Replacing bra shelf foam with horsehair?

In article om,
"wurstergirl" wrote:

I understand the desire for the ultimate in support solutions,
suggesting boning. But, she'll never wear such a thing. I'm shooting
for "pretty good", which is much better than what she had before. I'll
feel I've contributed a lot if I can simply equal the support of the
foam while reducing weight and heat. That's proving to be a very big
challenge! I might just visit the sports fabric store in Berkeley and
browse the technical stuff for inspiration.

You asked for alternatives. I merely gave you one since you didn't
mention any restrictions.

--
I fear me you but warm the starved snake
Who, cherished in your breasts, will sting your hearts. (Henry VI,Shakespeare)

Oh, what's that? How firm does it get? And is it flexible when you're
done or pretty hard?
as hard or as firm as you want. just a matter of playing with the
ingredients!
it's all just chemistry:-) i did mine with two bits kinda like a diy
bioform(more below). used hard plasic for a sort of underwire but wider
and with sides and with softer stuff.for cups. but could easily have
the two blended together.

This is a very interesting idea. I have never seen a bioform in person
though I've heard about it. (Does anyone have an old spare they could
loan me for week or two?)
if i could find mine i'd give you it but most of my stuff's in storage
at the moment. i'll see if i can locate it but could be several months!

I did see the program on it and it was a good idea, in principle! just
went wrong in practice, well for me anyway.
the idea i think was to replace the underwire with something softer to
soothe our poor abused flesh. however in order to regain the support
they had to make the bit wider, which would have been ok but they made
the central core of the inset very hard and the rest of it quite hard.
making the whole thing very firm. but some women love it. I did go get
fitted for mine (more on that later) and the woman said that the sizing
on them was very different and most people didn't get on with them.
but all that's my biased opinion after aying £30+ for it and finding
that it was agony after 2 hours! However i do appluad them for trying
do do something about the dark ages design of bras in general
http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_...ntArticle.html might be
better!
this next link is only tenuously connected but it's infamous in certain
circles (i first read it when i was 17)
http://gendertree.com/a_stress_analy..._strapless.htm

what really narks me off about the bra industry is many fold so here
comes a rant....:-)

60% of woman wear the wrong size. why? cause it's so damm difficult to
get the right one! I've done what you're supposed to do and i have a
drawerfull of bras that i was fitted for, was told were perfect and
coughed up large cash for only to find that after a few hous they drew
blood.
I once did a test on fitting and i went from one end of princes
street(lived in edinburgh at the time) to the other and got measred in
every store that sold bras. so that's 4 department stores, la senza,
M&S, C&A, BHS, Evans. about 10. all gave me different results. Given
that in general in my size one has to buy by mail order and can't try
on you might as be sticking a pin.

there's an implicit assumption that once you get over a E cup you want
to hide them, squish them down and make sure they never move.
i have a bust and there a times i would like to flaunt it. I want the
same options someone with a C cup would have. Sometimes i want
cleavage, sometimes i want strapless (ever seem these above a G?) I
would like a sports bra (last look on various web sites found ONE in a
H at around £30). I'd like nice fabrics (although Evans did a silk
range a few years back- if only they could have made them fit!) and i'd
like to pay a sensible price for them. I resent the fact that because i
have a bust i can't jsut go to tesco and pick up a pack of 2 for a £5
like my mum does.
The only time i even think of my self as having a large bust is when i
try to find bras. i'm used to not wearing one at all and don't feel
that i need support! i'm not looking for this 'lift separate and
imprision' sort of thing. They're supposed to move! i've stopped going
in to lingerie departements mostly cause i know i'll see all these
lovely things that only go up to a C. Sigh

However there's a slightly more phiosopical arguemnt too. Given than
roughly 50% of the population need/feel they have too wear these
torture devices you'd think someone would have come up with a better
design. one that wasn't so sensitive to people's individual quirks, or
alternatively taken it the other way and made to measure bras were
available on every high street, like glasses. (and it would mean sewers
could get the bits more easily)

umm that was a bit of a rant... ooops. maybe i'm not typical and all
women over an E/F do want that 'might as well wear a corset' feeling.
lol who knows. anyway it's hardly your fault that the bra industy makes
money out of those of us who keep buying the stuff they make cause
there's nothing better!
:-)
emma

wurstergirl wrote:

wrote:


but on the original idea.... have you considered moving away from the
fabric idea completely? i've done some along the bioform idea using
clear silicone RTV


Oh, what's that? How firm does it get? And is it flexible when you're
done or pretty hard?

on a papermachie mold and creating a shaped insert.

Could try something similar using harder material under to be the shelf
and replacing the cup foam with more bendy stuff. would have to punch
holes in it for breatability but you wanted out of the box!


This is a very interesting idea. I have never seen a bioform in person
though I've heard about it. (Does anyone have an old spare they could
loan me for week or two?)

I'm sorry to hear that the bra industry failed you. Would you mind
telling me what you would have wanted in a bra?

Pora

Damn! I wish I hadn't binned mine when they acquired holes (and one
broke when Alan trod on it!) You could have had them for nowt to
dissect and play with.

