You can't have vikings without shields. Plain fact. But Mason and Creed--my prop managers--didn't just make any old shields, they made round, wooden, hand-painted, embossed, shields. They are light, sturdy, and beautiful. Wow!
They spent a good while in the workshop cutting and rounding the pieces. A lot of work goes into making these. They made nine shields--wooden ones for the core cast and foam ones for the extras. They brought them to our On Fire Friday for us to paint.
Here is Hiccup's shield. Mason painted it himself and it looks identical to the one in the movie. The boss in the center is actually a metal bowl.
I've said it before, but one of my favorite things about Kids on Fire is that we use what we have lying around; we don't go out and buy it. Hiccup's vest is the lining out of an old coat, Haggi's daggers are flattened shelf supports, and Astrid's axe is PVC pipe and spray-painted foam.
Nelson (Hockskull) painted his own shield. His was a size down from everyone else's to make it easier for him to lift and swing it. THAT was Mason and Creed's foresight. He painted it a deep, dark brown ("Like my hair!" he said) and we cemented a metal three-teared symbol in the center. It's so simple and almost elegant. It's got to be one of my favorites, right up there with Astrid's and Stoic's.
Emiline (Ruff-Nut) painted her own shield. Look at that detail along the edge! She and Miriam cut a paper stencil and traced it over and over along the edge until they created this lovely border. It took a long time to paint but it looks great!
Now this was incredible! Kennedy took responsibility for Stoic's shield. No small task. We printed a pattern off that we found online. It took three sheets of paper. Kennedy then cut it out and not just the outline, but all of the inside detail as well. She used a knife to get all of the intricate inside pieces out.
Next, she traced the design onto Stoic's shield, mixed up the paint, and carefully painted it. There are two coats on everything. A couple people helped with the painting step, but Kennedy stuck with it until the end. SIX HOURS in total. But the shield is beautiful. Stoic will feel very chiefly with it on his arm.
Iva designed Astrid's shield and Miriam and Lena helped paint it. We watered down our blue paint so you could see the wood grain through. I really loved that affect. We ended up using that technique with Gobber's shield too, watering down a brown to make it look stained rather than painted.
For the border around Gobber's shield, I cut out this pattern and traced it eight times around the edge, then painted the outline. It took a good long while, but oh! I love it.
For our extra's shields, made from foam, we experimented with a circular dragon design (complements of Lauren), quarters with a corner design (thank you Miriam, that took a lot of patience), and a sponged gray with a gold center-symbol (great idea William!).
And here they are. Most of them still need a few more details and all of them still need the arm loops on the back, but, man I am so happy with all of them. Everyone (especially Mason and Creed) worked so hard on these.
Thank you gang!
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