A Steampunk Artifact with Crystals

This week's Connie Crystal post is a little different for me in two ways.  First off, it is a jewelry project, and secondly, it is vintage.  After all, every once in a while, a girl has to try something (or a couple of somethings) unexpected.  So, I used two gorgeous Connie Crystals.  One is a round crystal and the other is the bottom drop of a suncatcher. 

The chain was purchased from the local big box.  The gear pieces are all Piccolo pieces from Globecraft Memories.  The large copper piece in the center was modified to create a hole for the crystal.  I layed the crystal on it and traced around it. Then, I used my craft knife to cut out the space. As I did this, I imagined the staff piece that Marion wears around her neck in Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark.  At that moment, it became for me a secret Steampunk artifact. I felt the desire to make it an imperfect conglomeration of gears. I created extra holes with my Big Bite.

I decided to make it a variety of colors.  I used Globecraft Memories embossing fluid and Piccolo embossing enamels in Victorian Bronze, Vintage Copper, Vintage Gold and Vintage Silver.  I embossed two coats on each side of the smaller pieces and three coats on each side of the larger ones.  When embossing these pieces, it is EXTREMELY helpful to have one of those pairs of tweezers with the long, pointy tips to hold it as you heat it.  Otherwise, the embossing powder on the back tends to smear.

When it became assembly time, I used various colors of jump rings to attach the gears.  The large drop was hung from a gear that was attached to a large jump ring surrounding the chain.  The round crystal fit snugly into the cut circle, but I still added a small bead of Art Institute Glitter Designer Dries Clear, just to keep it secure.  I also used some oval jump rings in the two holes to not only keep it in place, but also to add to the overall industrial look.

I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I enjoyed creating it.  Thank you so much for looking.