Hey, guys.
Steve here at SKS Props.
Today, we're making a
cosplay-safe Viking shield.
Welcome to the shop.
In today's build
video, we're going
to be foam fabricating
a Viking shield.
Now, this, of course,
is made it all out
of my HD-Foam, which
you guys can find over
at Blick Art Materials
online and in select stores.
Because it is a
foam fabrication,
two important parts to that.
Number one, it's
extremely light.
Number two, it is
completely con safe.
Now, I've got free
templates that you guys
can download to build
your own Viking shield.
Now, the video we're
going to do today
is based off of
a 24-inch shield.
But you guys can scale
the media to whatever
size you would like.
I'm going to show you
guys the steps that it
takes to put this together.
We've got a lot to do,
so let's get started.
Now, because my foam
is 24 inches wide,
I decided to forego the
template and just cut out
a 24-inch square.
Once the HD-Foam had
been cut to size,
I went ahead and
measured in 12 inches
from the side and the top to get
the exact middle of the square.
After the middle
had been marked,
I made myself a
makeshift compass
to make a perfect
circle on the foam.
I then used a T-square to
mark the boards that are
going to make up the shield.
The circle was cut out of the
HD-Foam freehand using a Blick
utility knife.
And then I used a
metal straight edge
to cut the boards individually.
Now, don't worry.
You don't have to be
perfect with this process,
because we want this to
have an organic look.
Now we can start to apply the
wood-grain texture to the foam.
To achieve this, we're going to
use a medium-grit sanding drum.
You want to pull the drum up a
little bit so that it is away
from the barrel.
And you're going to use
the very edge of the drum
to carve into the foam.
Because of the way the
rotary tool drum spins,
you want to start on one side,
and then pull it to the right,
making sure to vary your lines
to give it that organic look.
Then flip the piece over,
and repeat that process.
You can also tell
that you can get rid
of the uniform
surface of the foam,
I'm varying the pressure
that I press the drum
into the material as well.
The face of our shield is
coming together really well.
So now it's time to
work on the back.
To make sure I
don't get mixed up
where the boards go,
I take a black Sharpie
and mark the top
of all the pieces.
This process does produce
a lot of foam dust,
so I took everything
over the sanding station
to work on the back.
And once again, I'm trying to
vary the lines and the pressure
to make sure that none of
these boards look the same.
After quite some
time, the wood texture
for the front and back of our
Viking shield is complete.
Pulling out some craft paper
to protect my cutting surface,
it's time to start gluing
all these boards together.
And to do that, I'm going
to be using contact cement.
Always remember when
using contact cement
to work in a well-ventilated
area and have your respirator.
Contact cement is
being used because I
need a good bond of
adhesion since there is not
a lot of surface area to
connect these boards together.
Glue is applied to
the HD-Foam using
a scrap piece of material.
I'm also doing my
double-adhesive method
by putting a little
bit of super glue
along with the contact cement.
Now you can see where the
Sharpie marks on the back
helped me align all the pieces.
All of the boards have
been glued together,
and now it's time
to cut and attach
the strip that will go along
the perimeter of the shield.
To fabricate this
piece, I'm using
a strip of 2-inch,
2-millimeter HD-Foam.
To make sure that this piece
has the best adhesion possible,
I'm once again using
contact cement.
I roll the shield
onto the strip,
making sure that I have
proper spacing, since it
has to wrap around both sides.
I decide to only wrap half
of the shield at a time.
That way, I'm not having to
deal with too much material.
Additional contact
cement is placed
onto the face of the shield
and the interior of the strip.
After this is dry,
the 2-millimeter foam
is pressed into place.
The shield is then flipped
over, and the process
is repeated on the back.
Now, don't worry.
The 2-millimeter foam
will stretch a little bit
and conform to the shape.
The second strip is applied
just like the first.
And I do add a little
bit of super glue
to the piece that overlaps.
I cut down a 5-gallon paint
stir stick on my band saw.
This will act as the hand
guard and give the shield
a little more stability.
Using my makeshift
compass again,
I cut out a small circle in
the very center of the shield.
The handle and
two support strips
are marked on the back of
the shield with a pencil.
The two smaller strips
are then glued into place
using some contact cement.
The handle has its edges
sanded down just a little bit
to make the grip
more comfortable.
And it's also glued into
place using contact cement.
To simulate the leather
wrap on the handle,
I cut a 1 and 1/2 inch strip of
2-millimeter HD-Foam and glue
that into place
using super glue.
To give the shield a more
authentic look, because I just
don't want the wood strips
on the sides being exposed,
I cut some strips of
10-millimeter HD-Foam
to act as metal bracers.
Contact cement was also
applied to these pieces.
And once the glue had dried,
they were pressed into place.
I again use my makeshift
compass technique
to make a 6-inch circle.
This will to be the
base for the boss,
or the hand guard in the
center of the shield.
This piece is initially cut
by hand using a utility knife,
then cleaned up
using a rotary tool.
To make the dome
section for the boss,
I find a bowl that is
approximately the right size
and shape.
Heating up the
10-millimeter HD-Foam
and pressing it
firmly into the bowl
gives me a compound
curve that is seamless.
Now, I made sure to have
more material than I needed.
So I cut off the excess
using some shears
and cleaned up the remainder
of it using a rotary tool.
This dome section, now
flush, is glued to the circle
that I cut previously.
I then take it to the belt
sander to even out the spacing
all the way around.
Using an extremely
smooth sanding drum,
I start to give the boss
a hammered-metal texture.
This is achieved by lightly
pressing the sanding drum
at different angles.
