Wonder Woman Shield Part I

Every Wonder Woman needs an Amazon shield!  While this one will not hold up on a World War I battlefield, it is a reasonable replica that will hold a cell phone and keys.  Carrying a purse while wearing armor just seems so impractical.

In Part I, I will outline the materials needed and basic internal construction.  Part II will show the outer construction and decoration.  

You could modify the inner construction portion; I used more materials and reinforcement than really necessary because this was my first time using some of the materials and I wanted to experiment with them before using them on the sword.  (The shield is covered in a layer of leather, which hides minor blemishes.  The sword will not be covered in leather.)

Materials used:

Aluminum pizza pan (16" diameter) and two large cardboard rectangles

Power drill and bits, pocket knife, exacto knife, knife sharpener, scissors, glue gun and glue, permanent marker, screwdriver, flat phillips screws with nuts (2 10 piece packages of #10-24x1/2 inch)

Masking tape, gloves, spray foam (3 cans for the shield and sword together) and newspaper

Washers (one 24 piece package of flat #10 size), newspaper squares, Elmer's Glue All, paper mache, sandpaper, paint (black, brown, and thalo gold), paintbrushes, leather cord (flat on back side), super glue, sealant, repellant, leather punch, leather cement, qtips, paper, pencil, pen, ruler, protractor, and compass. I used two types of leather: a large piece of smooth, flexible cowhide- enough to cover a 20" diameter disc and wrap around onto the back, which is probably around 5 square feet- and smaller strips of the leather remnants I used for the skirt. Not pictured: water and small bowls for mixing.  Access to a copier/printer will save time but is not mandatory.

 

Materials for the pouch: Thick fabric (I used the same brown fabric from the skirt project), measuring tape, fabric scissors, regular scissors, pins, thread, sewing machine, needle, Velcro, white charcoal pencil, and Fray Check

I worked on parts of the shield and sword concurrently- if you are creating multiple pieces with expanding foam, I strongly recommend you do them together to minimize waste and cost- the expanding foam cans are generally one use and each side of your creation has to dry before further application.

For the base of the shield, I started with an aluminum pizza pan.  I recommend purchasing it at a storefront location so you can see the exact shape, finish, and material that you will be working with.  The largest size I could find locally was 16 inches, so I added to the diameter using cardboard.   

I traced approximately half of the pizza pan onto two large pieces of cardboard (8" radius line is the pizza pan.)  Then I added 2" around the outside (10" radius = 20" diameter) and around 2" on the inside for overlap.  I used the exacto knife and scissors to cut out the approximate half circles.

I cut leather strips and decorative ends to help me determine placement of the arm straps so I could drill the corresponding holes accordingly.  The leather strips were approximately 1" thick; I made them longer than I thought I would need for later assembly.  

Final placement will look as shown below; straps need to be placed so that they leave plenty of space for your arms and the bracers and handwraps that are part of the costume.  (The final straps will be adjustable.)  I traced the decorative end pieces onto the pizza pan with a permanent marker.

 

Next, I drilled holes through the pan.  There are eight equally spaced holes around the edges for screws that will hold the cardboard, pan, and leather cover together at the end.  On the body of the pan, I drilled twelve additional holes for the arm straps using the marks I traced.

I punched holes through the cardboard and attached all the screws and nuts.  It is important to make sure that they are squarely inserted and that everything aligns properly- the ends will be covered by the expanding foam and will be inaccessible in the future. 

After assembly, I removed each screw individually and circled each hole on the back with glue.

The glue should not impede the screw- it is just to provide a little reinforcement around the edges of the cardboard and to prevent wiggling.  The screws and nuts should be square but should not be too tight- the Phillips head end will be covered later and you will only be able to remove the nut by hand on the opposite end from here on out.  (And you will have to remove it later on in the assembly process!) 

I had my sword base ready as well at this point so I could apply the expanding foam to both pieces at the same time.  Despite internet recommendations, I was not able to reuse cans of the spray foam so I was glad I got as much out of them as I could.  I wasn't sure how the expanding foam was going to work, so I used masking tape to cover the back of the screws/nuts just in case.

Be sure to wear gloves, use the material in a well ventilated area, wear old clothes, and protect your surfaces with newspaper!  This expanding foam was very sticky.  I sprayed the front of the shield first.  The foam continued to expand a lot more than I expected.  I really could have used a lot less of the foam than I did, but now I know for next time.  

Once the front had dried, I flipped it over and sprayed the back (only over the cardboard portion.)  I used my pocketknife to carve down the foam after it had dried.  The back was fairly  easy- I carved the foam down until the foam was even with the edge of the pizza pan.  The knife will dull when carving so I used my knife sharpener every so often to improve the blade.

The front was more difficult, and I found it helpful to cut circular pieces of the cardboard to make sure I was carving symmetrically and evenly.

The foam will not be perfect when carved and will have air bubbles, but you want it to be as even as you can manage.

 

Next, I applied strips of masking tape to add support and smooth the surface before application of the newspaper strips.  I used scissors to cut the tape cleanly and tried to avoid any wrinkles.  

 

The tape pieces covered the entire front of the shield and the back edges, slightly overlapping around the very edge of the pan.

I cut small squares of newspaper and dipped them in a mixture of Elmer's Glue All and water before applying the squares over the masking tape.  The squares should be small and smoothed down to avoid any wrinkles or weak spots.

The newspaper needs to dry thoroughly before the next step.  Honestly, you could probably skip the paper mache if you wanted, though it did add a surprising amount of further support.  I used the paper mache on the shield partly as an experiment before I use it on the sword- the final finish isn't terribly important since the shield will be covered in leather.  

I applied paper mache and tried a few different techniques with it.  It worked best to separate the clumps by rubbing the dry material in my palms and fluffing it a little before the adding water.  I added the water in small increments to get a texture I felt comfortable working with.  I found that it worked best to dip my fingers in water and smooth down the surface of the paper mache in sections before it dried too much.  I waited too long for some of it and there were large areas I couldn't smooth down.  They were harder to work with later.

The paper mache did not dry well in the garage- it did much better in the house under a light ceiling fan.  I sanded it down and added some additional paper mache (mostly in the places I did not smooth down in the first place.)  Then I let it dry and sanded it again.   

Lastly, I brushed it with a layer of sealant.  

This is the end of Part I.  Part II will include the outer layer and decoration process!