My Heart Goes Tick Tock - Week 5

Wow...I can't believe it has been five weeks since the new year started!  Time is going by so fast, maybe that's why I've been thinking about making something with watch gears.  Being that Valentine's Day is next week I decided to combine the gears with a heart to make a "steampunk" inspired pendant.  I don't really get the whole "steampunk" thing...dressing up like old Victorian era people and the love of inventions from the industrial revolution, but I do like the look of the jewelry creations I've seen.  So here goes my attempt at an artful invention!

I gathered up the supplies I knew I would need:  Brown, gold and silver clay, rubber stamps, heart cookie cutter, small watch gears, guilder's paste and embossing powder.  To get started,  I tore off a chunk of each piece of clay and rolled them around in my hands to warm them up.

I took the brown clay and pressed it flat on the table and added smaller pieces of the gold and silver, then I ran it through the pasta sheeter to flatten and combine the clay.  I folded the clay over on itself and added a bit more metallic and ran it back through the sheeter.  I did this ten times or so to get the colors blended how I wanted.

The three colors of clay blended to a nice bronze-brown.

I then rolled the clay out to a 1/4 inch thick and cut out the shape with the cookie cutter.  I added the loop for the chain at this time so it would bake into the clay.

Using a rubber stamp with a french script pattern, I stamped half of the heart by pressing the stamp into the clay.

Then I embedded various gears and watch parts to the other side and made little indents in the clay with the end of a paint brush to add texture. 

The heart was then baked for 15 minutes in a 295 degree oven.

After the clay cooled off, I added some gold and patina colored Guilder's paste to give the heart an aged look.

I wanted to make sure the gears stayed in place and for the heart to have a shiny surface, so I covered everything in a clear embossing powder and heated for two minutes in the toaster oven at 350 degrees.

The result was a really shiny, hard surface that looked pretty and protected the clay.

For the final step, I added an antique looking ball chain and there ya have it....a cool "steampunk" inspired necklace.  Polymer clay is very easy to work with and I am very happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to wear it!  Let me know what you think!

My blog is posted much later than I would have liked due to technical issues with the computer...it took almost two hours just to get the pictures uploaded and oriented correctly.  Maybe the "steampunkers" have it right.....new technology isn't always better!