Bit like wearing plate armour, really. Dead comfy when they fitted, but
you did feel like a twin-hulled ship sailing into port! Even with holes
in the plastic armature they were rather warm...
--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

..

Bit like wearing plate armour, really. Dead comfy when they fitted, but
you did feel like a twin-hulled ship sailing into port! Even with holes
in the plastic armature they were rather ware
exactamundo!

In article . com,
wrote:

there's an implicit assumption that once you get over a E cup you want
to hide them, squish them down and make sure they never move.

Minimizing and preventing unnecessary & painful bounce during exercise
is perhaps a more accurate description. Those who don't wish to do this
during exercise are the exception, not the rule. As for regular wear,
I'm convinced that the minimizer was invented so that more amply endowed
women could fit into RTW a bit more easily w/o going up too many sizes.
Yes, it seems stupid to me but for women who cannot sew and cannot
afford to have their clothes custom made, I imagine this solution,
half-assed and production line driven though it is, is somewhat welcome.

i have a bust and there a times i would like to flaunt it. I want the
same options someone with a C cup would have. Sometimes i want
cleavage, sometimes i want strapless (ever seem these above a G?) I
would like a sports bra (last look on various web sites found ONE in a
H at around £30). I'd like nice fabrics (although Evans did a silk
range a few years back- if only they could have made them fit!) and i'd
like to pay a sensible price for them. I resent the fact that because i
have a bust i can't jsut go to tesco and pick up a pack of 2 for a £5
like my mum does.

Welcome to the real, market-driven world.

The only time i even think of my self as having a large bust is when i
try to find bras. i'm used to not wearing one at all and don't feel
that i need support!

Then what in the pit of doom are you complaining about and why are you
even in a such a snit about bras if you don't need or like them? Get
yourself some t-shirts and you can flaunt them until you start catching
them in your jeans zipper.

snip

--
I fear me you but warm the starved snake
Who, cherished in your breasts, will sting your hearts. (Henry VI,Shakespeare)

Phaedrine wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:

there's an implicit assumption that once you get over a E cup you want
to hide them, squish them down and make sure they never move.

Minimizing and preventing unnecessary & painful bounce during exercise
is perhaps a more accurate description. Those who don't wish to do this
during exercise are the exception, not the rule.
during exersise maybe but the rest of the time? and Bounce painful?
really? not for me.Maybe that's the issue then

Then what in the pit of doom are you complaining about and why are you
even in a such a snit about bras if you don't need or like them? Get
yourself some t-shirts and you can flaunt them until you start catching
them in your jeans zipper.

because one can not live on t-shirts alone! generally i live in
spagetti strap tops but hatchings, matching, dispatchings and job
interviews require a little mre formality.
BTW many studies have shown that there's absolutely no link between age
related sagging and bra wear. they'll drop whatever you do.

Phaedrine wrote:

This lady needs compression, coverage and structure.

I, too, have a generous bust, but the only time I want compression is
when my boobs are on the mammogram shelf, and I don't need full
coverage. Bosoms on the half-shell are quite all right for me in
underwear, my outergarments will cover my assets and maintain my
modesty, thank you. As far as structure is concerned, what I need is
some REAL engineering and cantileverage to give me the support I need.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.







--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

umm that was all a bit ranty but i would like to add that i was in a
bad mood this afternoon! no offence intended
also i would actually like to find a bra that fits comfortably i've
just never found it hence slight ****ed off ness:-). closest i've got
is comfort without fit.
emma

In article ,
Olwyn Mary wrote:

Phaedrine wrote:

This lady needs compression, coverage and structure.

I, too, have a generous bust, but the only time I want compression is
when my boobs are on the mammogram shelf................

snip

Then it's a good thing my *solicited* opinion was given to Pora
regarding her customer--- not you. When we say that a bra gives uplift,
we obviously don't mean the vertical thrust needed to hoist a rocket
from a launch pad into outer space. By the same token, when we say that
any bra that wraps around the body applies compression, we surely do not
mean the exaggerated and often painful constriction necessary for
radiography--- unless, of course, it is one's intention to hyperbolize.

Phae

--
I fear me you but warm the starved snake
Who, cherished in your breasts, will sting your hearts. (Henry VI,Shakespeare)

wurstergirl wrote:
Phaedrine wrote:
Sorry, Pora. I did not mean to sound so terse or bossy! It was late
and I was in a hurry... sorry.

Don't worry offence taken :-)

Aw, sh!t. That's supposed to say "NO offense taken..." What kind of
brain fart was that?


I'm reconsidering your suggestion about boning in cups. Can't talk
much right now, but I think I've got an elegant idea sprouting in my
head. Something along the lines of using reinforced vertical
flat-felled-type seams in a thinner shelf to create more rigidity.
Like the fan-shaped boning of victorian corsets?

Just came back from visiting 48J. Got a good look at the stretchy bra
on her and have rejected the whole project. Exactly as you described,
the powernet frame was nowhere near her body and her breasts were
drooping most unsatisfactorily.

Back to the drawing board.

Pora