What happened was, a few months ago my daughter’s little friend across the street got some Ninja Turtle stuff for his birthday. Among other gear, he received two foam swords and some masks. When Spawn went over to play, she was handed a sword and a mask and told to get ready. Within a few seconds she was chasing him around the yard with his own sword. I was so proud! I decided then and there that she needed her own sword and shield set. One made of nice, high-quality materials; an heirloom piece, if you will, hand-carved by her Daddy.
Well, that idea lasted about 3 minutes. After Bride of Scarydad chased down our berserker warrior princess and made her apologize, it was decided that a pointed wooden stick was probably not the best toy to give a three-year-old.
I could think of no reason why she shouldn’t have a shield, though, and when it was decided that the theme of her birthday party was Wonder Woman, I suddenly had a project.
I started with two pieces of ¼” plywood. Using a compass, I drew a 12” circle on each piece and cut them out with a jigsaw. I then cut out an 11” circle from one of them, giving me my rim and material to cut out the logo.
I glued the rim to the other circle, creating the shield itself. I drove a finishing nail through the center of the shield and allowed about one inch to hang off the end of the workbench, allowing me to rotate the work as I sanded it. I sanded and sanded. A LOT of sanding, to make sure the two parts looked and felt like one.
I printed a WW logo from the Net and then traced it onto the leftover piece. I cut it out with a scroll saw, then engraved the lines with a Dremel. Then I sanded and sanded and sanded some more.
Then came time to paint. Each part has several coats of high-quality paint as well as several layers of polyurethane to protect it from the blades of enemies and from little sisters.
Once it was all glued together and sealed, it was time to add the straps. Hobby Lobby sells these bags of leather scraps for around three dollars. I got one on a whim a while back but had no idea what I was going to do with a bunch of strips of royal blue suede. Well, now I know.
All done. For now. I still think any Amazon princess worth her salt needs a good sword but that will have to wait at least a few more months. In the meantime, I gave her a little coil of neon yellow paracord to use as her lasso and she seems pretty content.
If you liked this post please consider joining our email list, liking us on Facebook, or following us on Twitter and Pinterest using the various buttons scattered about the site. Also, please let us know how we’re doing by leaving a message in the comments section below.
