Since I was a little child – and could hold picture books by myself – I was ever fascinated by the knights in mediaeval times and their often very beautiful crafted armours. Several times in my life I crafted armors for myself from cardboard ( because it is not so expensive ) and later I did some for my own children and their friends. And still I like this kind of fabulous magical DIY toys telling legendary fairy tales of never happened stories – unless you are playing them yourself with your friends … in the case you gonna do this: Here is a very simple to make but very good looking ‘Mediaeval Pot Helmet’ every real knightess and every real knight needs!

Supplies

tools

glue like ‘UHU’, optional: double sided permanent mounting tape – I prefer this!
pencil
cutter
2 (big) paperclips
printer

materials

normal paper
mounting board, silver metallic matt – minimum size: 39 x 27,5 in / 100 x 70 cm
mounting board, gold metallic matt – minimum size: 16,5 x 11,8 in / 42 x 30 cm

The mounting boards have no foam core: only cardboard. Available in different colors; backside is light grey, ~ 200g / m2, maybe up to 300g / m2. In German it is ‘Fotokarton’ – ‘photo mounting board’, but I am not sure if this means the same in English. A helping comment is very welcome! :-)

Step 1: Print Reference Models + Cut Out

Use the PDFs for printing the reference models on normal paper. The complete helmet consists only of 4 parts. There is one PDF including all parts on one big size page ( 16,5 x 11,8 in ) and one PDF in US letter size with 2 pages – this might be easier to handle. Print out reference models with 100%, cut out and if necessary glue parts of the same reference model piece: side (blue), top (green), visor (red).

Please note:
… to print out 2 x, because on the PDF pages the parts are overlapping: cutting out the side-piece will make top and visor un-useable, and vice versa.

Step 2: Transfer Reference Models on Mounting Board + Cut Out

Place the reference models on the backside of the mounting board, draw the forms with a pencil and cut them out. At least you should have those parts of the helmet cutted out of the mounting board:

1 side, with glueing strips
1 side mirrored, without glueing stripes
1 top
1 visor

These 4 are the most basic elements of the helmet, nevertheless you can create some decorative elements to make the helmet more nice. I have done so but I have not included decorative elements in the PDFs to keep it as simple as possible.

Step 3: Glue the Side Parts

Having done this – the helmet is already looking like a helmet! Nice! :-)

Step 4: Glue the Top

Especially for glueing parts like this I prefer a double sided mounting tape, because there is no need to be quick because the tape cannot become dry like a liquid glue. And it is normally also not necessary to put a lot of pressure on the glueing parts like you have to do when using ‘rapid glue’. Consider eventually to score very lightly with the cutter along the glueing stripes on top to make bending the stripes a bit easier …

Step 5: Mounting the Visor

This is done with the paperclips: Make small holes – with the cutter or a needle or something like this. There are no marks for this on the reference models because you have to find the fitting position: depending definitely on the ‘natural form’ of your helmet. The glueing process itself will approximately generate some tensions and will influence the form of the helmet a bit. So, find the position the visor can be opened and will hold without supporting. It is really not so complicated ;-)

The ‘golden roses’ for the hinge of the visor are ‘only’ decorative elements – see next step.

Tip – paperclips:
Come from inside out, so the two legs are outside and the head of the paperclip is inside: This is good for not getting entangled with your hair when wearing the helmet!

Step 6: Add Decorative Elements

I did not only the ‘golden roses’ for the hinge of the visor but also a lily – ‘fleur-de-lis’, very in fashion in mediaeval times – on top of the helmet and ‘little wings’ in the lower chin region. Freely drawn – obviously to see :-D