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When the state brings shields and body armor to a protest, what are they expecting? Compliance. Intimidation. Retreat. But sometimes, resistance looks like courage made out of scrap metal. Here’s how to build your own riot shields — not for war, but for defense, dignity, and survival — using a standard 55-gallon steel drum.
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Here’s how I made my Rose Quartz shield! It’s real easy and should work pretty well for any sort of round shield. Feel free to message me if you have any questions!
Cosplay Tutorial: Cheap and Sturdy Shield (made from a $5 plastic serving tray)
Time for another walkthrough of “Alanna’s cheap cosplay solutions because she don’t like spending money but still wants to look good”. This time it’s a DIY shield!
The Wonder Woman cosplay I did at Fan Expo was based on @pryce14‘s design, so I needed to make a shield.
(Photo by Geek Inked Magazine)
I was originally going to get a Captain America shield from a party store and just paint over it, but the one I saw was $25 and super flimsy, barely a shield at all really.
Instead I found a plastic serving tray for $5 at Party City. You could potentially find an even cheaper one at a dollar store too.
It’s about 18 inches in diameter, perfect size for my arm.
All I had to do was give it some straps and paint it. My dad helped me out on this since power tools were involved. After I figured out where I wanted my arm to rest within the shield I drew 4 dots on the inside - 2 on either side of my wrist, 2 on either side of my mid-forearm (and made sure to centre it as much as I could in the middle of the circle).
NOTE: for this costume I wear bracers on my arm, so I had to make sure I was wearing those when placing my arm and measuring out the dots. If your costume involves something on your arm, make sure you’re wearing it when measuring.
My dad used the dremel tool to drill 4 small holes where I placed the dots.
Since the back of my shield would also be spray painted, we had to do that before putting the straps in, because I didn’t want the straps to get paint on them. If you want your straps spray painted the same colour, feel free to do the painting step later.
Since the plastic is very smooth and slick, we gently sanded the entire surface of the shield with a high grain sandpaper (about 2000 grain). While we did use Krylon spray paint that sticks to plastics, it’s better to sand it a bit to give it some grip (HIGH GRAIN is all you need, don’t have to overdo the sanding).
As you can see I drew an arrow on the inside of the shield so that I’d be able to tell which way my arm goes in. It’ll be painted over, but since it’s a clear plastic I was still able to see the arrow until I painted the front.
After painting the back we got the straps on. We used large Fender washers to make it sturdy. Wider washers mean the pressure on those spots can be distributed more evenly. If we used, for example, just some tiny screws, too much pressure could force the plastic to crack.
Here’s what the front looked like when we were finished.
As you can see, the large washers are secured with Chicago Screws. On the inside of the shield you’ll see the adjustable straps (cut off from old backpack straps; you can also usually purchase them cheap at hardware stores). Since they’re nylon I just cut/burned a small hole into them to fit the screw through, then screwed them on between a washer and the shield.
Now I am able to slip my arm through the loop and tighten it by pulling the loose end. Again, I should be wearing my arm bracers while testing out the sizing but I appear to have forgotten to wear them in this next photo. (OOPS)
I glued velcro onto the loop so once I pull it tight I can fold back the strap and stick it to itself to keep it secure. The rest was just a matter of drawing on the design, glueing on craft foam for the raised parts (the eagle and stars) and spray painting it all!
Here are some shots of the completed shield.
(^Photo by @ekwolfwood)
(^Photo by Very Frank Pictures)
If you have any questions feel free to message me. You can also check out my other cosplay walkthroughs/tutorials.
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Ever saw those great shield replicas you can buy online?
And ever realized that they are pretty huge - especially for girls - because not everyone of us can have shoulders like Steve Rogers?
That’s why I decided to make my own shield - which doesn’t require lots of tools or even metal.
Continue reading if you want instructions on how to make your own shield (contains lots of pictures!)
First of all: gather materials!
My basic for the shield was a kiddie sled. The only thing you need to make sure here is that the middle isn’t flat but a bit curved. The handles don’t matter. I’ll just make a list of stuff you need:
- a sled (colour doesn’t matter!)
