News - The Stars of Steel

December 10, 2021

The "Stars of Steel" is a series of lightweight functional female armour made of spring steel with the options of blackened, brass plated or polished contrasting finishing. We've set ourselves a goal to show the most eye-catching combinations of steel treatments within three armour sets however we encourage you to find the combination of components and finishes that works best for you! The number of options in the series provides you with the unrivalled opportunity to create the character you've dreamed of without long threads of customizations explaining emails to customer support – just select from the variety of designs for all the components of those armours and choose the finish. You can even order it entirely in golden colour – this option is always an unbeatable choice, proved by C-3PO and kingsguards.

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It is the first time in ArmStreet history when the whole new line of armour was developed and designed for female combatants from the very start. It's hard to go against the statistic that shows the overrepresentation of male fencers in the historical martial arts but we are so happy to see the growing interest in this incredible hobby among women! At some point we've added XS size for our in-stock armour, such as best-selling gauntlets, to meet the expectations of the noble worriers of more finely-cut stature. And finally instead of customizing the male armour to fit all the curves and peculiarities of the female body, we've come up with the best possible experience for the knightress in shining armour as the whole "Stars of Steel" series of spring steel protection from the very first draft is aimed to fit the variety of statures the women all over the world possess.

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So, where everything starts?

Our “Dark Star” is quite a rockstar armour, this is one of the most popular ArmStreet kits with endless mentions and shares and even a creative challenge started by popular Instagram artist Laura Brouwers. There are many reasons for this popularity, and we really enjoyed making this armor as well as managing a snow crash of comments arguing whether a breastplate with boobs is a legit option or not. 

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Blackened spring steel

There is one more reason why this armour is the next step for us and probably an outstanding piece of art even on the bigger scale of modern armour making. It's made of spring steel, which makes it essentially lighter than the same strength mild or stainless steel armor (the first male kit we've made for our friend Colvin is less than 30 lbs/13.5 kg). Moreover it is oil-blackened which is a rare option these days too. Armorers now mostly use chemical blackening, which is technically easier but doesn't give this authentic color gradient that you can see on our kits. Additionally, the whole process of coordinating spring-steel heat treatment and blackening is a huge technological challenge and we are not aware of any systematic success outside of ArmStreet at the moment. Armorers say that making a spring-steel tempered armor is like making it twice, the same thing is about making a blackened armour, so just imaging a combination of these two... Long story short, we've managed it, and now both our LARP clients who just want a lighter armor and our SCA and WMA clients who need strong but reasonably lightweight kits can enjoy our blackened spring-steel armor.

“Morning Star” and “Evening Star”: new female armour kits

There is always room to evolve: the appearance can be even more breathtaking, the flexibility and the level of protection can still be improved and the option of a more modest breastplate provided :)

New technology: a golden-color spring steel

ArmStreet never stops. The longer we run this company the more challenges we take and we just wonder how far we can make it. So, this is the new technology. We had a blackened and a regular mirror-polished or mate spring steel, so why can't we have also gold? The easiest possible option was brass, but we skipped it as brass doesn't work for the SCA-heavy and other realistic types of medieval combat. So, our next call was making golden-color spring steel and we did it! And here you are, now you have one more option which is a brass plated golden color spring steel.

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So what stays the same throughout the whole Stars of Steel series? Steel, indeed. Spring steel of high quality, lightweight and extremely reliable with three finishing options for almost any element of the armour: the silver colour of mirror polishing, golden colour of brass plating and deep black shade of blackened metal. And what are those numerous design options that made it reasonable to create separate listings for 3 full sets and about 30 more items of armour? Let's have a look!

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Spring steel helmets

Combat ready bascinet with a visor was an obvious next step after the archers' sallet.

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Protection for the shoulders and arms

Dark Star features the combined protection of the upper limb while Morning and Evening Stars have separate elements for shoulder protection and arm protection.

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Neck protection

Nicely shaped plate gorgets with leather bordering with one segment or several sliding segments of the stand-up collar and the completely different experience of the chainmail gorget.

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Spring steel gauntlets

Three different designs to fit your style of fighting and the weapon you use the best possible way: finger gauntlets, clamshell gauntlets and demi-gauntlets.

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And, of course, the cuirass

You can't even imagine how many debates we've got ourselves involved in when the naturally shaped women's cuirass of the Dark Star armour was first unveiled! Now it is absolutely up to you, whether you'd like your cuirass to be flat or curved – we have ready-to-order solutions for both.

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As soon as the first armour set of the series, the Dark Star, was announced, we've got a lot of questions from male warriors about their chances to get the same level of weight/protection balance or at least the same striking beauty for their armour sets. It would be such a waste not to implement all the experience we've gained while creating those sets of armour! So the Dark Wolf's destiny was to accompany Morning and Evening Stars. The same impressive amount of finishing options, same incredibly lightweight and reliable material but designed to fit masculine stature. Accompanied by the helmet of extremely defiant appearance, it aims to raise doubts among your opponents whether it was a good idea at all to show up on the battlefield today.

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