the size of the mold/pattern will determine what race can use it. most all of the items needed can be found in POK, with the exception of the temper, which is a foraged item that is brewed.
the size of the mold will determine what race can wear this and all of the other ldon smithing items. small is the small races, regular is the med races, and large molds used will turn out an item wearable by the large races. most everything you need is found in POK, except the temper of course. those items are foraged and then brewed. i made 3 complete sets of the various ldon smithing gear for soem of my newbish chars, and it works out pretty well.
All these ldon armors work out well for lower level charactors. Most of them don't have enough AC for high levels to be interested in though. I have a paladin twink who has a full set of this stuff, it looks just like deepwater armor.
When it first came out you could buy this stuff cheap, Last I checked the BP's for just about all ldon smithed armor was going for 1kish