Making an Egyptian artifact

I have spent the past hour experimenting - trying to turn this

As you will see in the previous post - this is a bright yellow brass charm, with a  hollow back.

I make an impression from the back with polymer clay (having tried the traditional method of covering the front in clay to make a mould - unsuccessfully)

I baked the mould - as in previous post and here is what I have got now

It is a yellow gold in proper outside daylight, but it's looking darker because of the dark light outside.

I didn't want an exact replica of the charm, I wanted mine to look as though it been dug up, knocked about a bit, and aged.

I rubbed it down  with fine wet sandpaper to give it some natural wear and tear.  Then I rubbed black acrylic paint all over it with my fingers and wiped off the surplus.

I used gold rub and buff all over it - and rubbed and buffed it!

Rubbed over some more black acrylic, and repeated the process.

I am pleased with the end result - it looks so much  better in real life - it being gold rather than painted with gold paint.  The raised parts shine and the recessed areas are dull and dark pitted.   

I'll see what it looks like tomorrow and may do a bit more ageing.

This doesn't look like it's polymer clay at all which I am pleased about.  

It's great to experiment.

Making moulds for embellishments

After yesterdays mould taken from a big plaster cast - and as it has been hammering it down with sleet and heavy rain today - I decided to have a go at making more moulds and embellishments. 

 I need to scrub off the cornflour and tidy a couple of them up - but I was quite pleased with my efforts.

Apologises for the photos - I tried to use a daylight lamp and the bulb went!

A long time ago,  I was lucky enough to get some blog candy from Cath at Katy Krunch

They were little brass charms - which I have been sharing with other arty crafty friends.

 

I have used some here to make moulds from and see how they turn out.  

I love the Egyptian one especially.

I love shells, but find it hard to get them to stick, so I am using some from my collection to make moulds with, and then I'll make some polymer clay shells and see if they stick better.

The military button is one I found in my botton box and the rose button was a 'fancy' one for crafts. It's made a good impression, so hopefully, I'll get some nice flat roses.

The mushroom is from an embellishment I bought which broke before I had even used it! I had a couple of the same make break too, they are stuck on so hard to the card it's virtually impossible to get them off.   So I took a mould from the pieces of the mushrooms, in polymer clay, then pushed the bits back together where they were broken, and made some impressions in to biggest one to turn it into a fairy toadstall.   I  might have a go at making another one and turning it into a toadstall house.

I think I'll start to paint some now.