How to make your own DIY Hylian Shield Tutorial PART TWO

This is Part Two of Three in a tutorial to make your own Hylian Shield from the Legend of Zelda series. If you would like to start at the beginning, please follow this link to PART ONE.

We last left off at Step 4 after having cut out the front and back shield pieces. I hope you have gathered your hardware and tools to add some of the important details to the shield! Let’s start with the front of the shield and work out way to the back.

The chipboard pentagon in place. To the right you can see some of my hardware.

Step 5: Gather your hardware and your Chipboard or corrugated cardboard. For my shield, I used chipboard from the back of a  nearly empty sketchbook. You could also use a full sheet of matting material for framing, or even a cereal box. The chipboard is the perfect thickness but is HARD to cut. So make sure you have some spare X-Acto blades handy and a good pair of scissors at the ready.

We’ll use the Chipboard for the pentagon at the top of the shield as well as the interior shield design with the bird and Triforce. This will add dimension to the shield without making it the same depth as the outside boarder. I used my template from earlier to cut out the design for the interior of the shield. Trace those pieces onto the chipboard and get cutting. It will take a few passes with an X-Acto blade to get the pieces all the way cut. Once cut, place all the pieces on the front of the shield in the way you want to glue them down. Use beads of glue to cover the back of each piece and press it down. Allow ample time for drying.

Leave the right wing of the bird unglued for now. We will be placing screws for the handle through that side of the shield.

Make sure you use enough glue. You don’t want the pieces to come off!

Step 6: Detailing the back of the shield is a little less tedious than the front. For the wooden buttons, you will want to gather 3 small screws that will pass through 2 layers of foam-core and still have about 1/2 cm of thread sticking through. Prep both pieces that make up the back of the shield. Cut small slits with your blade in each of the three corners where you will be securing a wooden button. Then push/screw the small screw so that the head is on the BACK of the shield and the thread end is sticking out the front. Carefully screw the thread of the screw into the wooden button, securing it to the shield. This is a little tricky at first, but you will find it easier after the second one. I also put a little glue on the underside of the wooden button as I was screwing it into the foam-core for added strength.

Now glue, glue, glue! When the first wooden button was in place, I used the screw as a hinge and opened up the BACK of the shield. I then put a generous amount of glue on the back of the cross-shaped piece.

Be generous with the glue. You’d hate for the pieces to come apart in battle.

Align the two pieces and press together gently. Set aside to dry.

Wooden buttons screwed in place. Other hardware staged.

Once the wooden buttons are secured, it is time to add the brads to the vertical beam on the back. As with the screws, make a small slit with your blade where you would like them to go. Carefully push the brads straight down (they bend easily). Put a little glue on the bottom of the brad for extra strength. These will pass through both layers of foam-core and have a little bit sticking out the back. This is okay as this will help secure the front and the back pieces of the shield.

Set aside the BACK half of the shield and add the 3 wooden buttons to the FRONT half of the shield. Use the same method you did for the other wooden buttons AND for gluing the two front halves together. Once the wooden buttons are secured and dry, it will be time to move on to the handle.

Step 7: Adding the handle.

Once the brads and wooden buttons are in place, it is time to move on to the handle. I made my shield RIGHT HANDED. If you would rather use your shield with your left hand, just slide the handle over to the other side of the shield. Wherever you are putting the handle, make sure to measure carefully to ensure it is straight up and down. To properly secure the handle, you will need to work with both the front AND the back of the shield.

This is the last time you will see them apart!

Make holes on the back of the shield where you will be inserting the screws. Turn the screws around and push them from the back. Mark where they land on the backside of the FRONT half of the shield. This is where you will be screwing them from. Remember where I told you not to secure the right wing of the bird? That is because we will be inserting the screw through there and we will use the wing to cover one of the screws when everything is secured.

Measure carefully!

Lookin good!

Following the manufactures instructions, secure the handle. For my handle, I begin with the head of the screw on the FRONT of the shield, with the thread passing through to the back and into the handle. Add glue between the two halves before completely screwing them together. Secure tightly. FYI: mine came with two sets of screws, but I thought that one set of screws would be strong enough. It seems secure with just the single set.

Step 8: Finish the front of the shield by gluing the right wing of the bird over the screws for the handle. Once the bird motif is finished, you will want to start adding more brads to the front.

Laying down the last piece of the bird motif.

These add a nice amount of detail to the shield as well as more contact points to secure all parts together. By adding more brads around the perimeter of the front and back of the shield, we are making it stronger and less likely to pull apart with use. There is no right way to do this…just make sure it looks symmetrical on each side. Also be sure that you stagger them from the front and back so that there are not two brads pushing into each other.

There is no “right” way to put the perimeter brads down.

Once the shield is secured with brads and glue, make sure that there are no parts that seem loose or out of place. If anything seems loose, add a little extra glue (or whatever you need to do to fix the problem). This will be the last time you will be able to make any major changes without it being difficult. The next step after this is PAINTING! We are almost done!

Click here to continue on to PART THREE.

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How to make your own DIY Hylian Shield Tutorial PART ONE

I’ve already talked about my love for Zelda. Now its time to geek out over my love of making things!

I love working with new or challenging materials. Initially I had wanted to make my shield out of wood, but without a proper workspace, shared walls, and older neighbors, I thought that may prove to be too messy and noisy. I have worked with wood before, but always in a proper workspace. After successfully creating a tiny version of the Hylian Shield, I decided it was time to get started on my FULL SCALE version of the shield!

Step 1: Gather your materials:

YOU WILL NEED:

Foamcore (in large unbent pieces): I sourced mine from my local art-supply store. Michaels may have them large enough. Be sure they are at least 20 inches (50 cm) square.

Newsprint: (or other scrap paper) to make your template drawings. Or print them out from images you find online. Be sure to make drawings for the front of the shield AND for the back of the shield.

Pencils and Bold Markers to make your drawings on the newsprint and on the cardboard.

Brads: buy a lot of them, I went through close to 75 of them between both shields..

Glue: I used Aleene’s Tacky Glue and it worked quite well.

Masking Tape: .5 inches to 1 inch wide

Rust-oleum “Hammered” silver spray paint

Rust-oleum Primer (White)

X-Acto #11 Blade and Knife

Scraps of Leather or other durable brown fabric or felt.

Paint and Paintbrushes: I used Martha Stewart’s High Gloss Acrylic Paints and an assortment of brushes

Measuring tools: Ruler, compass, protractor, measuring tape, etc.

Handle: Purchase a drawer/cupboard handle and its hardware from your local hardware store. Be sure to use one that fits your hand nicely. This will be the handle on the back of the shield.

Wooden Buttons: approximately 1.25 inches in diameter. Embellishments on front and back of the shield.

Chipboard or (non corrugated) Cardboard for some of the detailing on the front of the shield.

Embroidery Thread: or yarn in several shades of brown.

Step 2: Draw out the templates for the front AND back of the shield. Be sure to make them the exact size that you want them to be. For me, that was 20″ tall and 18.5″ (approx. 50 cm by 45 cm). The shield may need to be larger or smaller to suit your needs.

Make sure you include all details too!

Once you’ve drawn out your templates from newsprint, cut along the outside like in the above photo. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble by cutting the templates out this way. This would be a difficult project to freehand. Next, trace around the templates onto the sheets of foam core using your pencil. Carefully cut along your pencil line to cut out your first part of the shield.

While you’ve got your ruler handy, make some guide lines on the shield to help you orient the template onto the center of the shield. Make one line down the center and another 1/2 way down the shield. Cut out and mark 3 shield parts in the SAME way.

Step 3: Cut out the interior of the FRONT Template. This will assist in keeping the shield pieces symmetrical Using an X-Acto blade will be much easier than trying to use scissors. You will be using the inner pieces as a guide in our next step. Keep all shield pattern pieces.

Cut inside this boarder with an X-Acto knife.

Once you have cut out the boarder, place it atop one of your shield pieces. This piece will become the top layer on the front of the shield. Use a tiny bit of masking tape to secure the stencil to the foam-core. Trace the inner boarder with a pencil. Use an X-Acto bade to cut out the design. Save the pieces from the center and set aside.

Make sure you secure the stencil/template or it may shift during tracing/cutting.

Here you can see the stencil/template and the pencil lines. Ready to cut!

Step 4: Do the same thing for the back of the shield. 

But here is where things may get a little tricky… or at least different. Depending on the size of your handle and your personal preference, you may give the supporting cross on the back different dimensions. I made the horizontal arm on the cross slightly smaller than the size of the handle. This way, the handle goes around the cross instead of on top of it.

This was cut after careful measurement.

Measure twice, cut once.

Carefully cut out the cross pattern and outer boarder. Make sure that you give the outer boarder a uniform thickness. For my shield, I gave it a 4cm thickness (see photo). This will make it look more finished and will also provide more stability.

I found it helpful to use a ruler to cut straight lines.

Here are the front AND the back of the shield.

Above are the two pieces we just cut atop the two shield pieces we cut from before. We now have two “front” pieces and two “back” pieces. That’s all the major cutting we have to do for today. Next we will add some of the hardware that gives this shield its character and believability. Gather your hardware and tools and meet me back here ASAP!

Click here to continue on to PART TWO.

Tiny Hylian Shield Tutorial Part 3

If you need a to-scale example of the size of the shield I showed you how to make, here you go!

This shield is just the right size for my cat, Ferdinand. He is ready to go in to battle with the most ferocious of foes! Watch out!

Hi-yah!

Tiny Hylian Shield Tutorial Part One: Steps 1 through 5

The other day I mentioned that I would be working on a DIY tutorial project. For those of you who guessed that I would be making a Hylian Shield, you are right! Congrats! I am going to be Link for Halloween, and I thought now is as good a time as ever to try my hand at writing an online tutorial for like-minded gamer girls!

Now, I am a rather practical and analytical person. I love working with new or challenging materials. Initially I had wanted to make my shield out of wood, but without a proper workspace, shared walls, and older neighbors, I thought that may prove to be too messy and noisy. I have worked with wood before, but always in a proper workspace like a garage or studio. I was also taught to “measure twice, cut once,” so I decided to make a small-scale version of the shield to get the materials and measurements right. These instructions will be for how to make a small “display” Hylian Shield measuring approximately 6.5 inches by 5.5 inches (16 x 14 cm).

Step 0: Decide which version of the Hylian Shield you would like to make. For the small shield I chose to make the shield from the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. For my larger shield, however, I will be using the designs from the Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess.

Step 1: Gather your materials:

YOU WILL NEED:

Cardboard (in large unbent pieces): I sourced mine from my local grocery store.

Newsprint: (or other scrap paper) to make your template drawings. Or print them out from images you find online. Be sure to make drawings for the front of the shield AND for the back of the shield.

Pencils and Bold Markers to make your drawings on the newsprint and on the cardboard

Brads: buy a lot of them, I went through close to 75 of them

Glue: I used Aleene’s Tacky Glue and it worked quite well

Masking Tape: .5 inches to 1 inch wide

Rust-oleum “Hammered” silver spray paint

Rust-oleum Primer (White)

X-Acto #11 Blade and Knife

Scraps of Leather or other durable brown fabric

Paint and Paintbrushes I used Martha Stewart’s High Gloss Acrylic Paints and an assortment of brushes

Measuring tools: Ruler, compass, protractor, measuring tape, etc.

Step 2: Make the shield base. Take your template drawing and trace it out on the cardboard three times.

Make sure you leave a little room around each piece to be able to cut safely.

This will create the piece for the front of the shield, the body of the shield, and the detailing for the back of the shield. Once you have traced and cut out the three pieces, cut out the outside boarder for the front of the shield. Use your template and cut out the inside design of the shield, leaving just the boarder as shown in the image below.

This will help give the shield more depth.

Step 3: Cut out the front and back pieces. Use your Xacto Blade to carefully cut around your templates to make the front and the back of the shield.

Step 4: Secure the shied pieces together. Using brads and glue, you will be making sure that this shield is as durable as possible. It is important to measure out where you want your brads to go to adorn both the front and back of the shield. They add a nice aesthetic, but they also serve to keep the several pieces of the shield from separating. I measured out the places where I wanted to put the brads and marked them with pencils. I found the brads were easier to push into place when I made a small cut with my blade as shown in the image below.

Sandwich the pieces together and use some of your glue of choice to make sure the pieces don’t go anywhere. I found it helpful to add a little glue to the hole where the brad was placed too.

Step 5: Tape it up. Once all the pieces are sufficiently glued together and brads are placed, flip the shield over and view from the side. Here is the downside of using corrugated cardboard: The edges are rough and porous. You will want to use your masking tape and run it around the outside of the shield. This will give the edges a finished look and will protect your shield from damage on the side. Trim the corners so that the tape does not bunch up too much.

You could also fill the holes with hot glue, but the tape is easier and cheaper.

The shield with 1/2 inch masking tape around the edges.

The tape adds a nice finished edge without taking away from the shield itself. It also protects the sides and keeps gunk from getting in there. Stay tuned next time for how to complete your shield!

Here is one more hint

Now, I suppose I should give you one more hint. I posted some of the supplies that I will be using for a project earlier today, but let’s give you all one more hint:

These three pieces are cut from cardboard.

Here is a photograph of the DIY project I am working on in one of its earliest stages. Does this help? Keep the guesses coming! I will be sure to let you know what I am working on in the next couple days. I will be posting lots of step-by-step photographs and instructions so that you can follow along at home!