Preliminary Sketches

So here are some sketches I did for the suit design. I want to push the design towards a working suit, rather than a super armored military design. Also this would cut down on the amount of vacuum forming I would have to do. Not that sewing all that nylon isn't a daunting prospect. I've done a few test pieces, and now I need to buy some more material.

This is the first post of this blog. My name is Elijah Stillson, and I am an industrial designer currently working out of Seattle, WA. I am constantly making things, and my first step is usually research, most of which is done on the internet. In the past people that have documented their creative process have been really helpful to me, so this is my attempt to reverse that flow. I will be posting mostly what I create for myself, or whatever I made for others without having to sign an NDA.
The first project that I'll be detailing is a space suit build. I have always wanted one, and it's probably unlikely at this point that I'm going to be getting any calls from NASA. Instead of a straight reproduction, I want to make my own design. I really like the look of the early type H American suit, and the Russian Strizh/Buran suits, they look tougher than the sterile, white suits in use today. Since it doesn't have to be functional I think I want to go a little more modern and less clunky.
So far I have only purchased materials:
5 yards of sealed ripstop nylon
A bunch of military surplus nylon webbing
A 14" acrylic dome from here (they were the cheapest I could find, but they were very slow to ship.)
Various notions