can't help you, but this post reminded me of a cartoon in an issue of the Renaissance Magazine. There are these 2 girls in mundane clothing I think, and they're asking "how does she manage to look so cool in this heat?", talking about a woman in full noble garb, but she's got this big intricate fan system suspended under her skirt and an ice pack under her little hat! It was so funny. Good luck on your tubing system though, i hope it works!
LOL! :D Sounds pretty cool to me. :p Those hoop skirts do add quite a bit of storage room for all kinds of battery powered gadgets. ;D
But yeah, I've had the indignity of wearing some weird costumes for a few bucks here and there in my past, none of which have any cooling systems in them... but was reading that the Smokey the Bear costume has a water-cooling system built into it. Supposedly, that is... haven't found any pics, just text that says so.
And I know some college mascot sports costumes have battery powered fans in the oversized headparts.
I got stuck as the Little Caesar's Pizza mascot guy some years back. Yeah, it was a paycheck, and Ill take them where I can get them, embarrassing as it may be sometimes... but man that costume was hot, heavy and smelly. I came out of it looking like I had taken a dip in the pool with all my clothes on. :-\ No fan, no liquid cooling, nada. Standing in the hot sun, waving my fat foamy hand at cars driving by, trying to get them to enjoy a 120 degree pizza in 98 degree weather. ::)
And if I'm even going to think about Texas Ren Faires in the summer in my suede archer garb, theres definitely going to be some coldwater tubing under there. lol!
A friend of mine was working on her first furry costume and she found tutorials where people put little fans in the muzzle of their heads.
I've read that people treat their suede with some sort of water protection chemical, like for use for shoes so the rain or snow doesnt ruin them. I'm sure that would work for you to protect it from condensation
Good point. Ironically last night at Wal Mart I saw little cans of waterproofing spray in the shoe section. I bet that would work. Hmmm. Next time we get into town I think I might grab a can and see how it works on test pieces. I still need a few dozen adapters for the tube yet so need to hit Lowes too.
Too funny about the fans in the muzzle. We lived through a 120 degree summer in Las Vegas with no electricity and those little battery powered fans and water spray bottles were the only thing keeping us going. I have photos of our clock/thermometer reading 119F at 10:15am while we were in the shade. The fans are small, but very helpful, though they eat btteries like nobodys business >:(.... might keep that in mind if I ever start on a nobles set. ;D Have a few taped to my legs under the skirt. :D
Something that might help with design ideas. Their setup is around pricy for sure.
http://www.mscooling.com/circulatory-cooling-vest (http://www.mscooling.com/circulatory-cooling-vest)
Do note that theirs is only good for around 4 hrs, then you have to change out the icewater, batteries last 8 hours.
The cartoon sounds hilarious. It does bring up a good point, though. Most heat loss is from the head. So if you could cool your head sufficiently it will draw a significant amount from the body. Just not too much though, too much ice on the head in the heat can cause headaches if applied long term. Perhaps an archers "cap," cleverly sewn so that those really thin freezer packs could be slipped into pockets or else permanently sewn in and toss the cap in a freezer.
Also perhaps add small pockets anywhere else and conceal them under gear like pouches, etc and slip packs into those as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Techni-HDR-Reusable-Packs-Sheets/dp/B000LKWCCS (http://www.amazon.com/Techni-HDR-Reusable-Packs-Sheets/dp/B000LKWCCS)
Just some ideas. :)
The vest is more or less the idea I'll be working with... except mine will be flexi tubing without the "vest" fabric. I'll ideally have it sewn directly to the leather if at all possible... need to experiment on that as well. ::)
The only real problem with just strapping the gel packs here and there is I'd probably have to bring a cooler full of those alone. (No rum!?!) :o
Good ideas though. I checked into some suppliers for hydroxyethyl cellulose which is one of the gels used in some ice packs (dont ask how I know where to get this stuff, Im a Mythbusters informant, lol) but it was both expensive and too thick to work in tubing with the idea of a flow.
