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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2012-05-11, 19:43

Here is one of my recent creative projects. No real-time journaling for this one, but I will (partly) for the next one...

This here is a shield for a Dark Link costume I made for work recently. I ended up having to go without a proper back scabbard and boots due to a time crunch (thanks to having to work in the office over the weekend when I was going to do the costume), but otherwise it turned out well. I'll have to put on the chainmail, black gloves, black hat, and black tunic for a fully suited pic later.



Obligatory bathroom mirror self shot:



It's probably not clear in the pics, but this shield is actually nicely curved unlike the flat one I made for Halloween some five years ago.

Post-completion journaling progress!
  1. Sketched out the patterns onto newspaper.
  2. Cut the newspaper patterns and transfered to poster board.
  3. Ever-so-carefully curved a full sheet of black foam core board. This takes extreme care and patience. Basically, you soak one side of the board with hot water and slowly apply pressure, making the wet side concave. In this case, I used a dish towel by the sink to keep wetting the one side with hot water, and I gently pressed it into the side of the bathtub bit by bit. You have to take this very slowly, though, or the board will snap and you'll get a big ugly wrinkle/crease. Once allowed to air dry, the board holds the curved shape.
  4. Cut the main shape from the curved foam core board.
  5. Used a fat paintbrush to coat the convex side with Mod Podge. This both acts as a sealer/strengthener and gives the surface a wood-grain appearance.
  6. Cut the various detail patterns from black craft foam.
  7. Brushed (finely) a couple coats of gesso on the craft foam parts. This both acts as a sealer and gives a smoother appearance. Craft foam is naturally spongy and refuses to take paint well, but the gesso fills the pores and creates a much less porous surface for the paint to stick to.
  8. Spray painted the gessoed craft foam with chrome spray paint.
  9. Spray painted the chromed craft foam with a light coat of matte acrylic sealer.
  10. Elmer's glued the various craft foam parts onto the main board.
  11. Cut a few lengths of 3/4" PVC for the handle behind the shield (not visible).
  12. Hot glued the PVC to the foam core board.
  13. Duct-taped (yes, at this point I was rushing and rapidly cutting corners ) an extra strip of pleather for the arm strap behind the shield.
  14. Done!

The second project I've been working on I'll post shortly in situ.

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