Great Lakes Garrison & Base

I've been looking around for ways to build a stormtrooper shoulder pauldron, but have come to several dead ends. I tried making a cardboard piece and overlay it with leather, but I ran into many problems with that. I thought about buying one, but teens don't get much money . any ideas?

These are great.
http://www.shoulderpauldrons.com/

Pleather or vinyl over plastic cross stitch material. Cuts easy, sews well and troops good. The originals were chest pads worn side ways. Kinda cool.