coat of arms

Slowly but surely I will post some homemade holiday gifts from this Christmas.

Here's one.

I designed a shield pendant for my sister with our surname scrolled across. I wanted it to be very simple—no fancy coat of arm frills—just a bit of texture. I have always been a fan of checkers, probably from my punk days, and strips seemed to go well with them. I guess I wish I had a little more time with it and could have done some sort of family heirloom on it, like if the checkers and pin strips actually meant something in my family's history... my mom's a cab driver and my father's in prison... just not the case, next time.

This is the original piece I made to have cast.

I made the actual shield shape out of clay, punched the name with one of those old school labelers and created the embossed texture with small pieces of the plastic label material.

And the back of the piece, with a loop for hanging and my "K" hallmark.

There's the back after it was cast in silver. I was amazed at the detail the mold picked up. You can see the glue along the wire, something I have to keep in mind for future pieces.

Along with the shield, I had a sharp dagger cast in silver and one of my drip gems in solid gold. I added a little color with a single ruby. Melissa was very pleased.