My worbla shield cracked during a con weekend in Austin

I spent about 3 weeks building this big round shield for my knight cosplay, using worbla over a foam base. Everything looked great Friday morning, but by Saturday afternoon a stress crack ran right down the middle after I leaned on it for a photo. I had to patch it on the fly with a heat gun, some spare worbla scraps, and a lot of praying. The crack still shows a bit of a line, but nobody noticed in the con photos. Has anyone else had worbla crack like that and found a way to prevent it long term?

1 comments

1 Comment

saraho483d ago

Worbla does get brittle over time, especially if it's been heated and cooled a bunch, but leaning on it shouldn't have cracked a fresh build that fast. Did you happen to use the thinner sheets for the face? Those are more prone to stress fractures than the 2mm or 3mm ones. Next time, try layering a strip of worbla tape across the back seam before you seal it, or add a thin sheet of craft foam between the base and the worbla for shock absorption. It won't stop every crack, but it buys you way more wiggle room.