- spray colour (make sure it matches the material of your sled)
- some base coating for your sled so that the colour will stick properly
- protective paint for the final touch
- a small saw
- sandpaper
- masking tape
- two belts of your liking
- some cardboard
- glue, scissors, a pen
- i recommend a face mask for the spraying process!
- small paint brush
Now that you have everything you need, let’s get started!
First of all you should measure your shoulders. You want your shield to be at least as big as the width of your shoulders, maybe a tiny bit more.
Make sure to find the middle of the sled and draw a circle with the diameter you measured earlier.
Next comes the most exhausting part of the shield building. (At least when you have a damaged hand...)
Saw along the marked line. It’s easier if you saw it bit by bit. Which means: Saw from the top to the line every few centimeters, then saw horizontally. That way part for part you come closer to your shield. In the end ot should look like this (you can also see some of the parts I sawed off):
Next up! I did some research and obviously colour wouldn’t stick too well to that kind of surface. Plus, there might be some information etc engraved in the sled. This is the part where you use sandpaper (lots of it) to methodically work on the surface of your shield. Use circular motions until everything is off. Yes, it won’t look that shiny anymore, but I prefer a rougher shield to one with running colours any day.
It should then look something like this:
Next: Spray on the foundation spray. Please use a face mask for the process!! I didn’t have the possibility to do it outside, so if you are gonna do it inside like I did, please do it in a separate room which you can close off and air _properly_.
Let the spray dry. Should take about 30 minutes.
Next spray on the silver/gray paint - both the front and the back.
I used the box my sled was delivered in for the spraying process. :)
Use the time your paint is drying to get some fresh air. For example take your cat out for a walk so she can play tiger hiding in tall grass.
Done with the foundation! Now it’s time to get some colour on your shield!
It’s where the masking tape comes in.
I thought about in which order I wanted to add the colours and I recommend the following: Start with red, then white and then blue.
First off: Tape off everything that isn’t supposed to become red. should look like this in the end:
Basically it means covering the ring that’s supposed to become white and the circle in the middle.
Next: cover up the red parts (after they are dried of course). Leave the star-shape in the middle, but cover up the rest:
Spray on the white paint and let it dry thoroughly. Last, but not least: Cover up everything but the blue parts.
After you sprayed on the blue paint and it’s dry, you can start working on the details. My shield didn’t work out perfectly either, so with a very small brush you can colour the parts that didn’t turn out as smoothly as you’d like it to be.
Should look something like this after the clean up:
Next is the backside. I mean, you want to carry it around, don’t you?
Here’s the parts I cut out of cardboard paper and painted silver. They will be arranged later like this:
Next up will be preparing the handles. For that I got two belts of my choice (they were actually very cheap).
Use the parts with the buckles to make two loops that fit the middle of the cardboard pieces and are big/small enough to fit your hand and your lower arm. Then make four smaller parts out of the remaining belt bits. All assembled it should look like that:
I admit that I didn’t just glue everything to the cardboard bits. Luckily I chose a belt with a little ‘design’ and could use the little holes in the belt to actually sew the handles to the cardboard as an addition. It just gave me a better feeling, but with proper glue it shouldn’t be necessary to actually sew the pieces together.
Well then - get out the glue!
As a final touch I decided to make some ‘confetti’ and glued it on top of the belt:
And yeah - that’s it! Let everything dry properly, spray on your protective coating and you are ready to go recuing the world!!
Have a proper look at the finished shield:
You can see my full Captain America (dress version) outfit here (though I didn’t have my shield finished back then)
Have fun building your own shield!! I hope this tutorial will be helpful to you!
Find Tutorial Part 1 here
Find Tutorial Part 2 here
So at this point you are sitting there with a WireForm/plaster monstrosity that may look something like this:
--and you need to make it pretty. Time for finishing!
First things first, the brand of plaster strips that I used was mesh, so I started the prep by cutting away some loose threads that were hanging off. If you use newspaper for your papie mache, you obviously won't have the same issue.
