Flamekeeping Jewelry & Other Fire-Free Alternatives.

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[darashand]

They were given to me by a friend just out of the blue, she saw them and thought about me, so she bought them for me.

Really beautiful earrings.  I love those!

Well, I still haven't gotten around to taking any pictures of the little flame pendant that I made to wear during my shifts, but my last shift on 19 April, happened to correspond with a spontaneous trip my partner and I made down to South Carolina to see the oldest oak tree on the continent in honor of Earth Day (that morning we sat and watched the sun rise over the ocean - breath-taking!).

Very beautiful pictures.  That sunset is gorgeous.

[Aster Breo]

My flamekeeping jewelry are these earrings

Very flamey!

[dragonfaerie]

but my last shift on 19 April, happened to correspond with a spontaneous trip my partner and I made down to South Carolina to see the oldest oak tree on the continent in honor of Earth Day

No tree photos? I also want to take a trip down to see that tree.

Karen

[Ali]

No tree photos? I also want to take a trip down to see that tree.

Karen

Well, the thing about it is... the tree is so absolutely huge that it seemed impossible to take any pictures that could truly capture the scale of it. But here's a picture of me standing beneath it (you can see, I'd estimate, about one sixth of the total tree in this picture... the little purple blob of color next to one of its limbs is me, I'm 5'4" to give you some idea of relative size):



It was such an amazing experience! I wrote a little bit about it in my blog last month, in particular the physical/energetic sensation of actually walking into the space of the tree itself. Not something I'll ever forget.

--Ali

[Finn]

Well, the thing about it is... the tree is so absolutely huge that it seemed impossible to take any pictures that could truly capture the scale of it.
--Ali

Had the same (delightful) problem when I went to see the sequoias and the redwoods. 

[Ali]

So during my first "unofficial" shift, I spent several hours sculpting with polymer clay, and then baked the results in the oven and used metallic paint to touch them up afterwards. (I wish I had my camera right now, as I really want to post a picture/link to show off the result--for someone with nil experience in clay, I'm rather proud of myself! ) Then for Valentine's Day, my partner Jeff took me back to where we had our first date and let me pick out a piece of jewelry from the Irish Clothing & Accessories store next to the restaurant, so of course I chose a small gold Brigid's Cross pendant (which I now where a lot of the time, not just during Flamekeeping shifts).

So, I finally got around to actually taking some photos of the flamekeeping necklace that I made several months ago and have been wearing regularly during my shifts since then:



In this picture, you can see both the flame pendant and the gold Brigid's Cross. The flame pendant is made from polymer clay, and painted with bronze and gold metallic paint. The necklace it's on is a braid of dried green hemp - I made the strand long enough so that it can be worn as a long necklace or tied up in the back to become a choker, as it is in this picture. I'm rather proud of the piece and absolutely love wearing it. During my shifts, whenever I catch my reflection and see the flame pendant around my neck, I can't help but smile.

Here's a picture of me, wearing the pendant (and Brigid's Cross), to give you an idea how it looks:



--Ali

[Aster Breo]

The flame pendant is made from polymer clay, and painted with bronze and gold metallic paint.

It's beautiful, Ali!  And very appropriate.

Could you describe the process for making it in more detail?

[Ali]

Could you describe the process for making it in more detail?

Sure thing! Umm... if I can remember.

I started with some white polymer clay (I think I used Sculpy, or something similar to it), and kneaded and rolled two chunks of the clay into small balls, one a bit bigger than the other. I pressed each ball flat into a rounded disc shape using the bottom of a coffee mug. The smaller of the two discs I used as the back of the pendant (the bronze-colored part); I used the tip of a pen to pierce a small hole near one edge, which became the "top" of the pendant. With the second flattened disc, I used a scalpel to carve out a shape like a flame or tear drop, leaving the edges sharp and straight - similar to how you might use a cookie cut to punch out shapes from a sheet of dough. I peeled the excess clay away from around the cut-out shape, then carefully lifted the flame/teardrop shape off the wax paper and placed it, centered, on top of the first disc. I pressed it in gently and used my fingernails to smooth the sides of the top piece down to secure it to the bottom disc piece. That was the basic pendant shape - round disc on the bottom, flame-shaped cut-out shape on top. I baked it this way for about half an hour (I think?) in the oven, set at 350º F.

After it had baked and then cooled, I used metallic paint that I picked up at the craft store to paint it. I put a coat of bronze down over the entire pendant first, then I used gold paint to paint only the center flame piece (the gold required two coats because it was rather thinner than the bronze). Once the paint had dried, I used the bronze paint again to add the tiny lick of bronze-colored tongue in the center of the flame, as well as to touch-up the rest of the pendant where the first coat looked uneven.

I woven the necklace itself out of hemp that I also got at the craft store, in the bead and jewelry section. The strands of hemp were pretty thin, so I braided three strands of green hemp together to make the main strand, then looped it through the hole in the top of the pendant and tied a knot. I used a bit of brown hemp to wrap around the knot about six or seven times, to keep it secure and give it a nice finished look, then I knotted the brown hemp strand in the back and snipped the excess bit off.

And voila! I hope that was helpful. I wish I'd taken pictures through-out the process, as that would have been helpful. I think I do have some extra clay left (and I definitely have more paint), so I may end up making a few more... in which case, I'll be sure to have my camera on hand.

--Ali

[Aster Breo]

And voila! I hope that was helpful.

Yes, very.  This sounds like something even I could make.  Maybe. 

Thanks for taking the time to write out the process.  I think I'm going to give this a try sometime over the summer.

[SunflowerP]

Mod note:  Your new avatar looks great, but it's a bit too tall for our guidelines - it's 263 px, and the guidelines say max 200.

Sunflower

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