Here’s how I replicated Jon Snow’s segmented plate and leather armor!
1. Start with a pattern of whatever garment/project you are applying this technique to and use a clear gridded ruler to plan out the size and placement of the segment plates. This is time consuming and annoying since they vary slightly in size/shape on Jon’s costume, but that’s why it’s important to draw it out and see what it looks like before proceeding. I did a mock-up as well and discovered I had to go back and tweak the size/angles of everything 😑. This gave me the assurance I needed to cut vinto the real materials after that, though!
2. Cut out all the segment pieces out of 1/4” EVA foam (or another material if you want to experiment) and use tailor’s chalk to outline the placement of the plates on the backside of your leather. I found the easiest way to do this was to cut the plate sections out of the paper pattern, turning the pattern into a giant stencil that you can lay down on top of your foam or leather and trace inside the holes.
3. Glue the foam plates to the corresponding spot on the leather using Eco-flo leather weld glue. This is a great white glue formula that isn’t toxic and holds a pretty strong bond to leather and other porous materials. I used a paintbrush to quickly apply a medium thickness coat to the face-down side of the foam, then pressed it into the leather. Let the glue dry before proceeding so the plates won’t shift.
4. Next, glue the second layer of leather to the backside of the EVA foam plates so you’ve made a leather and foam sandwich. I found it worked best to work from one end to another in sections of 1-2 square feet at a time, quickly brushing glue over and between the foam plates, lining up and pressing on the second piece of leather, keeping the unglued section folded back and out of the way.
5. Punch holes and set rivets at each corner of the plates! Since everything inside the leather is glued and unmoving, this step becomes a lot easier. I recommend using a drive punch (the kind you hammer) rather than a hand rotary punch since it’s tricky to use it when making a garment as large as Jon’s armor.
Fun fact: There is a total of about 800 rivets on my brother’s Jon Snow costume 😅
