Some planning and stenciling

Well, so today is a layout day! I have the rough cut triangles and the loftwing stenciled, so now to start putting it together and planning out the rim and thorn-work on the face.  I will need to know general shape and size to fit this particular shield so it all fits together well. I began by planning out the accents in the rim which are basically pentagons of various proportions.  I will have a 1" band around the perimeter of the face and when you combine that with placement of the triangle and the loftwing it starts to show how the thornwork will fit in.  This is good because now I have the dimensions of those pieces and can do more cutting!

Only needing one side as I will mirror the pieces for the other side. Here is where we are:

You can start to see how the design will shape up on the face of the shield.  The thorns are rough sketch with the accents being more precisely lined. I'll clean up the thorns and use a French curve set to ensure the curves are aesthetically pleasing.

The pentagons will be made from either 1/8" or 3/16" mild steel plate (I haven't decided which yet). The banding itself will be 16ga sheet. The thorns will be 3/16" mild steel but will be hollow ground as in the design such that it will have a spine that flows with the lines.

You can see also where I will be hiding the bolts for the grip straps to hide the unsightly mounts. The bottom part of the straps will be built into two of the accent pentagons and the top ones will be built into the larger thorns.

On the reverse side, I have the loftwing (bird) lined in and ready to emboss into the steel.

Not too shabby, I say!

Until next time!