Muscled Cuirass

[QVINTVS ARTORIVS CORVINVS]

Matt If you want Phosphour bronze, you gotta think outside of the box :wink:
I happen to live a few hours away from the Sabien Cymbal plant (rock gods know this place well)
They carry it and aren't afraid to sell it in smaller quantities, providing you make nice with them.

I made my prototype out of it (P-bronze) because I actually had some kicking around. ( I think I posted it here a while back?)
Its not fully planished, but was recently worn onstage for Antony & Cleopatra (made the scale corselet as well )

I may have the guy's email address kicking around somewhere

PS - Good job on the raising of the abdominal section... and you are right about the current trend to dish them typically with air hammers. It is crazy how fast they can knock them out.
Shrinking metal/compressing over a form/raising is actually a intermediate part of metal working... part of the core knowledgebase.
Having said that, I only got it down at about year 7 of 11 :roll:
You need a specific type of hammer (raising hammer) to keep the energy from going out in all directions, and a round under-form to act as an under stake.
Once you get it down, it actually can go quite fast.
One tip is to use allot of light blows, and to stop thinking of your hammer arm as your arm, rather, lock your elbow to your side and imagine it is an air hammer with quick-light-perfectly placed blows.
It is kind of freaky to watch the lines develop.