Once complete, it's glued
to the center of the shield.
This hammered-metal
texture is also
applied to the 10-millimeter
metal support structures
on the back of the shield.
To simulate some tack
heads for the leather
around the perimeter
of the shield,
I use a leather hole punch
on some 2-millimeter HD-Foam.
These tack heads
are then spaced out
approximately 2 inches apart.
Utilizing some
glue and tweezers,
these tack heads
are then applied
all around the perimeter
of the shield and the boss.
Continuing the leather-wrapped
look on the back of the shield,
contact cement is applied to
the 5-gallon paint stir stick.
And strips of 2-millimeter
HD-Foam are pressed on top.
More of the faux tack heads
are applied to this portion
as well.
To simulate larger
rivets, I cut sections
of 10-millimeter
HD-Foam round out.
These are glued
into place and then
shaped using a rotary
tool to give it
a hammered-metal appearance.
This process is applied to the
support strips on the back.
And then more pieces are cut
to simulate that they go all
the way through to the front.
After a rotary
tool has been used
to knock these pieces
down, a heat gun
is used to finish them off.
Of course, battle damage
is needed for such a prop.
And after that, I use a heat
gun to give it a final heat
treatment.
All right, so you
guys can see that we
are done with the fabrication
side of the Viking shield.
And I'm pretty happy with
how the wood texture came out
on this one.
So we're going to move on
to sealing and painting.
And to seal this one off, we're
going to be using Plasti Dip.
And I'm going to be
doing two light coats.
Remember when spraying
Plasti Dip to always wear
your respirator.
Two light coats
of Plasti Dip are
applied approximately 4 to 5
inches away from the surface.
You want to make sure to
move in a continuous motion
to avoid pooling or running.
To give this shield a
little bit more strength,
I'm also going to be
using a layer of FlexBond
on top of the Plasti Dip.
Utrecht brand burnt sienna
is mixed in with the FlexBond
and applied directly to the
surface using a mop brush.
You want to make sure that
the paint mixture covers
the entire surface, including
all of the different textures
and gouges that we've made.
But if it's starting to
pool or build up too much,
be sure to take
a wet paper towel
and wipe off any of
the additional excess.
A hair dryer definitely helps
speed up the drying process
on the front of
the shield, which
allows me to go ahead
and work on the back.
And make sure to get
paint on the sides.
After the paint on the front
and the back of the shield
has fully cured, it's time
to move onto our wash.
For the wash on this
shield, I'm going
to be using Utrecht brand
Mars Black and a ton of water.
We want to make sure to
get all that paint down
into all the details that
we've previously made.
Wipe off any additional
paint with a paper towel.
And once again use a hair
dryer to lock it all in.
I paint the boss using a
very minimal amount of water.
I want a lot of pigment on this.
And then I go in with
a flat-head brush
and start to separate
all the panels.
For the trim around
the outside, I
use a filbert brush to
paint along the perimeter
and then feather it in.
The same wash is applied
to the back of the shield,
making sure to fully
paint the bracers
and the leather-wrapped handle.
Using Utrecht brand raw sienna
and absolutely no water,
I go in with a mop brush,
grabbing a bunch of pigment,
and dry brush that
directly onto the surface,
making sure to hit
all of the highlights.
It is important not to
use any water in this step
because you don't
want any of that
paint to flow down into the
textures that you've created.
Now, notice that I'm not
painting the entire surface
at the same opacity.
I'm picking certain
spots to make it more
visually interesting.
I want the leather wrap around
the outside of the shield
to have a little bit of
a contrast to the wood,
so going back with some burnt
sienna and a filbert brush,
I start applying the pigment,
once again adding zero water.
Burnt sienna is also
applied to the leather
wraps on the handle.
I want the decorative paint
on the front of the shield
to be pretty vibrant.
So in this case, I'm going to
be using Liquitex Heavy Body
Brilliant Blue.
This is applied in the same
fashion as the raw sienna, just
dry-brushed over the surface.
To go with our
contrasting color,
I'll be using Liquitex
Heavy Body Parchment.
This is, of course, a very
simple way to finish this off.
You, of course, could do
something very intricate
and make some really
beautiful designs.
To highlight and cover
up some of my overpaint,
I make a mixture of raw
sienna and burnt sienna
and paint that directly
onto the leather perimeter.
Utrecht brand Mars Black is
used to touch up the boss
and to paint the tops
of all the tack heads.
As a final pass, a little
bit of pure raw sienna
is used to highlight
the leather perimeter.
Using Liquitex Heavy Body
Iridescent Rich Silver,
I start to apply the metallic
highlights to the boss using
a filbert brush.
Using a detail brush, each tack
head was carefully painted.
To give the metallic sections
a slight rusty appearance,
raw sienna was dry-brushed
onto the surface.
The last step was to
paint in all the battle
damage using a liner brush
and Utrecht brand Mars Black.
So you guys can see
the steps that it
takes to put together a
foam-fabricated Viking shield
that is perfect for cosplay.
Now, if you guys are
building any of my builds
or using HD-Foam, be
sure to tag Blick and SKS
Props on Twitter and
Instagram, because we
love seeing your progress.
In the next video, we're
going to be making an ax
to go along with our shield.
This is also completely
cosplay- and con-safe,
made entirely out of my HD-Foam.
Now hopefully, you guys learned
something from this video.
And if you did, go ahead
and give it a thumbs up,
and share these with
your friends and family.
And be sure to
come back by again
for more tips and tutorials.
Until next time,
thanks for stopping by.