In addition, since the mesh of the shield surface was not entirely smooth, the paint coat would not have come out smoothly either if I left it as-is. To fix this, I used a spackling compound (the kind that is used to fill in holes in walls) to fill in the holes and to smooth out the surface. You can get spackle compound/paste at any hardware store. I used lightweight because, well, it was significantly lighter and my shield was already pretty hefty and every gram counted. I don't think it makes a difference for the durability of the prop.
After spackling, I let my shield sit for a bit until it was adequately dry, then I sanded over the rougher parts of the spackle to smooth it out.
NOTE: After you finish sanding, make sure to get the dust off of the prop before you begin the next steps. It's a good idea to do this kind of work outside, while wearing proper face and eye protection like a face mask and/or goggles. Since I wasn't doing too much intense sanding, I just wore a make-shift mask out of a T-shirt and regular glasses.
I should have also specified this from the beginning, but plaster strips, spackle, etc. are very messy, so protect your workspace surfaces by laying newspaper and plastic bags on the ground. This will also make clean-up a lot easier at the end of the day.
Congrats! Now you have a working surface and you are ready for the paint coats. It's a good idea to start with a primer. I used a Montana spray primer. For a prop that size it's a good idea to go with a spray-on primer.
Next, I spray-painted the base green using Krylon ColorMaster Emerald Green spray paint, covering the spikes with plastic wrap. I knew they would be painted with lighter color paint, so I wanted to make sure that no green would show through in case the spike paint wasn't thick enough to layer over it.
NOTE: IF YOU ARE USING SPRAY PAINT, ALWAYS SPRAY PAINT IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA. SPRAY PAINT OUTSIDE WHEN YOU CAN. PROTECT YOUR WORK SURFACES, EVEN IF IT"S JUST CONCRETE. Try not to spray paint on days of high humidity because it will take the coats longer to dry.
For the sprikes and the big ring (not yet painted in this picture), I used regular acrylic paints (lemon yellow, white, and gray).
Bowser's shell also has rings around the bases of the spikes. I was planning on using air-hardening clay for the rings, which meant that they would seal themselves to the shell after I fitted and put them on. I saved this step for after I painted the entire shell because it would have been difficult to get an even green coat if the rings had already been on.
I used Sargent Art Classic air hardening clay. It becomes pliable if you add a little water, so I rolled the clay into O-rings, placed them at the base, and then shaped them to give them slightly more square edges. I tried to fit them to the hexagonal plates as close as I could, and because of the nature of the clay, it easily attached itself to the shell without any glue or other adhesives! Very handy, and one less thing to worry about.
I painted the rings with metallic paints, and touched up the green areas on the shield that were stained white while I was working with the clay.
I ran out of time before the con (AAC 2014) to seal the shield properly, but once I do that I will post an Appendix or something of that sort. I will also be fixing up the straps that let me wear it on my back, but if the original base shield that you used had some straps on it and you kept them, it should be easy enough to go from there.
THERE YOU HAVE IT.
I hope that was helpful, let me know if you have any questions, or if you find something that worked better than what I described!
(Part 1/Part 2)
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Find Tutorial Part 1 here
After plastering the base structure, I added an O-ring shape (or a toroid, for those more mathematically inclined) around the edge of the shield. I essentially cut out rectangular segments of WireForm about 4~7 inches wide (depending on whether I had to go around a hexagonal plate or not) and about 10~11 inches long and bent them into 3/4 tubes with tails on the end so that I could tape them down with masking tape.
NOTE: I don't remember the precise dimensions of the segments, and your shield base might have different dimensions, so see what works for you and your prop!
I overlaid the segments to get a more continuous look for the ring. To get a more or less an even lay of the segments, I layered them so that the edges of every other segment fit underneath the edges of the two adjacent segments. This also helped to anchor the segments a bit more.
I used masking tape because I was fairly confident that I would be able to plaster over it, but oftentimes it would come undone and I would have to make sure to reattach it quickly so that that segment didn't fall off (and take other segments with it!) Other types of tape (duck tape) might be better at keeping the segments stable, so if anyone finds other and better alternatives, let me know!
