How to Make a Greek Shield from a Garbage Can Lid
"Going Greek" or "Going Roman" is an old favorite for costumes of all kinds. While fashioning a tunic or toga is easy enough, coming up with accessories is often more of a challenge. The costume shop offerings are often cheap and tacky, while better looking replica pieces are often very expensive. Following this guide will enable you to make a good costume hoplon, or Greek-style shield that will be inexpensive to make, but look better than a plastic child's toy.
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Things You'll Need
- Bowl-shaped, concave plastic garbage can lid
- A length of rope or pair of leather straps
- Bolts and washers, or tape and glue
- Cardboard
- Caulking
- Glue
- Knife
- Primer, paint and brushes
Instructions
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1
Find an appropriate lid. The hoplon, or round shield that Greek warriors carried in the phalanx, was a 3- to 4-foot wide shield shaped like a shallow bowl. Thankfully, many garbage can lids have a similar shape. Pick a plastic lid, as metal will be much harder to turn into a Greek-style shield.
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2
Clean and trim your future shield. It's a garbage can lid, so give it a good washing before you do anything else. Then trim away undesired parts of the lid, like external handles or the lip running around the rim.
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3
Measure your interior straps. The Greek shield was held by running the arm through a loop and holding a grip in one hand. You will use rope or leather straps to make these carrying points. Measure out an appropriate length for both the hand grip and arm loop and cut down to size.
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4
Measure the circumference of your Greek-style shield to be, and cut layers of cardboard to go over top. Many plastic lids of the kind used in making this costume shield will have a raised section running through the center. This means your first 2 or 3 layers of cardboard will need to be cut to fill in the depressed spaces, creating a level surface to attach the final layer of cardboard.
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5
Attach both the hand grip and arm loop to the inside by using buts, bolts and washers. On the other side, the nuts, bolts, and washers will fix the first layer of cardboard into place. It is critical to use washers to help pin both the ropes and the cardboard across a wider surface area.
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6
Use glue to layer cardboard on top of the first, bolted-down layer. Continue to glue cardboard on until a level outer surface has been achieved on your Greek shield. This will also cover up the bolting. Use caulking or some other filling agent to smooth out the rough, hollowed cardboard edges.
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7
Prime and paint the outside of the shield.
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Tips & Warnings
Why a garbage can lid and not a circular-cut wooden board? These lids are typically shaped like a concave, shallow bowl, and already bear a superficial resemblance to the hoplon, or Greek-style shield. Why use cardboard? Plastic doesn't hold paint very well, but cardboard drinks it up. Also, you will need something to cover up the bolting to achieve a smooth outer surface.
