Shoulder pauldrons are one of those cosplay accessories that can be worn with multiple ensembles. They’re ideal for renaissance faire outfits, but you could also make a pauldron for something like a Wonder Woman costume. Instructables user The Rambler decided to make his own pauldron and include three segments, and it looks like a basic and simple project. Gathering supplies might be the hardest part of it. He used 4-6 ounce weight leather, but you can adjust that based on how thick you want your pauldron to be. In addition to leather, he gathered buckles, rivets, stain, a leather punch, rivet setter, and knife. He then transferred the below pattern to the leather and start punching holes to for the segments:
Each of the main segments needs four holes; one punched in each corner… or at least sort of in each corner. In the third picture (and also the first picture in the last step) you can see how the rivets at the bottom of each piece are placed in the corners but the rivets at the top of the two bottom pieces are placed further down. They need to be slightly offset so that the armor plates won’t swivel completely around, but will instead flex a little before catching on each other (see what I mean in the second picture).
Four of the straps needed a hole punched for them to attach to the pauldron. That part was pretty straightforward. Three of them required a buckle to be attached on the other end. For that I needed to cut a slot for the buckle prong to fit through and then punch a hole on either side for the rivet. I also used my knife to skive the leather thinner where it would fold over on itself. Then I had to add holes to the fourth strap as well as the long strap for the belt prong to hook into.
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