The Krafting Nerd

 Once I had the foam glued to the core, I had what people call a blank.  It was shield shaped, but had no character.  Eventually, Rosie's shield would get flowers painted on it and the cleric shield will get they symbol of Moradin painted on it, but first I had to give them some texture. The cool thing about foam is that it can be cut, carved and burned by enterprising nerds to mimic all sorts of materials.  In this case, I was going for wood planks. Using a 2x4 as guide, I scored lines in the foam with an exacto knife.  Then, using a Sharpie, I drew lines to simulate wood grain.  I took a soldering iron and traced the score marks and lines.  This melts the foam abit to make them pop out. Now that I had texture, I needed to figure out how to attach a handle and arm strap.  On a real shield, the strap and handle would be riveted or bolted in place.  Since this is a cosplay shield, I wasn't going to do that, but I could mimic it in foam.   What I did was drill a small hole throug