I have agreed to make a friend a suit of armour, I have never done this & its a challenging project.
A bit of background: my friend does regular sword play with nylon blades, but they still bruise & he's after a bit of protection & looking good at the same time, he prefers leather over metal for manoeuvrability.
I have started to make it out of foam sheets to be able to visualise and agree the appearance, test for size & ultimately use as a pattern.
This was my draft & this is the style he wants. (sorry can't seem to rotate the image)
So I start to make a "pattern" copy out of foam & split pins
What I am trying to understand is how to make the lower banded section (orange) and still maintain flexibility - my thought being if I just rivet them all together it will be one large immobile piece.
My Google Fu has failed me on this one and so any advice is gratefully received