So… I’ve been working on this a while. It has some issues, which I hope to remedy, but I don’t think it’s too bad for my first attempt at leather armor, and, being new to leather tooling, I think I did a passable job. I’ll have to try to get a shot that shows the pauldrons better sometime.

The armor is intended to be more magical rather than practical, and was designed with certain themes in mind… the most obvious of which are animal motifs, done in more of an illustrative way than of the styles of the ‘timeperiod,’ to emphasize the difference of it and other armors. The next two themes are relative space and the elements. Starting at the bottom is the element of water, depicted with the Kraken, and kelp. Then, at the midrange, is the element of earth, adorned with a terrestrial animal, the wolf, as well as forest plants, such as ferns. The breast piece represents the element of fire, and naturally is adorned by dragons, as well as a starburst and ivy, reminiscent of the fire-warmed walls of castles. Finally the pauldrons, resting above the other elements, embody air, and are adorned with sparse trees, as well as two birds, a barn owl and a crow, which represent both day and night. This day/night theme is also indicated in the alternating colors of the eyelets and such, gold for the light of the sun, and silver for the light of the moon. The pauldrons can be removed so it can be easily worn with my cloak, at which point, I consider the breast piece representative of both fire and air, since dragons can fly.

Also, here’s an alternate shot: http://nashoba-hostina.deviantart.com/art/Leather-Elemental-Armor-397752628?ga_submit_new=10%253A1378168541&ga_type=edit&ga_changes=1&ga_recent=1

… Okay, I’ll shut up now; gotta pack this stuff up for furlaxation. (How the heck can I have just one little roll-along for clothes and human stuff, and yet need a big ol’ tote and plastic trash bag full of stuff just for werewolf shenanigans. Thanks for reading!