Viking helmets

I'm making up Topic Boxes at work and also putting together a Viking Box Book for a special needs lad.
So shields, swords, axes and Viking helmets are called for..... so after abit of research and foraging, I came up with the grey waste bin and the orange veg strainer... watch this space lol (£1.29 and 74p so it wont break the Education Budget..)
The waste bin was easy enough to cut away with scissors and with some sanding off at the edges, to be sure it wasnt sharp at all, its should fit the bill for a blind child.
Now it could look better with abit on the top, am still undecided about that. Little point in painting it, its very flexible so paint likely to crack off and its a passable enough metal shade for a child with partial sight.
Of course it is plastic so no authentic metal feel to it.

This veg strainer with the handle and its opposite side nobbly bit sliced off, fits the head neat enough.

I blethered it in double sided tape and then covered it with tin foil.

I used the tinfoil treble thickness, then that folded in half so it made a nice sturdy 'fabric' to wrap the strainer in.

I wrapped selotape round that so it was less likely to tear too.

Now this could work, esp for an adult to wear as fancy dress. But I decided against painting the bucket, since its so flexible the paint would crack off Im certain.

Here you see the helmet with a nose guard on it. This was tin foil wrapped mountboard that was cut in a wide T shape. In order that the forehead band would lay well rounded, I bent the mountboard before foiling it, over scissor blades.

 Like when you curl Christmas tape or daffodil leaves, to make them shape and curl.

Anyway I double sided taped the band to the helmet, but also trapped it in position with strong threads which went through the foil and the holes in the strainer and then back under and through istelf again.

That should keep the band in place firmly.

 I opted to go for a leather  neck cover at the back but havent taken a picture of it finished yet, so that will have to be in a later post sorry!

Now I also had to make an island for a lad and for some daft reason I made it rectangular-ish! But using modroc, gesso and paint this is what it looked like at first.

Spot the volcano, natural harbour and the where the river will run through it...cue for a film that lol

This is it on a base board, with the sea and the start of the beach.

And here with the river in situ, but again I havent taken a pic of the finished island.

A pic with the added textured areas of grassland, scrubland and forest will be in a later post. This will need a 'key' naming what texture represents what. This will have large sized print and braile too.

To think they pay me to do this, am I lucky or what lol