Ezio cosplay progress - Pauldron

(All of these Ezio progress posts are retrospective. I started work on this after summer in 2013 and it's been a slow process ever since.)

The pauldron pattern was also modified from one of Mueldex's. I decided to go with the design seen in AC2's official art, since the in-game default one was pretty plain.

In-game model

Official art

I used official art, screenshots, the XNALara model, the statue and Fevereon's build as reference for the general shape and engraved patterns. I drew the details on paper and cleaned them up in PS. I only drew one half of the top pattern; it was symmetrical at first but I warped it so it would fit the shape of the pauldron when it was layed out. I then traced it onto some thicker tracing paper and layed it on top of the top pauldron layer, using a ball point roller to engrave it into the leather.

I did as much as I could with ball points and a DS stylus... I used water to soften the leather so the tooling would stay there. However, as the water dried I could see how much I'd actually done to the leather. You can see in the bottom right picture how different it looks when it's wet.

This was the most I could do using pure elbow grease.

I then got my rotary tool and passed over all the patterns plenty of times with a range of bits so they were visibly deep. I also engraved the lines which would split the pauldron into sections.

I made a quick paper pattern for the padding and cut the pieces out of thick piles of scrap fabric, loosely stitching them so they wouldn't fall apart.

 I actually didn't end up using the two end pieces since they made the pauldron too thick to sew and would get in the way of rivets. 
Here are the sections half sewn and the edges still open... I sewed the middle line first and carefully repositioned and clamped the layers each time I had to sew a new line so the layers would line up as nicely as possible.

No more progress photos after this, but I sewed the edges together, dyed the whole thing lightly, dyed the patterns darker so they'd stand out more, passed over it with leather finish, added the rivets and ring things and it was done!
Here it is with the cape too, which is fake suede and red fabric.