Hi,
I have no experience with painted Indian shields. Nevertheless in the case of Ethiopian shields I used to put the shields completely into the water in order to get damp. After then I usually used system of wooden concentric circles (made of board) which I prepared myself in accordance with the dimensions of the shield (bottom wooden circle base with cut out for handle an upper with big cut out for domed body of the shield). I clamped peripheries of the wooden circles by several joinery clumps. Once I also used "pyramid system" of buckets heavy-laden with some weight to form the domed body. It always worked, but the shield must copletely dry before it is unclumped.
After than the treatment depends ... I some time use lanolin dissolved in technical petrol, some time I only wax it. I n any case you have to count with the fact, that the shield will probably react on changes of the air humidity and in some cases it could slightly change its shape again.
Martin
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