The Gladiators Helmet By George Shanahan

The first thing I did was to inflate a balloon. I then mixed up some wall paper paste, and covered the balloon in paste. After that I cut some strips of paper and pasted the paper onto the balloon. When the paste had dried I removed the balloon and the shell was left.

When the shell was hard, I cut some strips of scrim tape (sticky grid tape) and stuck the tape onto the shell to make the shell stronger.

This is a picture of the shell covered in scrim tape.

I then painted the shell with some emulsion paint (peach wall paint) to keep the scrim tape in place.

It took me a long time to paint the whole thing!

I left the shell to dry and started to make the profiles for the crest.

To make the crest, I needed some bristles. I cut the bristles from a broom.

I then used a hot glue gun and stuck the bristles on to the profile. It was very hard work, my Dad helped me as the glue gun was so hot.

While the glue was still sticky, I placed the other profile and made a bristle sandwich!

I then had a tidy up, there were lots of bristles on the table and floor!

Now it was time to put the crest onto the shell. The profile fitted perfectly!

There were some small gaps. I used some masking tape to cover them up.

After marking with a pencil, with the help of my Dad, we cut- out the visor. Then it was time to try it on!

The helmet always had a brim running round in a bend and a tall metal or bristled crest stretching from the front to the back. This was to make them look more aggressive, and also made the gladiator look handsome. Both of these were as important as each other.

Almost there – now it’s time to see the real thing!