Masks & Armor class field trip: Armory of Dr. Eric Juengst

Last week, we had a special treat in my Masks & Armor class: we had the opportunity to visit with Dr. Eric Juengst, a colleague here at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a maker of actual metal plate-mail armor!

One of my students, Denise Dietrich, discovered Dr. Juengst's work through a mutual friend, who had shared with her this video:

I reached out to Dr. Juengst to see whether he'd be willing to meet with us, to talk a bit more in-depth about his methods and allow the students to handle some of his work, to compare the weight difference between his metal armor and the pieces we make for the stage from materials like thermoplastics. Lucky for us, he was more than willing to set up a visit to his workshop!

Here are some photos from our trip:


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Such a cool trip, and it was really exciting to be able to see and handle so many cool pieces of metal armor!