Master Sword Trinket Dish (Polymer Clay)
Introduction: Master Sword Trinket Dish (Polymer Clay)
I've been seeing a lot of polymer clay trinket dishes lately on my Instagram feed and wanted to make my own. I happened to get a Hylian shield ring in a random cheap jewelry grab bag, and it was the main inspiration for this project. I also happened to be consuming a lot of miniature diorama content lately and wanted to make my own twist on it by turning miniatures into functional home-good items (a bit like a closet-cosplay to their hundreds-of-hours-thousands-of-dollars works of art).
Supplies
Materials:
* Polymer Clay (here I use Super Sculpey and Papas Clay in a blue and purple mix)
* Bake and Bond (liquid polymer clay adhesive)
* Acrylic Paint (in black, white, teal, metallic gold and silver, and various shades of gray and green)
* Matte and Gloss varnishes (I used varathane water-based polyurethane, but you can check out The Blue Bottle Tree's guide for options if that is not accessible)
Optional (if you want to add flowers)
* White, Green, Yellow, and Teal Polymer Clay
* Thin jewelry wire orflorist wire
* Wire cutters/Pliers
* Liquid polymer clay
* Glow powder
* Aqua/Teal pigment powder, iridescent shimmer pigment powder
* (the liquid clay, glow powder, and pigment powders can be substituted with acrylic paint, which is probably more accessible)
Tools:
* Needle Tool
* Silicone shaping tool
* Craft Knife
* Paintbrush
* Sponge
* Cardstock and Paper to make templates
* Oven
* Electric sanding tool (such as a nail art file)
* Modeling Clay (Optional. 95
This is used to make a mockup)
Step 1: Before You Begin
* Prepare your clay by conditioning it (knead it until it is soft and workable)
* Create a mock-up to check that the sword is small enough to fit rings over.
Here I use Sculpture Pro wax-based clay (similar to Monster Clay) for the mock-up because it is malleable yet stays firm and holds its shape so it can be picked up to test adding rings through it. From this, I would know what size to make a paper template for the Master Sword. Mine ended up being 2 cm across at the largest part of the hilt, and a bit over 0.5 cm for the majority of the rest of the sword).
You can also make your mock-up from cardstock to test if rings are able to fit past the sword guards.
Step 2: Create Templates
* For the trinket dish, cut out an equilateral triangle the size of how large you want the trinket dish to be from cardstock.
* Create a template for a smaller equilateral triangle as the pedestal to hold the sword.
* Trace an image of the Master Sword onto paper. I made mine by zooming in on an image of the sword to match the size of my mock-up on a tablet, then used the tablet as a light table to copy it onto paper.
Step 3: Master Sword: Shaping
* Roll out a thick sheet of blue-purple clay
* Use the sword template to cut out the shape of the Master Sword
* Thin out the edges of the blade by flattening them, trimming the excess clay back to the template's size
* Round out the sides of the grip
Step 4: Master Sword: Carving Details
* Following a reference image, use the needle tool to indent the details of the sword.
* Use the silicone sculpting tool to shape and deepen the details on the hilt
* If there isn't enough clay to sculpt in some areas, add and blend small amounts of clay shaped similarly to the detail they are filling in (I did this by adding thin snakes of clay to the top parts of the wings on the guards, the details in the pommel, and the diamond shape on the hilt)
Once you are satisfied with this half of the sword, bake the clay following the directions of your clay packaging. 987