It's finished!

Front: The Alclad and base coats were applied and everything was weathered with a dark grey/brown wash.  Then I stenciled on the Phoenix and applied clear caulking over the phoenix, to give it a raised texture. Then the rust was applied with various browns and oranges.  The bronze and brass parts were "oxidized" using a mix of light blue and green paint, dry-brushed on and around those pieces.

Back: The plugs were made from wooden dowels dipped in 65D resin and sanded with rough sandpaper to give them the brushed metal look.  Then the back was painted with the same dark grey/brown wash as the front.  Then various browns, reds, and tans were applied to give the wood grain depth.  The same rust and weathering techniques were used on the back of the shield.

For this shield I'm using many different painting techniques.  One of my favorite paint products is Alclad.  It gives the metal parts of the shield shine!  Below I explain each step and technique I've used so far.

1: Using regular old poster board, I drew out a template, using reference photos.  This is used to trace onto the foam.  It is a lot cheaper to go through poster board than EVA foam :)

2:  Do you like my foam dome rig?  For the front of the shield, the EVA foam is heated up and then shaped with the domer I made.  

3: The back side was traced and cut out using a band saw.

4:  This is the inside of the shield where the back handles will get hooked to.  The MDF will reinforce it.

5:  Whoops.  If at first you don't succeed, try a new method!  First I tried expanding foam to push the front of the shield out more.  It wasn't effective, so I used different pieces of foam I cut out instead.

6:  Starting to add the details of the shield with Foamies (less thick).  I just cut out the shape I need from the beginning template as I work on the details.

​7:  On the back, adding the details of the wood grain.  This is achieved with a dremel, using a grinding stone attachment.

8: Working on the details of the front of the shield.  I'm using a mixture of materials here.  A little styrene, a little MDF, and some more EVA foam.