ALL NIGHT LONG! Sorry couldnt resist. Yeah I will begin the planning stages now and start looking into various materials. Already getting ideas but suggestions are more than welcome!
That's an awesome design. I'm starting design on a crusader era piece as well. If you are interested in engraving anything to the leather, it's not too hard. I'm not sure how much leather working equipment that you have, but a dremel kit works just as well. Various bits for a dremel can be used to engrave in leather. It will be the internal leather color (light tan, as opposed to the outer darker color), but some cheap and easy leather stains can be used to fill in the engrave crevasses. You could either fill it in the same color as the rest of the armor (after some trial and error with different tubes of stain) or you could stain all of the leather, including the engraved sections, whatever color you want. If you do the trial and error method, MAKE SURE TO START WITH LIGHTER STAINS AND GO DARKER AS NECESSARY!!! It's super difficult to stain the inside of leather lighter when it's already been stained darker. Hope this helps if you were planning to engrave! If you have any other leather working questions, just post here and i'll help however I can.
