Time to be more blatantly helpful, since Socratic assistance is being viewed as harangue. Good thing I have a free half an hour.
http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/a ... hC_sinric/Note how the lames are pinned together with rivets that rotate; the articulating lames are shaped (bent and dished) to allow the entire piece to move freely in the directions they are intended to move. This is what is known as full articulation or armor with articulated joints.
To borrow a picture Ender once posted,
This is floating articulation, for a shoulder joint (spaulder). Note how the leather strips are riveted to the piece and allow the lames to collapse inward, allowing for motion forward and back with the shoulder raised.
Joints which consist of a single cop pointed to either vambrace, arming coat, or rerebrace or any combination of these is often called a floating joint, as well:
http://www.wintertreecrafts.com/rondelcouter.htmlhttp://www.allenantiques.com/A-96.htmlI did some looking for something similar to the design you used, Summit. I found an SCA armorer doing something like that but without the extra lames at the elbow and with splinted arms. And with the cop on the outside of the armor.
Did you happen to get your pattern, Slagar, from a SCAdian? I can see how that method would produce a satisfactorily mobile arm harness if cut like that. I just don't understand putting the cop inside the lames like in OP's piece.
Summit: Do not view my criticism as discouragement. I want to encourage you to excel. Clean up your cuts, make sure things are symmetrical and smooth, bevel your edges, rivet heads go on the outsides (peens on the inside) whenever possible, elbow cops go on the outside of the lames. Work on your shaping. See this tutorial on water hardening to learn a reliable way to shape leather pieces without having to cut and stitch or rivet them, though that's great for larger/deeper curves:
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/ ... 1&t=118610 Keep at it.