Arwen's Butterfly Brooch
I made this for a halloween costume. It cost me $2 which i believe is pretty good when you compare it to the $60 ones you can get online. This brooch is from Arwen's Requiem dress.
For those of you who are not familiar with Arwen, she is a fictional character in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Her dress: http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/scrapbook/Maggie/maggie_requiem.jpg
i hope to post a instructable on have to make her dress (well my version)
For those of you who are not familiar with Arwen, she is a fictional character in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
Her dress: http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/scrapbook/Maggie/maggie_requiem.jpg
i hope to post a instructable on have to make her dress (well my version)
What You Need
You need:
Any type of clay. I used FIMO Effect in a metallic silver
A Butter Knife
Parchment paper
A Pin
Hot Glue
I got my FIMO at Micheal's in sale for 2 for $4
Any type of clay. I used FIMO Effect in a metallic silver
A Butter Knife
Parchment paper
A Pin
Hot Glue
I got my FIMO at Micheal's in sale for 2 for $4
Make the Base
First you need to print out a picture of the brooch in the size you want. I copy and pasted a picture of the brooch into MS Word and expanded the picture. Her actual brooch is 3 1/2 inches long so make the picture a slight bit bigger than that. You are going to be using this as a template for your brooch.
You then need to knead your clay until it is soft and easy to work with. I find this clay takes forever to become soft so start this step early. Then roll the clay into varying thicknesses of tubes like in the picture.
Take a thick tube of clay and lay it across your picture, like in the picture above. Take another tube and lay it the other way going with the curves of the brooch. Press where the two tubes meet together. Taper off the ends at the bottom.
You then need to knead your clay until it is soft and easy to work with. I find this clay takes forever to become soft so start this step early. Then roll the clay into varying thicknesses of tubes like in the picture.
Take a thick tube of clay and lay it across your picture, like in the picture above. Take another tube and lay it the other way going with the curves of the brooch. Press where the two tubes meet together. Taper off the ends at the bottom.
Top Wings
Take a thick tube a lay it along the lines of the bottom part of the top wings. Take your butter knife a cut the tube to length. Pinch the ends to make them pointy. Use the tip of the butter knife and blend the ends closest to the middle into the other pieces.
Take a thin piece and lay it along the top part of the inside part of the wing.
Now take the thin piece again and make a curve where the curve/loopy thing is. Use your butter knife to blend and cut pieces.
Take a thin piece and lay straight pieces like stripes on it. You are connecting the thick piece with the thin loopy piece.
Now take a thick piece and lay it along the other bottom thick piece on top of your stripes. blend all of your pieces together.
Take a thin piece and on the thick, blended piece make little curves in between the stripes. Blend the edges in.
Repeat on other wing.
Take a thin piece and lay it along the top part of the inside part of the wing.
Now take the thin piece again and make a curve where the curve/loopy thing is. Use your butter knife to blend and cut pieces.
Take a thin piece and lay straight pieces like stripes on it. You are connecting the thick piece with the thin loopy piece.
Now take a thick piece and lay it along the other bottom thick piece on top of your stripes. blend all of your pieces together.
Take a thin piece and on the thick, blended piece make little curves in between the stripes. Blend the edges in.
Repeat on other wing.
Bottom Wings and Loopy Things
Now continue following your template and make the curves for the bottom wings. Connect the bottom parts with the base part that you made earlier. Blend.For the Inside of the bottom wings, take a thin tube and lay it at a diagonal in the space. Take 2 more pieces and make a triangle inside the wing with a curvy bottom. The one point should come out of the juncture of the 2 base pieces.
Repeat on other wing.
There is 4 connecting parts in between the 2 bottom wings. Simply take a thin piece of clay and follow the lines on you template.
For the loopy things, take a medium thickness tube and make a small loop. Pinch the end and make it pointy. Press and blend the three loops onto where they are supposed to go.
Repeat on other wing.
There is 4 connecting parts in between the 2 bottom wings. Simply take a thin piece of clay and follow the lines on you template.
For the loopy things, take a medium thickness tube and make a small loop. Pinch the end and make it pointy. Press and blend the three loops onto where they are supposed to go.
Antenna
For the Antenna, Take a meduim tube and follow the curves of your template. Blend into piece. Do the same for the side/bottom antenna things
Bake and Cool
Bake your clay according you the manufacturers directions. Let cool and then hot glue a pin onto the back.
I am not sure as to how well it will hold up to a night of trick or treating because I have not worn it yet. You could also reinforce the finer parts with silver wire.
I am not sure as to how well it will hold up to a night of trick or treating because I have not worn it yet. You could also reinforce the finer parts with silver wire.