A run of ceramic scales [help]

Hi y'all, I'm trying to plan out a Sabriel cosplay (from the Garth Nix novel of the same name), and keep running into the same problem: her "gethre" armor: from the books, it's fairly explicitly a ceramic scale mail. I think the least cost-prohibitive way to make this would be to make a large silicone half-open mold that produces a couple dozen scales at a time, cast it in Shapecrete or similar, and then polish them in a vibratory tumbler. However, as I would need on the order of a thousand scales this will take ****ing forever to produce. Instead, do y'all know of anywhere where I could just order a run of a thousand or so ceramic pieces to spec? Each piece would be about 1 in x 0.5 in x <0.25 in, and have 5 small holes in it. Apologies for the ridiculous ask x_x

(for some reason the tagging system isn't working for me so no tags on this post =( )

Hi PersephoneK, not sure if this is what you need but I noticed Molly Miller from Hag Effects (@hag_effects) was using concrete to make large sheets mermaid scales. One of her posts on instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm4DWtcgbx9/?taken-by=hag_effects

shareahack said:

Hi @PersephoneK, not sure if this is what you need but I noticed Molly Miller from Hag Effects (@hag_effects) was using concrete to make large sheets mermaid scales. One of her posts on instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm4DWtcgbx9/?taken-by=hag_effects

Click to expand...

fascinating. It looks like she's using it just as a negative for casting silicone into, but thank you!

I think you should look at something like sintra or similar. Custom ceramic tiles on that order would still be cost prohibitive. Not to mention weight, etc.

I'm actually planning on attempting this myself, but going the painfully slow route. The current plan is to use Sculpy Ultralight and a half round strap end punch. Was a color ever mentioned in the books for gethre?