https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/stadium-love-taxidermy-ring • Posted by Cat Morley
Just after we'd been to see Metric, the barman in my favourite pub gave me this old piece of hardware he'd salvaged from a computer hard drive and thought I'd like to turn it into something.
It reminded me of a bird, which gave me the idea to make a piece of taxidermy jewellery inspired by the Metric song Stadium Love.
You can use any piece of hardware you like for this ring. Gather your hardware and a ring blank with a base large enough to hold the hardware.
Cut a couple of lengths of jewellery wire in a matching colour.
Thread the wire through the ring base.
And attach to your hardware, using any holes and gaps to secure it to the ring base.
Tie securely and trim off any excess wire.
Check it sits nicely on your finger.
Break off a small ball of air dry clay.
Begin sculpting the clay around the hardware to form the skull of your taxidermy.
Make sure to leave coolest parts of the hardware exposed.
I found a pair of gold eyelets that fit perfectly in the eye sockets.
Build up the clay around the eye sockets, using a little water to get the clay nice and sticky to hold the eyelets in place.
Press the eyelets firmly in place.
Use an awl to scrape out the excess clay from inside the eye.
I then found some gold feather charms which matched perfectly.
Wet the back of the skull with a little water to get it nice and sticky.
Press a feather bead into the back of the skull.
Continue with the rest of the feathers, making sure they look nice.
I then placed another lump of clay at the back of the skull to secure the feathers in place. This looked a little plain until I found a gold charm that matched perfectly and pressed it into the clay to embed itself.
The ring was looking good but it looked like it needed one more thing.
Remembering the amazing studded bra that Emily Haines from Metric had worn on the stage, I knew a star stud would be the perfect finishing touch.
Simply press the stud into the centre of the skull and leave the clay to set so that it embeds.
Leave the ring to set overnight so that all the embellishments embed into the clay.
Use the awl to chip off any excess clay from around the feathers.
Add a final layer of clay, using water to smooth it over the surface of your ring and get it looking perfect.
Use the awl to add a dotted pattern around the eyes.
Add a little dotted decoration to the nose.
Leave to set one last time and then it's ready to wear!