Reflective Evaluation

I took on this project with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement to begin with but my complete inexperience with blogging has set me back in my written work and documentation thus leaving me in a bit of a rush to finish before deadline, Fortunately I kept a log on a Word document so I had information to copy and paste after we eventually had a work shop on how to blog. I am glad now that I know how to blog and therefore will be more prepared and able to get a real head start in my documentation. Blogging is essential to the creative workplace and I will definitely be using it in the future.

When presented with the brief I was determined to produced high quality props to a professional standard fit to be displayed in the Guildhall Museum and was especially pleased when I was presented with the role of making props for the Blacksmith's workshop, specifically an axe, flail and kite shield. Now that i think of it, it was a good coincidence that I was given the two props that required a wooden handle so I could ensure that the way the wood was painted and aged was similar.

On my last project I had left the physical making til rather late so for this commission I was determined to get making as soon as all the roles were given out and everyone knew what they were doing. And for once I was really on top of my photographic documentation which helped a lot with writing up my days until I was eventually shown how to blog. I was also rather concerned about the level of communication there was between the whole group as for the first few weeks or so only one other person in the blacksmith group as well as myself actually turned up but there was no way of getting everyone in. I feel like I was the only member of the blacksmith group who was treating this project as an actual official job. I never saw the rest of the group apart from meetings but to this day I have no idea what anyone else has really done so I couldn't provide any kind of solid list of everyone's roles other than my own. This was most probably down to a leader not being chosen therefore frequent updates were not organised, either that or they weren't in university much either.

I was very fortunate throughout this project to have been able to spend almost nothing on materials by sourcing scraps and being giving a few materials by tutors, I only had to buy a short length of chain for the medieval flail and the rubber ball on the end of the chain. I found it slightly annoying that I was denied trying out new and more complicated ways of making but instead encouraged to make the prop out of easier materials that I felt wasn't incredibly professional but it did provide a good challenge and learning curve to make using such an easy and boring material such as card look like the metal head of an axe. These are certain challenges that I'm sure would crop up in a real work environment so being able to adapt when time is of the essence and desired materials are unavailable would be a valuable skill to have.

With no real way of making people come in to work it was really frustrating at times knowing that we had a limited amount of time and that the people at the museum were relying on us and expecting good quality props and costume but I had to focus on the props that I had been assigned and worry about possibly taking on other people jobs after I had completed my own, which was confirmed when a member of our group didn't show up for the majority of the project but insisted they would have the work done and dropped out in the last week thus suddenly leaving the rest of the group with more work that won't be able to get finished before the deadline.  The work was split more than fairly among the work force so with the complete lack of attendance from some individuals it has set everyone back a great deal which isn't professional or fair.

After this project I feel like I have developed a lot and improved in my time management although it would have been a lot better if I had known how to blog from the start instead of a few weeks into the project so I could have started my blog earlier and been completely up to date as I hadn't documented the dates in which I'd completely parts of my work in my notes, but now I know how to basically blog it will be a very useful documentation technique which I will be sure to use. I would definitely take a project like this again but perhaps without the individuals who lacked in attendance and in one case dropped out at the last moment with little work to show. A team with a more professional attitude towards a commissioned project for display to the general public would be preferred. Otherwise I feel like I could really do this as a profession as aside from some people it was really enjoyable and I feel like i have learnt a very invaluable skill with the blogging. In future if a project like this arose again I would certainly try to keep in contact with all people involved to see where everyone is with their work and if they're up to date.

Finally after another go I managed to get the shape I desired and spared no time in drawing up my pattern onto the shield.

The paint job consisted of a dark blue and a dark golden yellow so I mixed up some blue with some black and watered it down slightly. It was quite difficult and time consuming to get into all of the gaps with created some annoying lines where the paint had dried from previous painting. Lastly I applied the yellow which was again watered down and painted the moons and crosses. 

I kept giving my shield more brown washes so it looked darker and whilst it was drying i helped out the Razz group by making them a pair of Elephant tusks out of polystyrene. The shape was drawn out and roughly cut out. I used the band saw to add more shape to them then I went over them thoroughly with some sandpaper to smooth out the shape.

After my shield had dried I proceeded to trim down extra strips to make the arm and hand straps with more leather and fixing them them to the shield using the same tacs used to attach the leather trim.

Next I had to choose a design for the front of the shield and I chose a pattern consisting of three upside down half moons and a series of smaller crosses. I drew out the moon shape easily by finding circular objects to draw around. the crosses were a bit harder than expected. Here is a failed attempt.

