LEFT: As you can see, I have cut out the outer layer of the yoke from red leather and dyed black where I wanted black. Notice I have begun stitching with white hemp thread the outline of the shapes.

​NOTE: Drill small holes with a Dremel Tool so the sewing goes quicker!

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RIGHT: Now we see the finished outer sewing. This layer will later be "married" to another layer of the exact same dimensions.

Now let's get down to the details. Your spolas should be uniquely YOU (with a heavy influence from the ancient Greeks). Don't design a spolas that will be seen on everyone else you might run into at an event. This uniqueness will separate and elevate your "status" among your fellow living historians. The following ideas are some of the features I put on my personal spolas - please use them as a suggestion... not a commandment.

I like to add bronze pieces to my spolas in strategic locations to add beauty as well as protection to the more vulnerable areas. If you reference previous sketches and pictures herein, you will see where they all appear on the spolas.

~ • Now for the leather • ~

As with everything else, start with a theme (I chose Jason & the Argonauts for my theme). The bronze plates were repousséd and engraved from the sketches seen here.