The Fellowship Pin: Harder Than It Looks.

This weekend, I watched Lord of the Rings, and (as I often do after watching such a movie) got pretty excited. I knew I could make the leaf pin that the fellowship wears. And so I got to work. In the pictures I'm the one with black nail polish, and my lovely assistant Ann is wearing the green.

First, the beginning of any project: the inspiration. The above picture was for sale online. I don't know how much it was, but it had free shipping, which is always something to consider. It was also called an "elven brooch." Online salesmen, 1. Katherine, 0. In my version I decided to make it smaller and hang it on a chain. So really an elven brooch inspired necklace.

I gathered my supplies and prepared for a challenge. Firstly, I got that heinous green Sculpey pictured above, and ran it through a pasta machine about 8 million times. When I finally had the thickness I wanted, I began to cut. I ended up using the thickest setting on my pasta machine, because Sculpey tends to get brittle if it's any thinner. As for the cutting, I used my inspiration and eyeballed it.

The next step was mainly carried out by Ann; she does all my wire stuff because I don't have any patience. She bent the wire into three main pieces: the first was S shaped, that looped from the bottom, behind, and to the top, where it made the loop that the other pieces cross through. Then she made two mirror pieces that went through the loop. If you look at the inspiration it will make more sense. Then we baked it and the painting began. I used plain old acrylic paints, a large collection of greens, a yellow, silver, and a black. Again, I pretty much copied the inspiration, save that I did the veins of the leaf in paint, not wire. The end result was this: All that was left to do was a clear coat of spray paint, and hanging on a chain. Since I didn't have a chain I used hemp. Actually, I probably had one but I was too lazy to find it. I added a wire loop at the bottom so it would hang horizontally. And here it is, a clear coat and hemp later.

And so, was it worth it? In the end, I really did like what I made. But it took too long, and the materials I used weren't exactly household. And while I really will enjoy being an imaginary member of the Fellowship, the internet marketing gurus win this one. And who did I think I was, to try and contend with free shipping?