I gave up for the evening on the crosses and instead helped out the Razz group again. This time I painted the paper rope on the trunk and tail using watered down paints i had mixed to match the colour of the EVA foam.

I also made a fur tuft for the Elephant's tail by cutting a fairly thin strip off goat fur and hot gluing it down the sides of the tail.

The next morning the glue had dried and the shield stayed in place with a nice curve. I used a circular sanding wheel in the workshop to neaten messy and uneven edges of my shield.

 Next a member of the costume group for our project was summoned to measure out canvas which wold be glued and nailed to the front of the shield as they would have done all those years ago.

 I used a piece of wood to spread the glue evenly over the shield and matched up the border of the canvas with the edges of the shield. I made sure to press out any bumps so the canvas lay flat on the wood. The rim of the canvas was folded and stapled around the back of the shield.

My work colleague covered the back of his with canvas as our shields are going to be two different variations.

 Next me and my associate measured and cut strips of leather 2 inches thick to be glued and nailed around the edge of the shield to add strength.

 Whilst I was at a meeting my colleague made some hand rests out of an old jacket and some wadding so it would be comfortable on the back of your hand to hold the shield as the reference pictures had shown, but before I left I sculpted a half sphere that my associate could vacuum form to create a shield boss for his shield as mine was not featuring one.

When I returned we both helped each other to nail the leather strips around the edge of our shields. 

We used small tacs which were hammed into both sides of the shields to hold the leather rim down as well as wood glue

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 I used the tacs to nail the hand pad in place and I used watered down paint to stain everything a lot darker to make it look a lot more aged.

SHIELD

Next I had to construct a kite shield. The challenge for this build was to get the curve in the wood. I did this by screwing two planks to a board in a ‘V’ shape, this would be my bending rig.

 I then measured and drew out the shield full size on some paper and transferred it on to a sheet of flexi plywood and cut it out twice using the large vertical saw and the band saw in the workshop. Using the band saw was rather difficult as the shield was quite big so controlling the plywood was a bit hard so I roughly cut it out and would neaten it up after I'd glued it.

 Then I generously covered one side of one of the shield pieces with wood glue and placed the other piece on top. These were placed onto the bending rig so the edge of the shield rested on the planks. Two heavy weights were put on top of the shield to keep it bent down. Clamps were used to keep the edges of the shield pieces together whilst the glue dried. 

In between waiting for the shield to dry I helped out the Razzmatazz group with some of their lion mask. I worked with Rhenoflex which you heat up with a heat gun and mold into position and it cools and hardens in place. Then I started to gum paper the mask.

Kite Shield
A kite shield was a distinct type of shield from the 10th–12th centuries. It was either a reverse teardrop shape or later on, flat-topped. The tapering point extended down to either a distinct or rounded point. Believed to be an evolution of the simple round shield purely to guard one whole flank of a rider when in combat, the shield gained popularity amongst professional soldiers as it allowed them to guard their foreleg when in a mêlée. It was either flat in section, or featured a gradual curve, to better fit the contour of the human torso. The shield is most closely associated with the Normans, who were one of the first cultures to use it widely, and can be seen throughout the Bayeux Tapestry. The shield sometimes featured a domed metal centrepiece (shield boss), but it has been generally accepted that this was decorative rather than providing protection for the hand as on a round shield. It is also taken that a large number of kite shields featured no boss, and this was also a matter of preference. However, the addition of a boss may have made the deflection of incoming blows easier. The shield was usually made from stout but light wood, such as lime, and faced in either leather or toughened fabric, such as canvas. Most shields featured some form of reinforced rim, generally toughened leather.

Next came the construction of the spiked metal ball, to which a rubber dog toy made the perfect ball and I had some cone studs already. I sanded the brand logo from the ball's surface and set about making two largish holes for the chain to be attached. When this was done I used bolt cutters to cut the end of a chain link in half, this was to be the piece to be glued inside of the rubber ball. I filled the holes with araldite super glue and held the chain link in place til it was dry.

I made a series of holes in the ball and applied super glue and pushed in the spikes on the bottom of the stud. The slight issue I had with the studs were that they didn't always go all the way into the ball so there was a very small gap between the stud and the ball.

I painted it with multiple coats of black paint and matt glaze with metal powder and hints of brown to try and blend it with the chain. Some more coats of matt glaze were added to fix the paint and metal powder.