Brooch done (mostly)

So I finished the top brooch, baked and painted it. It might need one more coat, plus a top clear coat, and then a metal pin backing to keep it on the tunic. That'll be done at that point, but it'll also give me a template to use for the bottom 'metalwork', since much of that is based off of the shapes in the brooch as well.

I think I did a pretty good job of it, although of course now I see all the little imperfections I could have fixed. When you compare it side by side with the real image, I think it stands up.

Now on to the bottom peice, although I've got other costumes to work on before this one really takes priority...

First post - where I am now

So I'd like to make this costume for Dragoncon 2006, and even though I'm working on other costumes right now, there's parts of it that allow me to work upstairs, where I've been spending time this week to care for my sicky dog.

To that end, I've gotten two things started:

Boots - Found them at Caboots

Jewelry - I started the top pin in clay (Premo! by Sculpey, fyi, in Gold #5303), and my plan is to paint and varnish it, and attach a back with epoxy. So far it's coming along splendedly. I'm nearly done with the scuplture part of the top brooch, and here's how I did it:

I found an image of the brooch (padawan's guide has excellent photos), made sure it was the size I wanted to make the brooch (from my estimations from the photos, the top brooch is approximately 2 inches across and an inch tall. I used this as a template to cut out the outline - a rough one, for certain.

I spent some time smoothing the edges, and fixing up the shape. Having a lot of tools for scuplting helped a good deal. After I got the base the right shape, I used a "Makins Clay" mold (Floral, #39005) that had not only flowers (sort of, if you used one part of a larger recess) but the inside of a rose that I could use as a base for the center shell. I modeled each piece separately and used the tools to press and secure them to the base, as well as smooth out the seam lines.

I'll be baking it tomorrow night hopefully, and I'll post before and after pictures then.

I've got an extra Makin's mold as well, feel free to email me if you want to get it from me for a (very) small fee :)