I do wonder though, on that premise, how long a tube would hold its cool if filled with the gel and flopped in a freezer overnight seeing as its a smaller ratio than the packs. Hour? Two hours? Four? Hmm... something new to tinker with it seems. Save me some money and just cut open freezer packs from Walmart and squirt them into a tube instead of ordering the hydroxyethyl cellulose from a supplier. If I could get that to work, however, it would cut out the need for a storage bladder and pump. A big plus.
Well, the blue freezer packs dont keep long at all even when used in a cooler. So definitely do some field testing. :)
As for the link to the Techni-Ice, the reviews say they kept items (in a cooler ) still frozen after 12 hours. Indicates a definite better longevity, but also it indicates some seriously cold stuff. Would recommend testing something like that with extreme caution. Frostbite stripe tattoos I don't think will catch on all that well. ;D
Am thinking maybe solution in small tubes inserted into one or two slightly larger tubes to keep them far from direct skin contact.
Quote from: Lord Dragon on June 06, 2011, 04:34:22 PM
Frostbite stripe tattoos I don't think will catch on all that well. ;D
Oh I dunno, Im sure Faun's came in zebra-stripe somewhere along the line... I could be a whole new trendsetter. :D
As someone who wears 6-12 layers of cloth on a faire day, the best way is the natural way. Keep all of your fabric out of natural fibers. Even using tropical weight wool is a great idea. So is linen. Both will wick moister away from the body. Then when there is a breeze, or you make one, it cools you down.
Those bandanas that you wet and they stay damp because of the balls of gel inside are great around the neck and head. All you do is re-wet them when they dry.
Having worked in the theater, circus and at renaissance festivals, I have seen different types of cooling attempts. Nothing really seems to work except, ice packs, a "liquid" cooling unit that requires a battery pack and fan, and they type of units that race car drivers and astronauts use.
With that being said, I look forward to your trials. Please, please be careful. I have seen burns from ice and shorts in wiring from these things...
Quote from: Sam I Am on June 04, 2011, 01:55:10 PM
I ask because I am in the process of fine tuning the ideas for a fully custom all-suede archer costume, long sleeve and full length pants, made entirely of roughout suede, likely deer or elk.
I was planning on adding some tubing into the design which will allow water flow between my skin and the suede without being obvious, and using the quiver as a water storage bladder and a carry-all pouch for the movement and cooling system. My ideal would be for this to be a full-flow unit while walking, as opposed to a unit that needs to be run up to a hose or something every hour or so.
Um, why not just do what they did in period and wear summer garb? Linen is awesome! Also, it helps to have less chance of costume malfunctions and injuries. Panned britches out of leather with a sleeveless jerkin would be a lot less hassle and keep you cool. Or, heck, go traditional Robin Hood! Linen is your friend.
...And yes, I have seen and heard about
idiots individuals having "cooling system" related injuries in garb.
I wear a rolled up white cotton hand towel under my corset that will hold about 1/2 gallon of water without showing through and stays pretty cool.
Hey there.
I've not seen a motorized system before, but carefully placed interior pockets for blue ice are quite common here in Colorado.
However, regarding your concern about condensation, you have a legitimate concern.
I'm the designer for the Tudor Rose Leather Workshop (www.tudorroseleather.com) and we use alot of deertan cowhide. It feels great, isnt too expensive, and is quite thick/sturdy. However, even slightly damp fingerprints will leave a mark on the lighter colors. So, when we cut out our pieces we immediately spray them down with Dr. Jackson's Water Protectant Spray. We get it from Tandy. Here is a link - http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/home/department/Liquids-N/Conditioners-N/21974-00.aspx.
If you use this on both the facing side and suede side, you'll still get some dampness, but it cuts way down on staining. This is true for sweat too. Its the best stuff we've tried and it dries really fast with no discoloration.
