I was in a toy shop full of wooden toys recently, and they had some wonderful shield designs! I was inspired by them to create this pirate shield for my 8 year old nephew, and given that it was on his arm for the rest of the evening, I think it was a success!
I found the shape of the shield and the skull and cross bones design on Google, and resized them for my needs! The shield is a bit bigger than A4, and made out of mountboard. It has a back piece, through which the elastic is threaded (see below); a main piece, which is the black background, and the white details added as an extra layer, all very well glued together!
The mount board makes for quite a sturdy shield, and really affordable - although it will take dings a bit more easily than wood! I love the raised effect of the design, and the options really are endless to make other shields, especially if you design your own coat of arms!
As you can see, I used some wide elastic (that I actually had left over from a belt I made myself) sandwiched between the layers of mountboard so that it can be held on the arm without it interfering with any essential jousting! (Do pirates joust? Whatever it is pirates do!)
