Cosandeffect is actually the photographer. The photo you undoubtedly saw is of me in my own armor and costume.

That being said, my scales are real metal scalemail purchased in bulk from from The Ringlord, then knitted (assembled) and painted because I wanted a richer and more specific color than the flat colors offered by The Ringlord.

This type of scalemail is a form of ring or chain mail which means that there is no “base” to which the scales are adhered. Rather they are linked together into a semi-flexible mesh by metal rings hidden beneath the scales.

The ringlord website has a lot of tutorials available here.

Hypothetically, I suppose you could punch holes into the top of each guitar pick and use rings to connect them in the same way. It’s incredibly time consuming to knit scale and ring mail, but probably the strongest and most reliable way to do it. Alternately, you might punch a hole (or perhaps two small holes) in the top of each one and sew or stud them down to a fabric base. If you’re really in a rush, you could just start gluing them down in rows to a base material (make sure it isn’t too stretchy!) but I would be very wary of scales randomly popping off when you wear it, especially if they’re metal or plastic.

Recently, I’ve also seen a few tutorials about literally knitting scales with yarn instead of rings. It was never a terribly tempting option to me personally, but you could go some googling for tutorials if you were interested. If you do, I’d recommend cord/string/yarn/etc. that is quite strong and doesn’t have any stretch or it’s liable to break or sag awkwardly.