Hope it all comes together for you. Maybe we'll see you in Larkspur someday.
If you use deerskin, elk, or even deertan
Havent gotten much done on this. I need some connectors which I can't get in the township locally, so have to wait until we leave our little hidden valley and venture back into the big city.. which won't be for another two weeks. Ack! :-[ Hoping to get those from Lowe's and get the prototype pics up here after that.
Thanks for the link to Tandy, I will look into that spray as well. I was going to give the waterproofing for leather shoes a try, can't for the life of me remember the brand. Will have to look in a bit.
And thanks for the suggestions to stick with lighter material or sleeveless jerkins... but I'm going to be stubborn and pass on that. I don't do sleeveless. :P At least for now. One can never have too many clothing options, in my opinion, so something 'seasonal' may very well come later on anyhow. lol
Last time I got a shock from something, I was ripping apart a radio to steal the magnets from its speakers. Still not sure which one of the little dillies shocked me, but something in there had objections to my intrusion and gave me a bit of a snap. ::) And if anyone is keeping score... I did in fact get those magnets.
The time before that, I touched the prong of an electric lamp as I was plugging it in and had a nice jolt of AC goodness zip up my arm.
I'm not too worried about wiring issues. At least not from a small battery pack. Car battery, tesla coil, cattle prods, pure electric voltage - those I respect. :P Anything smaller than a D-cell battery, nothing much to worry about.
Although if I'm packing voltage and go to shake anyone's hand, Ill warn them. ;) Nobody likes the hand-buzzer tricks.
You're welcome.
If you try any other sprays or gels, it goes without saying to put a bit on a piece of scrap. We've tried alot of stuff and most of them discolor the leather in one way or another. We have no relationship to or interest in Tandy or Dr. Jacksons, it just works well and is invisible when its on. Indeed, we have to be careful to keep track of which bits we've sprayed because you can't tell, except to sprinkle water on them.
Good luck with the project.
Quote from: Sam I Am on June 15, 2011, 02:24:45 PM
And thanks for the suggestions to stick with lighter material or sleeveless jerkins... but I'm going to be stubborn and pass on that. I don't do sleeveless. :P At least for now. One can never have too many clothing options, in my opinion, so something 'seasonal' may very well come later on anyhow. lol
A sleeveless jerkin doesn't actually mean you're sleeveless- basically, it would be a vest over a shirt. Your arms would remain covered, and the shirt would both wick the moisture away from your skin and keep your leather jerkin free of sweat, because leather doesn't launder well. Also, you can soak your sleeves with cool water and it feel so nice.
Admittedly, I'm from Canada. The weather here doesn't get quite as hot as down south ;) But I have seen people try and use personal cooling systems and have their costumes destroyed when something goes wrong- a leak, or fabric (or skin!) catches in a motor. A side note- a pump has a motor, a motor has exhaust, exhaust is warm air. Also, how would you clean the outfit? I've heard that the Texas faires are really dusty, and even with the cooling system you're still going to sweat. With all the tubing and pipes you wouldn't really be able to throw the outfit in the washer.
That was kind of rambly, sorry.
http://www.wga.hu/art/v/valkenbo/lucas/l_summer.jpg
The painting shows a lot of various summer outfits. It got hot in period too. A shirt, pants, and socks was just as common then in the summer as it is now. Actually, depending on the place - it looks like just a shirt and some sort of jerkin/doublet somewhat on is fine for the summer. Of course, their shirts came down to right above the knee.
My own little two bits: You can make your own 'blue ice' by mixing the colored rubbing alcohol with water and put it in ziplocks and freeze. it won't get totally rock hard like ice, more a really stiff putty' but you can make it any size or shape you need by playing with what you put it in.
I was told to use the colored alcohol to make it obvious what it is, and mix it about 50-50 with the water, but I'm sure with a little experimentation you could make it more or less pliable as needed by changing the ratio.