Japanese Photo books from the 1960's and 70's

Really nice woven collar to used for protection again the snow 

The shape of the protective pieces is really unusual.

Hiroshi Hamaya - Snow Land

Ikko Narahara - Europe

Ken Domon - The Children on the Chikuho

Kikuji Kawada - The Map

Yutaka Takanashi - Towards the City (Volume 1)

After looking at the Japanese armour, I came across this book which catalogued photos books from the 1970's and 60's I really like how the photos are put together and the interesting textures and landscapes, very playful with the contrast and repeating a photo for more impact.

Japanese Armour.....

The Japanese used amazing techniques of braiding and attaching leather together,  the produced very beautiful armours that functioned more than just protection.

I really don't like this one, the colours and the obvious techniques makes this
look too 'arty-crafty' the kind of thing that I have seen in old leather
how-to-do craft books.  I don't want my final piece to have this effect.
I am glad I have figured out what makes the leather have this style
so that I can stay well away and try harder to keep my work looking
contemporary and completely new.

For this sample I used super soft leather and cut it into quite thick strips
 to that it would gather before it went in to the small punched holes.
I like this piece because its quite gentle and subtle and I like the
 many layers which all act as one piece.

These samples are my favourite and the most effective.  I used soft leather
 and cut it to the right thickness that is would be scrunched into the holes.
 I think the colours work well because the strips blend in with the background.
I also like how close the piieces are together so it looks like one solid sheet
of textured ruched leather.
I photocopied the sample aswell to see if it would pick up the texture of
the surface. I think it makes a nice image which I might later explore in a
different medium.

For this piece I used the same technique but I weaved in a random pattern,
still trying to maintain the solid effect.  I don't think this worked as well as
the original as it doesn't give as much impact.

I produced my own sample of weaving and braiding from looking at the armour, some of them I like and some of them I didn't.