How to Make a Spartan (Corinthian) Helmet From Cardboard!!

The Spartan helmet, developed between 700 and 720 BCE in ancient Greece, is prevalent in historical Greek movies (usually about Sparta), where it is often referred to by a misleading name. The true name is the Corinthian helmet, and it was actually not native to Sparta; however, Sparta iconically used red for their horsehair crest. The interesting thing about this helmet was its lack of functionality - soldiers hardly wore it because it was difficult to breathe and obstructed peripheral vision. In fact, Sparta later abandoned the helmet in favor of a less protective but more efficient version. Yet they are remembered for it! Images of red cloaks, and bronze Corinthian helmets stir up feelings of adventure and nostalgia for a time long before us. So maybe it's not the helmet that Sparta is remembered for, but the feeling that it effortlessly instills in us all.

If you want to fill your space with a spark of ancient courage, this project is for you!

1. A Ruler
2. A Pencil/pen
3. Cardboard (chipboard)
4. Painters tape
5. Hot glue
6. Elmers glue
7. A bowl for mixing glue and water
8. A brush for applying glue
9. Printer paper
10. Paint
11. Embroidery thread
12. Water
13. Toothpicks (optional)
14. Decorative supplies (ex. gold foil, beads...)

Spartan or more correctly Corinthian helmets were made by hammering a SINGLE SHEET of bronze! One mistake and the bronzesmith had to start over. That amount of talent, patience, and dedication to the craft is amazing and something that I can only hope to one day achieve. It is said that imitation is the best form of flattery, and while I don't have the ability to manipulate bronze, I'm pretty good with cardboard. In this step, we will be making the skeleton of the helmet - a structure on which the shape will take form. Be patient with yourself as you make this because, unlike with bronze, a mistake is not the end of the world, so please, remember to have fun. :)

Creating the facepiece of the helmet:

1. Transfer the dimensions above onto cardboard.
2. Glue the two sides of your cut-out shape together as shown above.
3. Bend the back of the helmet outwards like shown.

Creating the rounded top of the helmet:

1. Cut out four strips of cardboard about 0.5 cm wide and around 8 cm long (you can make these longer or shorter depending on how tall or short you want your helmet to be.
2. Attach these to the top of the helmet as shown above.

Finalizing the shape:

This makes the next step easier. Cover the rounded top of the helmet with painters' tape or any paper-based tape.

Trace the top of the helmet on cardboard. Next, cut out it out and discard the piece that you cut. Check to see if your helmet can fit inside of the hole left behind (It doesn't need to be a perfect fit, it just needs to be the general shape). Next, extend the sides of the drawing outwards as shown in the fourth picture. Cut out the shape and trace it onto another piece of cardboard - cut this out as well. Tape these two pieces in parallel running down the top of the helmet, leaving a gap in between. Tape the gap in the front and the back of the two pieces, so that the only open gap is on the top.

In order to make a seamless, nearly perfect piece, the bronzesmith had to heat and stretch the bronze onto an anvil. Evidence of this hard work has been preserved even to this day - in artifacts, we can still see each hammer mark. If a helmet made by a master bronsmith had surface uneveness, your paper macheing doesnt need to be perfect either.

Tear about 1-2 sheets of paper into small to medium sized pieces. Mix Elmer's glue and water, and use this to attach the torn pieces of paper one by one. Be sure to cover the entire surface (inside and outside).

If you look at preserved Spartan helmets, you can still see the hammer marks from the blacksmith. The ridges and grooves from the crepe paper can replicate this.

OPTIONAL: If the cheek plates on your helmet are very flexible, you can glue toothpicks to the inside and cover it with paper mâché.

Now this is the fun part :). Gather your paints. As bronze oxidizes, it can turn a range of colors, including reddish-brown, dark brown, green, blue, and black. In the artifacts that we have today, these helmets often display various shades of green and brown. So, to imitate this, I used gold, an orangish-yellow color, dark green, and dark brown paint. I painted the entire helmet a mixture of gold and yellow, then used my fingers to dab on blotches of green, blue, and brown to mimic oxidation.

I also glued gold foil towards the back of the helmet, away from the oxidation marks to show parts of the helmet that were more preserved.

Do you know why these helmets had a horse hair crest? Imagine this: you are a Spartan enemy, and on the horizon, you suddenly see thousands of men in gold and bronze armor, shining in the sun. Already tall and menacing, their horse hair crests reach into the sky, striking fear into the hearts of you and your comrades.

Its purpose, in addition to creating a unified and terrifying army, also showed rank. In some cases, high-ranking officials had the crest going the other way, from side to side. In other cases, soldiers wore smaller crests or none at all.

For this, you will need embroidery thread - you can choose whether you want your crest to have many different shades of red or not.

1. Cut out 5-10 strips of red embroidery thread(or any color that you want). I chose various shades of red and purple. Decide how long you want your crest to be, add a few centimeters of uncertainty, and multiply the value by two. For example, I wanted my final crest to be 3 cm high, so I added my uncertainty value (2 cm) and multiplied it by two, resulting in 10cm.
2. Fold all of your strips in half and use extra thread to tie the bottom as shown in the picture above.
3. Using a tweezer and hot glue, glue this into the slot on the top of the helmet.
4. Repeat this until you fill the entire gap.
5. In the last spot of the helmet, I twisted and braided strips of thread, letting it hang down the back.
6. Finally, if you prefer a neater look, trim the string into the desired height and shape.

We're almost done. So far, you've been guided by me and the ancient blacksmiths of the Greek ages but now is the time to showcase your own identity. Use beads, gemstones.... whatever you want to give your helmet some personality.

In the pictures above, I used hot glue to create a pattern and glued beads around the horsehair crest.

Great job on completing your helmet :)