Steampunk Brooches

I have always felt the allure of steampunk, since before I knew it had a name, or even was a thing.  The Victorian nostalgia combined with a future of steampower and gears, the mystery and genius of Nicola Tesla, yes please!  So when I saw these Deep Dish Jewelry findings, I knew I had to do something special.  Their design also held a wonderful surprise for me, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

MATERIALS

Zinc Jewelry Findings Oval and Rectangle

3D Crystal Lacquer

Steampunk Debutante Tags

Distress Stickles

Various Gears, charms and pins

Grungeboard Wings and Key

Teal Adirondack Paint Dauber

Distress Ink: Pummice Stone

Pinbacks

 As limited as my sewing ability is, I have built a corset, and I would really like to make steampunk costumes.  So I decided to start with some cool brooches that would have an industrial, artsy, slightly miliatry feel to them.  Obviously victorian, nouveau and gears are a must! One Girly one and one more Masculine.

I selected my images and used the shapes that came with the charms as templates for trimming though they were a little larger than the bottom.  Once I had my images trimmed to fit I put a dot of 3D Lacquer inside and stuck them down. MAKING SURE THE CHARM EYE WAS IN THE DIRECTION I WANT FOR MY CHAINS TO HANG!!

 I chose my tiny gears and a couple small charms for inside.  My initial plan was to layer crystal lacquer and gears, letting each layer dry, giving it a 3D feel, but here's the surprise... those shapes that came with the Jewelry Findings are actually nicely protected acrylic that fits perfectly on the top of the finding like a shadowbox!!  So I scrapped my Lacquer filling idea for a loose gear shadowbox.  It's kind of a "Duh Chelsea" moment I know, but I was super excited!  And I wanted to make sure you know you have the option of either one.  So I added a little Distress Stickles to my images inside, as well as some Crystal Lacquer on the Light Bulb, and let them dry overnight.  I also Embossed a clock image on the grungeboard wings and painted them with teal Adirondack Paint Dauber, and inked the Grungeboard Key with Pumice Stone Distress ink.(not pictured)  I left these to dry as well.

 The next day...

I peeled off the protective film from the acrylic shapes and arranged my charms and clock gears (from a real clock) inside.  I put a thin line of Crystal Lacquer along the top rim lip and placed the front window panes in place.

While that dried I sanded the raised surface of the wings, and inked them, then glued the wings and key to the backs of the Findings with Crystal Lacquer. Behind that I glued the pinback also with Crystal Lacquer. Finally I attached all the hardware using jump rings, a few charms and the chain on the Finding loop and then a couple charms and a pin in the other end of the chain. VOILA!!!

The top pin is my girly one and the bottom is the more industrial one.

Here's a closer view of the Brooches themselves.  Feel free to comment, or ask questions, I love sharing ideas, that's what it's all about!  Also check out my blog Whimsykins

Merci!

-Chelsea