Here's a full report of how I made a Hylian Shield (with a lot of help from a friend) out of plywood and cardboard cut-outs.
I mainly followed the procedure in I think in Comics but I altered some of the steps to avoid a total mess up when sticking all the parts together.
Here's a hurr durr list of the things that I used:
- great deku sap (or all purpose glue)
- greater deku sap (or epoxy)
- that greeting card you forgot to give Ruto (or just any ordinary cardboard)
- two swords that keep hugging each other (or scissors, whatever)
- great deku tree wood (or just plywood)
- blue mana potion and red health potions (or just any colored liquid for painting)
- silver water particle multiplier (or just spray paint)
- sword with an amiable blade (or just paint brush)
- an old "The Daily Hyrule" newspaper (or just any old scratch paper)
So here's how it all went:
Step 1: There She Is (you should all really get the reference here)
There she is! You see Princess Zelda in trouble at the hands of whatever dark force there is. All the other six viable heroes to rescue Zelda has gone off to their own respective dungeons also waiting to be saved. So, where is Zelda now? There she is...not.
Typical generation in the land of Hyrule, but you suddenly found yourself to be our green hero, Link. What do you do? You set out to save the Princess and Hyrule, of course!
But wait! You can't save anyone or anything without any gear! So first of all, you search your surroundings and you find a small sword (not included in this tutorial) you pick that up and you finally have something for offense. But what of defense?
You find yourself puzzled in your tree house when you suddenly hear a "Hey! Listen!"
It's a ball of light with wings! She introduces herself to be a fairy named Navi and warns you of the danger of the land of Hyrule (as if we're not already used to it). She instructs you to go the Grandpa Deku in one of the holiest places in the Kokiri forest.
Once you got to where the great Deku grandpa is, he offers you useful advise on what to do and where to head on next. But you requested a gear which can protect you on your journey, so the wise old tree gives you a Great Deku Wood, a great deku sap and an even greater deku sap.
You thanked the Great Deku Tree, then head back to your tree house.
You gathered several more materials to craft the mystical shield of all around protection called Hylian Shield.
...and now it's time for me to get serious.
Step 2: The Skeleton of the Shield
Following I Think in Comis' procedure, I got a friend to cut the skeleton of the shield on the plywood. Two layers are needed to get the desired look without making it look flat. Although, if there is a shortage of wood, one layer for the main body and just cardboard for the outer layer is alright.
The size of the shield depends entirely on your build. In my case, I had to re-size it a couple of times before the final skeleton.
My height is 5'6'' (since third year high school...this is why I regret not drinking my milk) and referenced it for the size of my shield which is 18 inches wide and 22 inches long. I suggest adding a few inches to the width or subtracting a few inches from the height to achieve that fuller appearance of the Hylian Shield.
Step 3: Color my World (or in this case, the Hylian Shield's main body)
To get a better feel on the inner designs of the body of the Hyian Shield later, I painted the body and the outer layer first.
I used the silver spray paint to get the illusion of luster on the outer layer making it look like a metallic border.
.JPG)
I used navy blue for the inner body of the shield. While darker shades are more recommended, navy blue seems to hit the color spot on.
Once the two layers have been painted, don't stick them together just yet. Set them aside for a while and begin working on the details in the body and in the outer layer.
Step 4: May the Triforce (and other details) be with you
While engraved details on the wood look much better, I should note again that this is the work of an amateur, and so in this step, we're going to use happy cardboard cut-outs for the design.
The shield has three distinct designs. The Triforce, the letter "S" thingy around the triforce, and the crest of Hyrule (which looks like a bird).
Scaling plays a large role in this step again because we don't want to make the one detail standout, we have to make them all equally work with each other.
Work with the Triforce first cutting three triangles, the two bottom triangles slightly larger than the upper one.
My triangles are in between 2 x 1 1/2 inches.
Once the triangles have been cut out, paint them yellow, or mix some colors to get a golden hue, then let them dry.
After the Triforce, you should get a better scale with the "S" thingy that gives emphasis on the triforce. Cut one first then cut the mirror image of the first "S" then spray paint them silver.
For the bolts on the metallic outer layer, we need three very small cylindrical tubes.I used the handle of an old broom and spray painted them silver as well. Use a file or sandpaper to smooth the two surface of the cylinder.
Finally, the most difficult part in the main body, the Hyrule Crest. The crest has 4 parts. If we're going to look at it like a soaring bird, there's the head, the body, the wings and the talons.
The body and the head are single piece cut-outs but the details are hard to perfectly cut-out so I suggest using an X-acto knife instead of scissors (be careful with that, we want the color red for this cut-out but not the blood of angry men red).
The wings and the talons each have two pairs which are mirror images of each other (like the "S" thingy).
Once you got all pieces cut out, paint all of them red, then let them dry.
Step 5: White Sticky Fluid that smells a little...yes, all purpose glue
I stuck the three bolts from the broom handle earlier to three corners of the shield - the left upper corner, the right upper corner and the bottom corner.
Stick the two pieces of wood together using epoxy. Mind the symmetry between the two layers since there's no turning back once they've stuck.
After letting it dry, it's time to stick all the cut-outs to the body of the shield using the all purpose glue.
(*Note: I used all purpose glue so that it'd be easy to take the details off for re-designing, if you want something permanent use a stronger adhesive such as mighty bond or the epoxy earlier).
I stuck the triforce first, followed by the S thingy and finally the Hyrule crest.
Once everything has dried up, it's time for the leather strap behind the shield.
I followed I Think in Comics' suggestion of using an old leather belt for the strap. The length of the strap depends entirely on the size of your arm, or if you're on to a more expert approach, make an adjustable strap with velcro lock and mighty bond.