Finally, I plastered around the ring as well. Instead of laying the plaster strips parallel to the segments, I layered them at a diagonal, to help seal the seams between the segments and to hold the entire structure together. It also helped the strips to stay in place while they were drying. Because the ring goes around the entire perimeter of the shield, I couldn't have the shield on its side while I was plastering it, so I plastered while it was perched on a box (pictured above). Since the strips also have to be long enough to go from the top of the shield to the underside, layering them diagonally helped them not to peel off due to gravity.
If the strips are still coming undone while you plaster, try holding them in place and smoothing them a little bit before proceeding to the next one.
SPOILER ALERT:
After I finished everything, the ring was still a bit flimsier that I would have liked it to be (not catastrophically flimsy, but I can still visibly compress it in several areas). If I were to redo it, I would have probably stuffed the ring with newspaper, to help it hold its shape, instead of leaving it hollow.
So CLC did a Super Smash Bros. cosplay for AB 2014 and AAC 2014, and now that we are in a lull between cons we decided to post a series of tutorials for some of our props/costumes.
First up, a brief tutorial for my Bowser shield!
Here is the final view of the shield (look at my pretty, pretty Peach!)
I wanted a shield that I would be able to carry alternatively on my back and on my hand, so I got a base shield with arm straps (Captain America shield).
To build the frame I also got a 10-foot roll of Amaco WireForm roll, about 4-5 rolls of plaster strips (not this exact brand, but close), and air-dry clay.
I started out by plastering the back of the shield so that the texture on the back would match that on the front, and so that it would be easier to paint later (not pictured).
I then cut out the WireForm in ten equal hexagonal pieces, leaving some extra wire at the edges so I could attach them to each other. I cut slightly into the actual hexagonal shapes at the corners so that I could bend them into a 3D shape (pictured above). Each spike was a slightly curved triangular piece of WireForm (with some wire strands on the edges for easier attachment). All of the parts were attached with copious amounts of masking tape.
I then plastered around the entire wired structure, to get something that looked like this.
I've been asked by a couple of different people at this point (much to my surprise) about how I made the shield for my Percy Jackson cosplay. The process itself wasn't all that difficult, but it was rather time consuming so be prepared for a commitment!
(I don't have step-by-step pictures of my process, but I will provide some diagrams detailing the steps to the best of my ability.)
MATERIALS:
Two Tri-Fold Foam Boards (one is really all you need, but it's never a bad thing to have an extra in case of a mess up)
20+ Sheets of Craft Foam (Try to get a color close to the shade you want your final product to be. I used beige for my gold/bronze shield. I recommend gray or white for silver-type shields)
Two Yards of soft, pliable fabric. (this is the brown base you see on my shield. I used this because it looks nice on the front as well as the back, and it kept the shield smooth. Feel free to use another material as you see fit-- I used a soft pleather-ish material. If you decide to use pleather as well, make sure it isn't shiny fake vinyl)
36" Leather Strap (for the handles on the back of the shield. I used real leather because that was the sturdiest material I could find that would support the shield on my arm, but there are other options around if necessary)
Acrylic Paint (I used Folk Art Metallics for my shield. These aren't the absolute best you could possibly use, but they worked for this kind of decorative work. If you can't find a shade you like, mixing is always an option. I mixed for nearly every bit of painting I had to do on this costume)
Optional: One Box of Tacks (I used these to create mock-rivets on each of my panels and around the rim of the shield. If the style of your shield would not require these, they aren't necessary to keep the piece together. I used them as decoration)
TOOLS:
Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks (depending on the gun, you may need multiple bags of glue sticks. Trust me, you need all the adhesion you can get)
Two Rolls of Masking Tape (Just to be safe and to hold the shield together before you glue the pieces)
X-Acto Knife (with an extra blade in case the first grows dull)
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
Paintbrushes / Other Painting Materials
PROCEDURE:
1. PLAN OUT YOUR PROJECT. I cannot stress this enough. I spent probably three hours drawing out a 1/4 scale blueprint of my shield and sword for this cosplay and there is nothing I regret about it. I cannot even explain how much easier this made the whole project. You don't need to guess how much material you need, so it makes it 100% easier for you in the long run so you will not have to make multiple trips to your local craft store (or Walmart) because you ran out of craft foam.
