Look-ee what I made!

A couple of years ago, my DH asked me to look around for a piece of jewelry he could wear with the symbol of St. Joseph, which looks like this:

I went to several local silver jewelry shops, searched online, and even contacted some silver jewelers on Etsy, but was unable to find anything remotely similar, or someone who'd be willing to custom make one for me at a price that wasn't outrageous.  

When I decided to test out my silver art clay kit, I thought I might attempt to make one myself.  After watching the video, I realized this was probably a challenging first project, but decided to go ahead and give it a shot anyway.  And look how it turned out!

I'm quite pleased with the results!  The clay is easy to use, but it dries out very quickly, especially this time of year when the humidity in the house is low.  I managed to make it in stages, first the background shield shape, then the carpenter's square, then the lilies, and just moistened the clay to get the pieces to stick, like you would with pottery clay.  The flowers were the most challenging, and came out a little rougher than I would've liked.  I smoothed them as best I could with the files that were in the kit, and I have to say, it's not perfect, but it's not half bad!   Using the butane torch was actually pretty easy as well - I followed the directions and it all worked!  When the substrate burns off, it leaves a piece that's 99.9% pure silver - pretty nice for a kit that only cost about $100.  And I only used about half the clay.  I think I may try to make a silicone mold of this so if I ever want to make another one, it will be just a matter of pressing the clay into the mold.  I may also antique this piece with liver of sulpher so it looks a little more aged.  I think it will make a nice Christmas gift for him, no?  What will I make next, something for myself or for the girls?  Hmmm...