Jeff Wasson is an artist who specializes in making historical reproductions of medieval armor.  He is considered to be one of the finest American armor-makers working today, with a world-wide reputation for historical accuracy and attention to fine detail. 

Jeffrey D. Wasson, the armorer who crafted the accurate replica of the Art Institute’s Greenwich armor, and Jonathan Tavares, the Art Institute's associate curator of arms, armor and European decorative arts before 1700, discuss how utilizing experimental archaeology allowed them to uncover the methods used by Renaissance armorers in crafting the bulletproof protection.

Before leaving the incredible armor and spacesuit collection at Chris Gilman's Global Effects, Adam checks out the crown jewel of Chris's armor collection: a magnificent suit of armor hand made and decorated in the Greenwich style. This was a project over 20 years in the making, and Chris walks us through some of painstaking steps it took to form, polish, treat, and plate each of the over 160 hardened steel pieces that make up this suit!

In the first part of this January 21, 2012 program, Armor Jeffrey D. Wasson gives a live armor-making demonstration at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Wasson demonstrates the variety of tools and techniques used to craft European armor.  Narrated by Dirk Breiding, Assistant Curator, Arms and Armor Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In the second part of this January 21, 2012 program, Armor Jeffrey D. Wasson demonstrates how people dressed in armor.  While the process requires an assistant, the armor's careful design allows for a wide variety of movement, even when fully dressed.  Narrated by Dirk Breiding, Assistant Curator, Arms and Armor Department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.