This is the blueprint I created for my shield:
I included a back view and a front view so I would be able to see the differences as I was building the shield. If you are also going to plan this out in scale, I recommend that you make the effort to actually measure how small the increments will be. If this is something you don't want to do / don't have the time to do because of a looming convention, you can skip this step. I'm just including it in my process because it helped me more than I had originally thought it would.
2. GATHER MATERIALS. This one is fairly obvious, I suppose. Gather all of your things in one place so you don't have to go hunting around when you suddenly need a ruler to measure out the width of your shield. I also suggest setting up in a place with good air flow and ventilation when painting. I sniffed far too much acrylic paint on this project to ever consider working in my bedroom again. Stay away from carpeting and try to work in a clear area. Cutting foam board is a dirty job and it leaves foam shreds all over the place. It's best to be in a place that would make it easy to sweep up all of the debris (concrete floors are the best).
3. CREATING THE BASE. Once you know what you want your shield to look like and you've gathered your materials, it's time to get started. What you want to do first is trace out the largest part of your shield. Mine was 18 inches across, from edge to edge. The tri-fold poster hadn't been big enough to create a solid ring, so I measured out two halves of the circle. This ring, once I cut it out of the main board, was 18" across and 2" thick. It is supposed to look like a super-thin donut, with a 16" circle missing from the center. If you want the back of your shield to be flat, you can cut out a solid circle for the largest panel and go from there, but by following my process, the inner part of your shield will be slightly curved.
From this point, you will begin to make slightly smaller rings to curve the shield's surface. My measurements are as follows: IMG HERE
Once you have all of your rings and layers cut from the foam board, you'll want to align them on top of each other. Leave an inch rim along the edge of the shield for a solid place to connect your fabric and for optional decoration. Before I glued mine down, I made sure they were all centered and started from the smallest layer and worked outwards. Keeping the layers centered isn't super important, but it will help your shield look more professional in the long run.
In order to give yourself a decent arm plate on the back of the shield, I recommend adding a 2-3" thick strip of foam board to the center of the shield. This will allow you to brace your forearm against the back of the shield without an awkward curve. I have mine outlined in the image below.
4. MEASURING. By this point, you should have a solid disc of layered foam board. Once your glue has set (which shouldn't take long if you're using hot glue), you have two options. You can:
1. Divide your shield into equal sections for your panels.
I used four pieces of yarn to divide my shield into eight equal parts in order to make it easier to find where my panels had to go. This also helped with measuring out the width of the panels themselves once I began cutting them from the rest of the foam.
Using the yarn for this isn't difficult, but it requires patience and some extra glue. If you use a thicker fabric cover on your shield, you won't be able to see the yarn underneath the cover once your panels are on, but I can't vouch for thinner fabrics. Below I have an image of where the yarn was (more or less) on my shield.
-OR-
2. Proceed to next step.
5. FABRICS. Once you feel comfortable with your shield base, it's time to attach the cover. I used a cheap-ish soft, brown pleather from Hobby Lobby. I had used that particular fabric for other cosplay projects before so I was comfortable with it, but if you want to experiment, feel free!
Before I attached this brown pleather, I first stretched an extremely cheap piece of fabric over my shield in order to see what it would look like with the fabric over it. I ended up leaving it and I then attached the pleather on top of it, which quite possibly made the outer side of my shield smoother.
As far as tips go, I recommend gluing in the center and along the rim. This secures the fabric in the more important places. If you followed my yarn tip, I also recommend gluing along the pieces of yarn, which will also keep the fabric secured while you put your panels onto the surface. Otherwise, I would just glue anywhere, since your panels will cover around 90% of the surface anyway. The job you do with the fabric isn't the most vital part of this project.