Two straps are ideal for the holder because three seems a little over the top. Whatever makes you comfortable.
Once everything has settled in, it's time to hold the Hylian Shield up high like what Rafiki did to Simba when he was born and bath in the glory of your Hylian Shield.
...and we're done!
So, great! It's time to save Hyrule!
I hope you all find this silly tutorial useful. It's a beginner level cosplay prop, and I'm sure y'all will find better ways. Anyway, good luck and have fun!
(Navi img source: upload.wikimedia.org)
I mainly followed the procedure in I think in Comics but I altered some of the steps to avoid a total mess up when sticking all the parts together.
Here's a hurr durr list of the things that I used:
- great deku sap (or all purpose glue)
- greater deku sap (or epoxy)
- that greeting card you forgot to give Ruto (or just any ordinary cardboard)
- two swords that keep hugging each other (or scissors, whatever)
- great deku tree wood (or just plywood)
- blue mana potion and red health potions (or just any colored liquid for painting)
- silver water particle multiplier (or just spray paint)
- sword with an amiable blade (or just paint brush)
- an old "The Daily Hyrule" newspaper (or just any old scratch paper)
So here's how it all went:
Step 1: There She Is (you should all really get the reference here)
There she is! You see Princess Zelda in trouble at the hands of whatever dark force there is. All the other six viable heroes to rescue Zelda has gone off to their own respective dungeons also waiting to be saved. So, where is Zelda now? There she is...not.
Typical generation in the land of Hyrule, but you suddenly found yourself to be our green hero, Link. What do you do? You set out to save the Princess and Hyrule, of course!
But wait! You can't save anyone or anything without any gear! So first of all, you search your surroundings and you find a small sword (not included in this tutorial) you pick that up and you finally have something for offense. But what of defense?
You find yourself puzzled in your tree house when you suddenly hear a "Hey! Listen!"
.png) |
| never fear! Navi is here! |
Once you got to where the great Deku grandpa is, he offers you useful advise on what to do and where to head on next. But you requested a gear which can protect you on your journey, so the wise old tree gives you a Great Deku Wood, a great deku sap and an even greater deku sap.
You thanked the Great Deku Tree, then head back to your tree house.
You gathered several more materials to craft the mystical shield of all around protection called Hylian Shield.
...and now it's time for me to get serious.
Step 2: The Skeleton of the Shield
Following I Think in Comis' procedure, I got a friend to cut the skeleton of the shield on the plywood. Two layers are needed to get the desired look without making it look flat. Although, if there is a shortage of wood, one layer for the main body and just cardboard for the outer layer is alright.
The size of the shield depends entirely on your build. In my case, I had to re-size it a couple of times before the final skeleton.
My height is 5'6'' (since third year high school...this is why I regret not drinking my milk) and referenced it for the size of my shield which is 18 inches wide and 22 inches long. I suggest adding a few inches to the width or subtracting a few inches from the height to achieve that fuller appearance of the Hylian Shield.
Step 3: Color my World (or in this case, the Hylian Shield's main body)
To get a better feel on the inner designs of the body of the Hyian Shield later, I painted the body and the outer layer first.
I used the silver spray paint to get the illusion of luster on the outer layer making it look like a metallic border.
Step 4: May the Triforce (and other details) be with you
While engraved details on the wood look much better, I should note again that this is the work of an amateur, and so in this step, we're going to use happy cardboard cut-outs for the design.
The shield has three distinct designs. The Triforce, the letter "S" thingy around the triforce, and the crest of Hyrule (which looks like a bird).
Scaling plays a large role in this step again because we don't want to make the one detail standout, we have to make them all equally work with each other.
Work with the Triforce first cutting three triangles, the two bottom triangles slightly larger than the upper one.
My triangles are in between 2 x 1 1/2 inches.
Once the triangles have been cut out, paint them yellow, or mix some colors to get a golden hue, then let them dry.
For the bolts on the metallic outer layer, we need three very small cylindrical tubes.I used the handle of an old broom and spray painted them silver as well. Use a file or sandpaper to smooth the two surface of the cylinder.
 |
| for the bolts |
 |
| there's that S thingy and the bolts without paint |
The body and the head are single piece cut-outs but the details are hard to perfectly cut-out so I suggest using an X-acto knife instead of scissors (be careful with that, we want the color red for this cut-out but not the blood of angry men red).
The wings and the talons each have two pairs which are mirror images of each other (like the "S" thingy).
 |
| ...and there's the crest |
Step 5: White Sticky Fluid that smells a little...yes, all purpose glue
I stuck the three bolts from the broom handle earlier to three corners of the shield - the left upper corner, the right upper corner and the bottom corner.
Stick the two pieces of wood together using epoxy. Mind the symmetry between the two layers since there's no turning back once they've stuck.
After letting it dry, it's time to stick all the cut-outs to the body of the shield using the all purpose glue.
(*Note: I used all purpose glue so that it'd be easy to take the details off for re-designing, if you want something permanent use a stronger adhesive such as mighty bond or the epoxy earlier).
I stuck the triforce first, followed by the S thingy and finally the Hyrule crest.
Once everything has dried up, it's time for the leather strap behind the shield.
I followed I Think in Comics' suggestion of using an old leather belt for the strap. The length of the strap depends entirely on the size of your arm, or if you're on to a more expert approach, make an adjustable strap with velcro lock and mighty bond.
Once everything has settled in, it's time to hold the Hylian Shield up high like what Rafiki did to Simba when he was born and bath in the glory of your Hylian Shield.
...and we're done!
I hope you all find this silly tutorial useful. It's a beginner level cosplay prop, and I'm sure y'all will find better ways. Anyway, good luck and have fun!
(Navi img source: upload.wikimedia.org)
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