I knew that my daughter wanted to be Ciri for many, many months, but I was stumped on how to make a few of the items. The metal belt that Ciri wears is one of them.
I wasn’t sure how I would make it so that all of the pieces were the same. I knew I had to make a template, but wasn’t sure what to use. I first tried to make one out of wax, and that was a failure. Next, I decided to make it out of clay, and that worked.
First, I drew out the template in pencil and then rubbed it onto the flattened clay. Next, I cut out the pieces and then baked it.
Once it was baked, I let it cool and then used the pieces to push into the clay.
Using a straight edge, I cut the sides and angled the corners.
The glass bead is something I found at Michael’s in their flower section. You need to press it into the center so that it has a place to sit.
To attach these to a belt, you need to have some holes in them. I decided to attach them underneath the bead, so I made three holes. Once done, I baked them. For the two side pieces, I draped them over cannolli tubes so that they curved. When they were cool, I sprayed them with silver spray paint.
I cut a piece of leather, and spaced out the tiles. I attached them to the belt with wax thread. Once that was done, I glued the glass beads over the top with E6000 glue.
The other clay piece I did was the cat’s head. I looked at pictures of it and then carved it with my clay tools. Once done, I baked it and spray painted it. I added the back ring with E6000 glue. Not perfect, but good enough!
Next belt was the leather belt. I bought a belt blank from Tandy Leather and then the cross stamp. I used the swivel cutter for the rest of the cuts.
Next was dying it with leather dye, and then adding the hardware.
Other leather pieces I did were the arm straps and the pouches.
Lastly was the knife and sheath. I didn’t get any pictures of making it since it was last night, and I was running out of time! The handle is a cut up wooden candle holder, the knife part is a small piece of wood, and the circles in the middle and the cap are made of clay. The handle is wrapped in leather.
I think she turned out pretty close. I am just missing her gloves and sword, which I will work on before the Renaissance here in the fall. Plus, I have to get my son’s costume done, too. I just ran out of time. Story of my life!
Better pictures will come, too. She rocked it at the con, though. And she loved the scars (little wierdo).
Oh, my, word, that is amazing. On this Mother’s Day, you get best mom award!