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

Raven Shield

This post is long overdue. When making the Purely Decorative Shield (see earlier) I had some of the material leftover for another shield.

This time, I made the shield to be used. I wanted to put a cloth or leather facing on it - decided on some canvas I had kicking around so once the shield planks were glued together, the round shape and the inner round hole cut out, the handle added, I was ready to add the cloth.

First, I mixed some white glue with water to make a medium to soak the cloth and infuse it with glue, then spread glue on the shield face. I wanted it to be ready to go once I did the next step.
Second, spread the cloth on the face of the shield, and with a paintbrush, dabbed and squooshed the water-glue mix into the cloth.
Third, using little brad nails I stretched the cloth across the shield, holding in place with the brads.
Let dry, trim the cloth, remove the brads.
While I was waiting for the cloth to dry I dished a dollar store stainless steel bowl into a boss.
Add the boss, a leather edging and paint the raven design onto the cloth and...well, take a look...



I'm not sure of how long it took to make in total. I really should learn to document the process better with pictures and time to make. I was toying with the idea of adding more decoration like knotwork, runes, etc. But I like it as is, and it serves as a white shield of peace and the two ravens can represent Odin's ravens, Hugin and Munin.

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.