Here we see a nearly finished yoke (FAR LEFT). The suede thongs you see dangling behind the yoke are for attachment to the tube later. They are strung between the inner and outer layers (through holes). I covered the inside layer with white suede (unseen here) and overlap-lined the edge of the yoke's 2 layers with natural deerskin, then cut a shape out of thin leather, dyed white for the facing trim edging. Then I hand stitched all the layers together with white hemp thread. This is where the Dremel comes in handy!

The tube's outer layer will receive 4 red, sewn down vertical divider strips, with black dyed olive branch design, and over all that, 2 belts of thin leather with red Greek Key design, outline stitched around with black hemp thread. The extra leather shows where the white binding is to be (same piece of leather as the upper Key design). It will be cut to size and the center areas removed to show the armor.

WAIT A MINUTE!!! How did we get here so quickly?

OK, since I wanted bronze scales on my spolas, I sewed them to the outer layers on all four sections (2 sides ~ 1 front ~ 1 back). If you look closely, you will see all the outer layers have been sewn together with sinew (same goes for the pteruges). Cut a 1/4" gap between all the pteruges (trust me!). The pteruges have then been covered with a layer of deerskin, dyed black, and the colored tips are colored leather. I covered the backsides with black pigskin. Another layer of thin leather is dyed white and cut to shape for the pteruge edgings.

Here we see the nearly finished outer layer - lacking only the scales on the left side panel. Notice how the pteruges all align with the corresponding sections. All the black areas are dyed deerskin, initially laminated onto the latigo with contact cement.