Leather scale cuirass
A hand-tooled leather scale armor build, referenced off period lamellar photos and stubbornness.
This started from a handful of reference photos from Fell & Fair and historical lamellar armor and a rough guess at how hard it could be. The answer, several hundred scales is probably harder than it looks, but also more satisfying than expected.
Every scale is cut from vegetable-tanned leather, shaped individually, and tied into rows by hand — no shortcuts, no laser-cut kits.