Elleth's Pendants for Yule

A place for pics and tutorials on making Soft Kit (clothing and accessories like buckles and cloak pins).

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SierraStrider
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Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by SierraStrider »

This is a bit different, since these accessories are made with modern processes and not particularly period-appropriate, but they achieved a look that I've been dreaming of for some time and finally executed to a surprising degree of efficacy.

I had to brainstorm a bit on Elleth's requests for this year's gift exchange:
Elleth wrote:What I'd love though is relics or trinkets of other peoples or especially the glory days of old Arnor - perhaps something that might have been pulled from a ruin. An elven jewel? A carved stone? A set of rubbings from a memorial?
So I wanted to make something that felt old, and maybe with a craftsmanship that would be a bit alien to the Third Age.

I started with materials that would evoke a feeling of antiquity. We have quite a bit of old, weatherbeaten black walnut lying around, so I selected a few chunks of that.

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Cut into workable blocks, it looked astonishingly like chocolate brownies...

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These blocks I wrapped in aluminum foil to make small, individual basins. I mixed up some slow-cure 2 part woodworking epoxy with gold mica powder mixed into it and poured it over the blocks. To ensure complete penetration into the cracks, I put them into my vacuum chamber and pulled a hard vacuum, yielding a rather spectacular effect of bubbling, molten gold.

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with all the air pulled out of the cracks and crevices, I let atmospheric pressure back in, driving the resin deep into the voids of the wood.
Once the epoxy was cured, I cut off the excess resin that had set up on the surface, revealing a very nice effect of golden veins in the dark walnut.

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You can see I experimented with other powders--the silver sounded good in theory, but its luster was lost when I sanded down the resin, and the resulting white infill looked more like fungus or old paint than silver, so the gold was what I ultimately went with.

Now that the blocks were impregnated with resin, I could shave off the cracked veneer surface and have it remain cohesive, where it would have fallen to bits before the addition of the resin. This yielded a fair few thin blanks that I could carve up. I engraved a few designs into the surfaces and repeated the resin process, but with white this time. The white resin sank into the relief carving and yielded an ivory inlay effect. I then polished the wood and sealed it with beeswax to bring out the dark color of the black walnut.

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I made sure they fit the cordage Elleth had made for things I've purchased from her in the past, then mailed off the pendants!

Ultimately, I liked the effect this technique produced. There's also a bit of an easter egg--many of the artifacts of old Arnor will shine or glow in the right circumstances. This was a challenging effect to produce, and I didn't pursue it in both batches, but the swan, at least, will give a faint light if brought in from the sunlight.

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Manveruon
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Re: Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by Manveruon »

Hah! What a fantastic write-up! Thanks for sharing this! They really do feel like something made with long forgotten techniques or lost arcane knowledge!
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Iodo
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Re: Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by Iodo »

Nice write-up, thanks :P

and that's a really clever method for getting the resin into the wood, cool :mrgreen:
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Re: Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by Eofor »

Thanks for the write up, I think they look bloody brilliant.

I don't know if you intended it as one of your Easter eggs but I'm struck by the Ranger like qualities of the block of black walnut. It looks quite old and beaten on the outside but under the worn facade is a rich quality.
But the white fury of the Northmen burned the hotter, and more skilled was their knighthood with long spears and bitter. Fewer were they but they clove through the Southrons like a fire-bolt in a forest.
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Elleth
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Re: Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by Elleth »

WOW!

Well that explains it - I couldn't figure out what the heck you did!
They look just like veined stone... but are light as paper!

..I think Aerlinneth is still perplexed. What a strange elfin magic. :mrgreen:
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.
RangerofAngmar
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Re: Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by RangerofAngmar »

Nice work mate, i need to get me a vacuum chamber at some point for stabilizing wood.

but that is a good use of it to give some old cracked wood a whole new character
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Greg
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Post by Greg »

Very nicely done! Never would've occurred to me to try something like this...turned out great!
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Cimrandir
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Re: Elleth's Pendants for Yule

Post by Cimrandir »

That's super clever! Well done! I could quite easily see this hanging from a lone Ranger's neck or pack as they traverse the wilds.
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