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Steampunk Bug bead

You gotta! try the steampunk look! This polymer clay & mixed media focal bead is so simple, it!ll go like clockwork!

by Christi Friesen

What!s “steampunk” anyway? It!s a style – sort of a

Victorian-era mad scientist with some fantasy around

the edges. It!s all clockwork gears and antique brass -

mechanical and gritty but with attitude! Doesn!t that

sound like fun?

First of all, let!s gather up a few steampunk-y

embellishments – some old watch gears and little

screws are ideal, but

you can also use

washers, grommets

and other hardware

finds as well as bead

findings and spacers

– just go for anything

that looks like old

machine innards.

Next get your clay

ready to use by conditioning it and then blending a

special bug color. To condition, use your hands to roll,

fold and twist repeatedly until the clay is soft and pliable. Or use a pasta

machine, which is easier of course – just feed the clay

into the rollers, fold the resulting sheet of clay and feed

it through again and again until the clay is conditioned.

The black, ecru, translucent and white clays for this

project don!t need to be blended – they are perfect

straight from the package (well, you have to condition

them of course, but the colors are good to go). You

will need to make a body color blend – I chose a mix

of green and gold, but you can make any buggy color

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright

blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by now – don!t resell these project pages (duh),

don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations,

yada yada yada…

for this project you will need:

. polymer clay (I use and recommend

Premo brand for this project – it!s just

right for sculpting): half a package or

less each of green pearl, gold, ecru,

white, frost, and just a smidgen of

black.

. beads & embellishments: you!ll

need a few beads in colors to match

your bug body, and some steampunk

accents – watch gears or

washers/grommets, little screws, that

sort of thing!

. headpins: three l longer ones (2 “) for

antenna and bug body accents, and

several shorter ones for adding the

steampunk accents. I used an

enamel-tipped headpin for the

antennae of my bug, see resources

below for info.

. wire: (to support the head): any

metal, about 2 inches, 22- or 20-

gauge.

. tools: any of your favorite sculpting

tools (might I suggest my favorite

tools? the “Can!t Live Without It” tool

and the “Gotta Have It” tool – find them

on my website) as well as a needle

tool, cutting blade, wire cutters and

pliers. Optional: (for the patina) acrylic

paint in any dark brown, sponges,

paintbrush.

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you like! Just use a bit of the colors

that you think will look fun, and mix

them the same way you just did to

condition them until they are blended

together. If you want you can stop

before they are completely mixed to

keep some subtle streaks in your

blend just for funsies.

From your body mix, save any part

with an interesting pattern for the wings, then roll out a ball for the body – about

the size of a gumball. Form that into an oval shape.

To make

the

segments

on the

beetle!s

body

(they!ve

got

segments,

you know),

press and

roll the edge of a needle tool all the way from one side to the other - up and

around the body. About five or six of these parallel lines should do the trick.

So now it!s time

for the first bit of

mixed media

embellishments –

beads! Yay! You

can never have

too many beads,

right? The end

of his body

should be jazzed

up with a stack of beads. Get a headpin (I chose one

with a ball tip on the end) and slip on a few beads. It

looks good if each bead you add is a bit bigger than the one before it. Use wire

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by

now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada

yada…

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cutters to trim off the end of the pin so that you have about half an inch of pin

sticking past the beads. Use pliers to bend the end of the pin over into a little

hook (this will keep the beads securely attached to the clay – once the clay is

baked it will harden around the pin and the hook

will keep it locked in place. Pretty clever, huh?)

Just push the hook-end of the pin into the beetle

body and press the beads firmly up to the clay.

Next we!ll add the head to the other

end. Roll out a little ball of clay from

the same color as the body, press it to

make it slightly oval-shaped (the oval

should be just a little wider than the top

of the body where it will be attached).

To make sure the

head stays on

securely, let!s do

a little wire trick, ok? Use wire cutters and snip off about an

inch or so of 20 gauge wire. Bend that snippet into a tight

arch. Bend one end of the wire into a hook (which will help

the bug!s head stay put).

Press the hook end into the body, and then press

the head firmly onto the exposed wire (but no

mushing).

Usually I like to use beads for eyes, but this project

looks better with big clay eyes. Roll out a ball of

clay, about as big as a raisin (but not wrinkly).

Roll that into an oval. Use a

cutting blade to slice it in

half. Press one half on

each side of the bug!s

head, cut-side against the

head. Press to attach.

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather

that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and

flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada yada…

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Antenna are next. Take two long headpins and

stack on some beads. I used a nifty enameled-

head pin and slipped on beads that went with

the bug!s colors.

Press them in,

side-by-side on

the top of the

head. Push the pin all the way until the beads

embed slightly into the clay.

