In 2011 a video game by the name The ElderScrolls 5: Skyrim was first released. It is a fantasy style role playing game that feels very on par with Norse mythology, among other things. In the game there are a number of cites or “holds”, each of which have their own emblem. The city of Windhelm in the game has the emblem of a grizzly bear. I really liked the in game design so I decided to try to make Windhelm’s guard shield in real life.

Although I really like the Windhelm bear emblem design, I do not fully support what the Stormcloaks stand for in the game. Those who have played the game can probably guess what parts about them I really do not like.

This is a digital image of the in game Windhelm/Stormcloak shield.

Unfortunately, I did not document anything before the circular part was cut out, so we will have to start here. A family friend, was nice enough to find some old barn wood. We took it to a wood shop where we glued it. After that, it was brought back to my house where Tom (the family friend) showed me how to cut it into a circular patern with a jig saw as seen below.

The next step was to add a reinforcement to the shield to make it more sturdy but also to make it mountable on a wall, as seen below.

After adding the reinforcement, it was time to add the first coat of paint. I went with paint instead of stain because stain is oil based and adding paint on top of oil does not work the greatest. I opted for a dark color to match the wood color in original shield that it is based off of.

I did not need to cover the whole side of the shield due to the fact that the blue paint would cover the middle part.

Next, I painted on that majestic Windhelm blue. I spent a long time in the paint store looking for the right blue and I am pretty sure I found it.

The next part called for some creativity. The original shield in the game has a metal (most likely iron) frame. Since I am not a metal worker I did the next best thing. I purchased two very large rawhide dog bones, stuck them in a container filled with water, put a lid on it, and let them soak for 24 hours in order to make them malleable.

After they were done soaking, I unraveled one and proceeded to stretch out the rawhide around the edge of the wood circle while it was still damp. I used some clamps to keep the rawhide in place while it dried and decided to hammer in some nails to make sure it was securely attached. 

After I got all of the rawhide on and secured in place, it was time to paint the rawhide to make it look more like metal.

Next was time to cut out the design pattern of the Windhelm Bear from the game. Since the shield is 30 inches by 30 inches, I had to go get my stencil printed off from my old college printing facility since they have a much larger printer then I do.

When I was placing the stencil on the shield, I noticed that the emblem was backwards. So I double checked my sources and simply flipped the stencil around as seen below.

After painting, I then attached the handle of the shield. Admittedly, the handle is not very comfortable to hold and the shield is heavy, but considering this whole project was more of a fun "trial and error" kind of project, I think it turned out ok.

Here is a closer look at the rawhide siding...

And here we have the shield compared with the original design from the game.

Recreation on the left, original shield from the game on the right.

Lastly, the final product.

Maybe one day I will go back and try to add some weathering to it to make it look more beat up. Either way, I really had no idea what I was doing when I made this, so i guess its a pretty good first try.