Hylian Shield #DIY #cosplay #Zelda #TwilightPrincess

When it came to being able to cosplay Link, my son only actually asked me to make the shield. I did the sword first, then the shield. I remembered to take more pictures this time as well. Supplies needed were foam board (2 pcs from Hobby Lobby for $5), paint (already had), xacto knife (already had), pattern (from youtube), and patience. It took me about 4-5 hours to do all together.

I started first with cutting out the base of the shield from one piece of foam board. It took up most of the sheet (20"x25").

The smaller pieces I got out of the bits left over from the initial cut. The bird will be a stencil that I'll use to paint onto the shield, instead of using extra foam board.

I got one side of the foam board wet (damp cloth) and then put it up so that weights would force the foam board to warp like I wanted it.

While the base dried to it's new shape, I painted all the smaller pieces. Most were silver, the triforce is gold.

Everything pre-painted, but not assembled.

Start of the assembly process. I didn't like the edges on most of it, so I used silver duck tape to trim the edges out. It didn't work as well as I'd hoped, but well enough for now.  This is most of the smaller pieces glued to the shield.

After using my bird stencil, I had this on the shield. I went back a second time without the stencil to clean it up.

The back was spray painted black. The straps are black duck tape. (Duck tape fixes everything.)

The front with all the details.  The rivets are buttons covered in duck tape, trimmed, glued.  The curls are grey marker that I free drew on.

Sword and shield together. For a first time for both, I'm rather happy with the results. I think I'll try other methods of cutting or different foam board next time for the shield.