My Blue and Leather Shield

My latest shield creation is so I can have a tougher shield for shield wall demos. So this one is made of plywood like all the other recreationists in our group use. In summary, I glued a burlap facing on it and painted it blue (my colour). Then I added carved leather ornamentation. The boss is made from an iron bowl that I modified.

Here are the pictures of the steps;

I started with the boss - an iron bowl that I cut and trimmed so it would be about 6" diameter with tabs for rivetting. I used steel wool and lots of elbow grease to remove the rust and polish it a bit. Then coated it with vegetable shortening and heated it all over with a propane torch to season the metal so it wouldn't rust so bad.

The blank (which already had a handle attached), laid horizontally on a table, was coated on the facing side with white glue. Then the burlap stretched over it and smoothed and tacked to hold in place. More white glue, watered down so it would soak in better, was brushed on an the whole face saturated with the water/glue mix. Then it was left to dry.

Burlap added to shield blank. Two more shield blanks behind it.
 

 Next were the leather ornamentation and boss surround pieces. I cut them out of thick leather (the same stuff I use for the soles of my turnshoes).

Basic shape cut out

The design is the same one I used for one of my tent frames. It is my original artwork inspired by extant remains of dragon head tent frames and I wanted to reuse it, especially since the tent frame will likely be used for some furniture items I'm thinking of making. I have two tent frames - I only need one.

Details carved but unstained/unfinished

I made four of these and six of the shield surrounds. Then laid them out along with the boss and trimmed to fit. 

All pieces laid out, trimmed to fit

Next, the facing is painted with a solid blue (Wedgewood Blue) waterproofing stain. Once the first coat was on I added a second, watered down coat as some parts of the wood was not receiving the stain. After all is said and done there are still bits of unstained wood but it is not so noticeable and would be authentic anyway, I think. Note to self: don't use burlap again.



The blue added. Note the outline of the centre boss.

While waiting for the shield to dry it was time to stain and polish the leather pieces.

Stained and polished

I added some leather edging along the inside hole where the boss will go and leather wrapped the handle. The boss and surrounds were rivetted in place (not true rivets but square rosehead nails from Lee Valley) and the dragon head ornaments glued and tacked into place. The last bit to go on was a strip of leather around the rim, stained oxblood red. I'm pleased with the results.


Finished

Purely Decorative Shield

I had some leftover tongue and groove panelling from the hytte build so I decided to make a couple of norse shields - one purely as decoration to hang over the mantel. I was using my good shield to hang over the mantle but was getting tired of taking it down, and putting it back up when going to events.
So I started two shields and the other is to be a carry around shield - not for fighting. But the second shield will have to be a future post.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to photo document the build for either shield so I'll have to describe the process and you can see the finished product at the end of the post.

To start, I glued the planks together on a piece of 1/4" plywood to give it structural support (I wasn't going to put handles or reinforcing bars like I normally do). Then I cut the circle outside edge (using a dull blade on a dying jigsaw - but I perservered). Then a small hole for the hanger screw.

The boss was made from a dollar store stainless steel bowl that I pounded roundish (the term is 'dishing'),  and then heated with a torch to blacken it somewhat. I nailed it on with carpet tacks.

The decorative mounts are made of leather, from a design of a shield mount found in Valsgarde, Sweden. This was the most painstaking part of the shield making as I had to create the template and transfer to the leather. Then cut out the pieces with a razor knife and dye them black. I have fooled a couple of people who thought the mounts were metal. Heh-heh.

A little glue and round spots hammered in and the decorative mounts were put on.

Finally, I rimmed it with black dyed straps and it is done - for now. I might add more decorative mounts later but I want to mull it over.