Once you have the front portion attached, it is time to begin the back. BEFORE YOU GLUE ANY SORT OF FABRIC/COVER ONTO THE BACK OF YOUR SHIELD, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PROPER ANCHORS FOR YOUR HANDLES/ARM STRAPS. YOU DO NOT WANT THEM FALLING OFF DURING A CON, TRUST ME. Once you're sure you have the proper anchors, you can begin to make the backing of your shield. I used black fabric to do this, but feel free to use any kind of material. If you would rather have your shield have a metallic backing, I would say that posterboard or a similar material would suffice. Again, don't beat yourself up over the neatness; if you will be wearing your shield at the con, chances are nobody is going to be able to see the inside of your shield all that well anyway.
6. PANELS. At this point, you should have a smooth dome-shaped shield with a smooth, flat back. Now that your base is done, it's time to begin working on your panels! You can make them as wide/thick as you'd like, depending on how you want your shield to look. I kept mine fairly average but only 5/6" long so I'd have a solid inch rim at the edge of my shield. Another optional detail you can add is the round panel that I included at the middle of my shield. It's not fully necessary, since I'm sure there are ways to avoid doing it, but I thought it looked best for this situation.
The main thing to keep in mind regarding these is that you can make mistakes and fix it! Craft foam is ridiculously cheap (I think I got mine for 17 cents a piece) so if you make mistakes, just make another one! Get extra for a safety net; it's great to know that you can experiment without needing to run out to the store again.
The best way to do these is to make them individually. It will be tempting to make them all at once by copying the same template, but unless you measured the segments of your shield absolutely perfectly, chances are they won't all work exactly how you want. It is far more time-consuming to make them one by one, but I can guarantee that it's better than dealing with the frustration of making one that doesn't fit.
I used two layers to make mine so the shield would be more detailed. After painting them with the metallic acrylic paints, I glued the top layer to the bottom layer. After that, I used the gold tacks on each corner to secure the pieces together (along with some glue so the tacks wouldn't fall out).
If you want to do any decorative work-- engravings, etc.-- do it while the paint is just barely dry. I did the etching on mine with my X-Acto knife when the paint was dry, which allowed the paint to be impressed on without cutting through the layer of paint. This way, you can't see the color of the foam underneath the paint. It worked well for me, but if it isn't necessary for your shield, you don't need to worry about it.
7. ATTACHING THE PANELS. You're almost finished! All that's left for the front of the shield is to attach the panels. I would lay them out on the shield as you want them and arrange before you commit to glue (I know I've said this multiple times but you won't regret it) and be sure that you know that's where you want them to go before you glue them down. Also, if you used the tacks, they will also punch through the fabric and into the foam board of the shield-- this helped me, but you don't have to do this. Once you have the panels set up where you want them, glue them down!
8. HANDLES/ARM STRAPS. The last thing you're going to need to do is attach the arm straps on the back of the shield.
Depending on how big your arm is, I recommend anywhere between 36 and 48 inches of leather. Again, it's never a bad thing to have extra, so if you have the funds for it, I absolutely suggest getting more than you think you might need.
I used three straps, as shown in the image above.
The largest rests an inch or so below my elbow, the middle rests an inch above my wrist, and the smallest is used as a handle. Measure the width of your arm and the amount you'll need to wrap around your arm. Make sure you leave a few centimeters for wiggle room-- you don't want to loose circulation in your arm-- but also make sure that it's snug enough that your shield isn't flopping around on your arm.
After you get your straps measured and cut, you will need to attach them to your shield. I used tacks and glue, but they weren't super-reliable. I recommend a staple gun or small screws if you have them, but glue works well enough in a pinch.
AND THAT'S IT!
There isn't a lot that goes into this shield, which makes things much easier. There are a few things that you can change and alter to fit your needs more than the ones I had, so if you have any reason to change my instructions, feel free to experiment! Or, if you want, message me through my blog. I'd be happy to answer any questions!! c:
