Viking shield

Viking shield revisited

Back in 2014 I made my first Viking shield using wood that came from an industrial pallet that I had left up in my attic for about 10 years. The shield looked really good however I was never quite happy with it and I ended up putting the shield back up in the same attic that I had stored the timber for so long.

So a few weeks ago, I decided I would take the shield down and redo it the way I wanted it to look. Maybe I could hang this on my wall and not be ashamed of it. Even though I say it myself, the workmanship was really good and the fact the wood was warped, cracked and split, really suited the shield perfectly. The worst thing for me however,  was the shield boss which I made from a Fray Bentos pie tin that fitted into a fabric covered ring I made from a piece of partial wood.  At the time, I had no access to metal plate that I could make a shield boss from. I also had very little money and no workshop. So I made the shield and the boss out of whatever materials I had at hand. In fairness, it was a really good way to recycle materials that would otherwise be thrown in the bin, even if it was the recycle bin at that. For anyone that does not know, the boss is the metal dome in the center of the shield that is used to protect the hand while holding the shield in battel.

As you can see in the photo above, the finished boss on the right looked ok if you had never seen a Viking shield before. But I was just not happy with it and felt it took away from finish, feel and look of the shield project. Now this shield was always just an art project, but could still be used in a re-enactment Viking battle.

So, when I was back home in Donegal, I found an old copper water cylinder and thought this would be ideal to finish off what was then my abandoned project. I cut the cylinder up into square sheets and flattened them out. I then made my new boss from a sheet of the bronze copper that I cut and hammered it out using a warrington ballpein hammer on a large log that I hollowed out to make a dish shape. I also used on old canon ball as an anvil to give it shape. The canon ball I dug up in a garden in Dublin Ireland, years ago.  Never really thought about it till now, but just wonder what the story behind the canon ball is?
 

When the boss was finished, I then got it professionally distressed and aged, so it would look the part. It turned out very good although I would have liked a little more Verdigris. Verdigris is the blue green oxide that aged bronze and copper has, as in the photo below.

So after a little bit of work, the new boss was ready to replace the fray Bentos pie dish.

So I went ahead and attached it to the shield, but it still didn’t look the way I wanted. Sorry, I did not take a photo

So I got out my rarely used carving chisels and started giving some texture to the wood. I then aged it and even got a blow torch to it and scorched some of the wood.

So this is the finished shield. I’m not 100% happy with it and I might age this in the future. I am also not happy with the edging as Viking shield would have used raw hide leather, but it does kind of looks the part.

It is what it is, so I am reasonably happy with the finished shield. 

Second Viking shield FINISHED

Second Viking shield FINISHED

I am glad to say that I have finished my second Viking shield and it turned out quite good. Typical of me, that I am not 100% happy with it, but then again I never am happy with my work. But that's me in a nut shell I suppose.

So this is the finished Viking shield, that has been aged and ready to be hung on the wall.

It took me ages to paint the design and when it was almost finished I realised it looked more Roman than Viking. I then looked at a few books on my bookshelf and decided that a few Celtic designs from the Book of Kells would look good in the medallions and I am hoping that it looks more Viking now.

I used natural earth colours like burnt umber and yellow ochre as these colours would have been available a thousand years ago. The green colour was made up with yellow ochre and some copper oxide. Once I was reasonably happy with the painting, I then aged it and put a few coats of wax over it all. There is a slight brown colour to the wax which gives it a rough antique finish which is what I was looking for.

I then pined and nailed the boss on to the shield before putting the handle on the back. I decided to pad the boss with some of the jute webbing as I feel this gives it the look and feel of a real usable Viking shield. This shield was however made and designed as an art piece, but I am confident enough that it would work well as a re-enactment Viking shield, although I am sure it would get destroyed in battle.

Over all, I am happy with this project and am fighting the urge to build another few shields. I think my next project will be to finish a self portrait piece that I made when I was in college a few years ago. The portrait is called Evidence and although I got a distinction for it, I never got round to putting a few final finishing touches to the piece.

So until next time, thank you for reading my blog and please comment if you wish.

Second Viking shield part 1

Second Viking shield part 1

After finishing my first Viking shield art project, I decided to make another one as I had found more timber up in my loft. So I started building it, but then realised I just did not have enough wood. As you may remember, this timber was used for the blind carving and my Viking shield. It came from a large industrial pallet that I took apart and put up in my loft over ten years ago.  The timber was warped, cracked and really rough, but I always knew I would use it for something other than cutting it up for firewood. 

Anyway, as I was saying, after starting to second shield, I now find I just do not have enough wood and also some it is just not usable. So I went down to the nearest DIY store and bought the cheapest cladding wood I could find and now have enough to also make a third shield as well.  As this new shield will be covered in canvas or linen and painted, as some original Viking shields would have been made, I went down to the local curtain shop and bought some large curtain liner cloth as this will do the job at a fraction of the cost, as linen and canvas is expensive. When the Vikings made this kind of cloth covered shield, they would then paint it with Viking / Celtic designs. This is what I intend to do once this shield is complete.

 

 So here are some of the construction processes that go into making my shield.

I did the edging the same way the Vikings would have done it, but used jute webbing instead of raw hide, as I just can not afford to buy raw hide. I feel the jute webbing looks every bit as good and as it is a sculptural art project and not going to be used for battle, I feel the jute works and looks authentic.

I have to say that putting the edging on the shield took me about 5 or 6 hours as it is made up from individual over lapping pieces that are nailed and sown on. After a few hours of working, I gradually found my rhythm when it was half way finished. Then it only took about an hour to complete the rest. 

I recon if I make this again, I will complete the edging in 1 ½ hours instead of 5 or 6.

So this photo shows the comparison between pre and post ageing. Also as you can see, I have temperately put a boss in the center of the edged shield, to give an indication what the finished piece will look like.    By the way, the two photographs were taken at different times of day and also by different cameras. 

Now all I have to do is research and create a Viking / Celtic design that I will then paint on, using natural earth colours like burnt sienna, red and orange ochre and colours that would have been available a thousand years ago.

So once again, thank you for reading my blog and I will show the completed shield in my next post.

Blind Carving part 1 New Sculptural Wood Carving

Blind Carving part 1     New sculptural wood carving from a wooden pallet

When I moved into my new house over 10 years ago, the builders had left a wooden pallet in the back garden. At the time I was still a cabinetmaker and me being me, I just couldn’t let the timber go to waist. I took the pallet apart and all the good timber, or at least what looked good at the time, I put up in the loft for a possible future project. Now over ten years later, I have finally decided to do something with all that timber. So I have taken all the wood down form my loft and I have got to say, the timber is not very good at all. Over the years it has dried out, cracked and warped, but I think I will use the roughness of the timber as part of the sculpture.

 So I have been thinking about making myself a Celtic shield for about 15 years and was even going to make it out of old copper pennies, and that got me thinking about Irish coins. So I have decided to make my wood into a giant coin that I can hang on the wall. The coin I have chosen is the old pre. decimalisation Florin which became the Irish 10p when we joined the EEC.

So this is the coin I will try and make from my very rough timber.

This is the timber that I have laid out and I have decided to do the work very rough as this will reflect how bad the wood is and also, the truth is I cant find my wood carving chisels as they are stored in the loft and to be honest, there is so much stuff up there, it would take me ages to find them. I also think that doing it in a rough way, will make it look old and hopefully will suit the wood I am using.

So this is how I will carve it and it will be in nine sections. I am going to blind carve each length. When I say blind carve, I mean that I will carve each length independent from the other, so the sections may not even match each other. Hopefully this will look good and the imperfections will reflect the warped and cracked wood I am using.

So this is the timber tacked together with Rocky2 my boxer dog in the foreground to give scale.

So to work I will go and I will update my progress as I go.