My Bloody Valentine, Part Deux: the Pin.

In yesterday’s blog you saw the delightfully creepy Frida Khalo-esque Heart & Roses Necklace I made. In today’s post is the matching pin I made for my man. The spurting “blood” beads were actually his idea.

I will not bore you by describing again how I made the polymer clay heart, as this one is exactly the same as the necklace just smaller (Get all the details HERE). This time I added the red beads at the top and a pin to the back.

Before baking the clay heart, I poked the gold wire bead holders into the clay where I wanted them to go and baked the clay with them in place to hold the holes open. I also pushed the metal pin into the clay where I wanted it to go before baking so there would be a good indent to glue the pin into later. After the heart cooled, I gently pulled out the wires and painted the heart. When the final clear-coat was dry, I cut the wires to the length I wanted and added the red beads. (FYI Bead the wires BEFORE bending to shape or you’ll have a hard time getting longer beads onto the wire.) I glued the beaded wires in place, let them dry, then glued on the back. (I used two kinds of glue on the back for extra security, both the hobby cement and Duco cement.) All Done! (Note: the beads came from Meinenger’s Art Supply here in Denver, and the beading wire from Ornamental Beads.)

Remember to be gentle with your polymer clay jewelry. It is fragile. I hope you are creating something wonderful this weekend!