Remember, no resin, right? Okay, so this is going to be really fun. By fun, I mean a LOT of work. In all my searching, pretty much everyone does craft foam, or resin for Zelda's getup. Yikes, this is going to be super awesome. Now, there is a guy, Azmal, who is on DeviantArt (http://http://azmal.deviantart.com/) who is the only person on the planet (that I've found) that has taken the time to do Zelda's armor in metal. I asked him if he'd do a commission (and yes, I'm still considering it), but his price is astronomical. See, he uses repousse' and chase, a nearly forgotten craft to work with metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repouss%C3%A9_and_chasing). It's actually pretty darned cool and his work is amazing! Because of this, the effort involved is enormous and hence carries quite the price tag. So, I figured, why not? I am handy with wood and metal, let's give it a shot. Given this will be probably the most effort intensive (by me, anyway) part of this costume set, I had better get started. I figured that whilst I'm sitting at home and just lounging on the couch, I would go ahead and start researching the jewels for the costume. See, again, no resin. So enter our beautiful friend Swarovski. Yep, the jewels in this li'l bugger are going to be Swarovski.
But wait, you say.. I thought you were doing this REAL? C'mon folks, can you imagine how much REAL sapphires and rubies would be for this if I did that? Might as well make the armor actual GOLD while I'm at it if I were doing that... not. So, Swarovski makes some breathtaking crystal embellishments and so that's what I'm doing. Now, can I find them in the right rough sizes? And so the journey begins. It turns out, I can probably find most of what I'm looking for. I may have to take some license with some of the elements to conform to reality and the ability to acquire materials, but I started the process today. Yep, I bought the crown jewels (har, har).. and one of the belt jewels, because I think the sizes are pretty close. The front-jewel for the crown may not quite be large enough. We'll see.. I can find larger ones, but they have these pesky holes in them because they are part of the chandelier collection. We'll see if I have to go there, or not. I hope to avoid that and that the ones that I got will work. So for Zelda's crown, here's what I managed to find (and buy). I got these from ArtBeads jewelry supply (http://www.artbeads.com). I'll probably get some more stuff from them over the course of this, too.
For the front-crown jewel, I got the Swarovski "fancy pear" in aquamarine, in a 40mmx27mm size (style 4327) at: http://www.artbeads.com/4327-aqu40.html.
For the back jewel (as it is darker), I got the fancy oval in blue
montana in 39mmx28mm (http://www.artbeads.com/4127-mon39.html), and
finally I got the same oval style in aquamarine as the central belt
jewel (http://www.artbeads.com/4127-aqu39.html). Not bad for the first
day gem-hunting. I spent pretty much the rest of the day pulling my
hair out looking for the large red round jewel, and the droplet jewels
of the right shape (those are probably going to come from a chandelier
place, or I will take license and do something with a teardrop like some
earring makers do.. I'm not yet sure. 
Incidentally, I did have a good find today, looking for the bronze (yes, I'm using bronze, not brass.. no one ever used brass as armor.. c'mon now...). I found 14 gauge sheet bronze (which would have been about the right gauge of bronze for plate armor) and also managed to find sheet yellow brass (which I just so happen to need for my Hylian shield)! Score, two birds, one stone. Excellent. I am going to do some mockups first before I buy since I will need to know how much I'm going to need. Incidentally, anyone know how to cut 14 gauge bronze into pretty detailed shapes? I'm thinking water jet may be the only way to go, unless there is a way to do it with a scroll saw... hmm...
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