This is a tutorial showing you how to make an easy viking shield that looks good and functions. We make it out of foam board or cardboard and it is durable enough to use as a cosplay item. You can carry it around.

And we stick to actual viking shield technique and form. This is very similar to the real ones that vikings actually used.

Will has a youtube channel with over 700 videos on projects you can make. Check it out right here

I also have a video tutorial for this project at the bottom of the page.

Earn a Certificate of Contribution!

If you make this project email me a picture! I will email you a certificate of contribution from stormthecastle.com You can print it up and hang it on the wall.

Materials and Tools:

• 4 Sheets of foam board (20x30 inches and 5 mm thick. This is standard size foam board. Or you can also use cardboard.
• White glue or hot glue gun
• Paint, Your preference. I used gold and red
• 1 plastic bowl for the boss of the shield
• a sharp knife, I used an x-acto knife
• Little bit of sand paper (optional)

Note from Will. I make this shield out of foam board. You can also use cardboard for this project . Here is a tip on how to make it nice and strong with corrugated cardboard.

We make our shield with two layers of cardboard. Glue them together with the corrugations running perpendicular to each other. One layer they go north and south. And in the other layer they go east and west. This will make for maximum strength in your shield.

Let's Get started

Our foamboard is 20x30 inches. But we want our shield to be more than 20 inches so we have to improvise a little bit.

So place two sheets of foamboard side by side and tape them together with a couple of pieces of tape. Then draw out a large circle on them.

Put a nail right in the center. That will be our pivot so we can draw out the circle.

I made this compass style tool to draw the circle. The x's are 14 inches apart.

Put a hole at each X. Then you can mount one end on your nail and through the other end you can put a marker or pencil then scribe out your circle.

Go ahead and cut out those circles. Do this twice. We want two complete circles.

Let's glue those pieces together to make our shield. Lay down two pieces side by side to form a circle. They are east and west. Then glue the next circle on top of them, north and south.

Now place your bowl on the center of the shield and trace around it.

And then cut that circle out. But cut it about 1/4 inch smaller all the way around. This way we have some surface we can glue the bowl to.

Let's continue

Watch the video here:

Functional LARP Viking Battle Shield -

• Shield diameter is about 29.25 and it weights about 11 lbs.
• The shield has been constructed from solid wood.
• The shield features a steel covered rim.
• The handle is wood and riveted to the shield.
• The center boss is made of 16G steel and riveted securely to the shield.

Elmer's Acid-Free Foam Boards, 20 x 30 Inches, 3/16-Inch Thick, Bright White, 2-Count (902015)

If you are looking for high quality, archive quality or you are looking for a backing for photographs you should use an acid free foam board It is more expensive per sheet though.