Let!s make this bug spread his wings a little – he!s

a beetle, and beetles do that sort of thing. First

we!ll need to make a wing mix out of clay. Set

your pasta machine to a thinner setting by turning

the knob to the halfway mark. Take a small bit of

three colors of clay – white, ecru and frost (or

translucent) and flatten each in your fingers, then

run them

through

the pasta

machine. Stack them up. Rip the stack

in half and place one half on top of the

other.

Now reset the pasta machine back to the

widest setting and feed the stack through

the rollers. Rip that and stack it one

more time. Do NOT feed this stack back into the rollers. Instead just lay the

halves on top of each other and press together. You can play with the stacks a

bit to add more drama if you want to – like folding

one

over on

itself to

create a

fold in

the

striped

pattern.

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you

guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a

sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada yada…

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Press the stack firmly, and use your

fingertips to push the stack together to

eliminate any holes and gaps.

The wing stack is done! Now use a

cutting blade to cut two slices,

revealing all the pattern inside – one for

each wing. They should each be about

as thick as a nickel (3mm).

Form these slices in to wings by cutting off

any excess to make the piece smaller and

more correctly shaped, then continue to

shape with your fingers. The finished wings

should be about as long as the whole bug

body from head to bottom and be shaped

into an oval or teardrop.

Use your

fingers

to press

all

around

the cut edges to make them look

softer – you don!t want that "cookie-

cutter! look, do ya?

Press each wing onto the body, right below the head.

Beetles have hard covers to protect

those delicate wings, which they spread

apart to uncover the wings, so let!s make

those next. Grab that little sheet of body

blend color clay that you set aside at the

beginning for this part.

From that sheet, cut out a shield shape –

like an oval with it!s top cut off – then cut that in half

down the middle. That will make the two wing

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by

now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada

yada…

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coverings. They should be just a bit longer than the beetle!s body (shorter than

the wings themselves).

There!s more – in order for them to

look good (and beetle-accurate for

that matter), we!ll need to slice the

tops at an angle so that when they

are placed side-by-side, it!ll look

like a triangle needs to sit right

inside them. Which it does! So cut

a little triangle out of the clay sheet

too. Set it at the top, inside the

wings and see how they all fit

together. Trim if you need to.

Pick each piece up

and smooth the cut

edges with your

fingers by pressing

gently

all around.

Press the triangle on the beetle first. The flat side

rests against his lil! head and the pointy bit should

be centered on his back. Now we can lay the two

wing covers on either side. This will cover up the

tops of the wings. Pull these wing covers apart a

bit to uncover the

bottom halves of the

wings.

If the bottoms of the

wings stick out too

far, you can pinch off

any excess.

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by

now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada

yada…

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How!s he (or possibly she) looking so far?

The next part is really easy! If you have watch

gears with holes in the middle, you just slide them

on a headpin (you!ll probably want to slide a bead

on first if the gear hole is big so the pin won!t slip

through!)

Snip off any

excess wire

and bend the

tip into a

hook as

usual. Press

in the gears! If you have gears without a

center hole, just press them into the clay

and then you can remove them after

baking, add a drop of glue and replace.

Time for finishing touches. Tweak the antennas to

change their shape. Use a needle tool to press

some decorative lines into the wing cases. Press

in a couple little screws here and there as needed.

Beetles are screwy.

We also need a way to

string him up on a

necklace afterwards,

so use a needle tool to

piece a hole through

the backside, below

the head. You don!t have to add anything to keep

the hole open, it will be fine.

The steampunk beetle is done! Nifty, huh?! And now

it!s time to bake him… mmmm baked beetle.

Preheat the oven to 275ºF (130ºC) if you!re using Premo clay like I am (if not,

follow the manufacturer!s instructions). Use an oven thermometer inside the

oven to insure that the interior temperature is accurate. Bake for 30-45 minutes

and let it cool completely! (By the way, clay is still rubbery after it!s done, it

hardens as it cools! So leave it alone until it!s cool!)

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by

now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada

yada…

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If you want, you can use brown acrylic paint to add a patina – just brush it on a

small area at a time, then wipe all the surface paint away with well-wrung damp

sponges. This will leave just an antiquing of color in the cracks and details – it!s

a good look for steampunk. No need to add any protective glaze, this bug is

good to go just as is!

Now start buggin! your friends with your

nifty creation! Or make more and start a

swarm!

©20009 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com Hey you guys! You know already the kind of copyright blather that goes on the bottom of these sorts of things by

now – don!t resell these project pages (duh), don!t use a sweat shop in Asia to mass produce this piece and flood the market with cheap imitations, yada yada

yada…