I recently fell in love with Disney's "Maleficent", a re-telling of "Sleeping Beauty" with much more focus on the "evil queen". The film is beautiful, as is the story, and when I was looking to transform a little hinged box that I'd been saving for years, I decided to go with a Maleficent theme.
SUPPLIES:
box
acrylic paint
polymer clay
paper and pencil
feathers
crystal/stone
charms
glue
1. Look at images from the film on the internet or watch the movie to get a feel for the magical scenery and creatures. The colors also inspired me. For the front and back of the box, I traced silhouettes of Maleficent so they would line up towards the "spine" of the box. On the front I went with her wing-less dark queen silhouette from when she curses Aurora and on the back I did her happy, winged, long-hair silhouette from after she saves Aurora. Inside I did one side as a night time scene from the moors and the other side a woodsy daytime scene.
2. Add accents like polymer clay, charms, stones, crystals, and feathers. I made black polymer clay thorns and a raven for the front of the box and brown/green tree branches for the back. (After I took photos) I super glued a white quartz stone inside and plan to add some brown and black feathers also. Other charms and stones might come later as I collect "magical" things.
3. DONE.
While walking last summer I found an interesting green liquor bottle. It was too pretty to take to the recycling depot so I kept it for a craft project. Here is what some polymer clay, floral wire, charms, and acrylic paint turned it into:
I started with a blended cane of polymer clay and cut it into equal sections, removing every second one and keeping both piles in order, so I could do both sides of the bottle the same.
I started at the bottom of one side, pressing the little cylinders I had cut into teardrop (dragon scale) shapes and beginning to layer/stagger them.
Next I made the "label" for the front of the bottle, mixing a couple colors of clay and rolling it smooth, then distressing it. I used rubber stamps to do the letters and added the embellishments by pressing them right into the soft clay. After baking the bottle to harden the clay, I rubbed some brown acrylic paint over the label and allowed it to pool in the indented areas while wiping it away from the smooth parts.
For the bottle cap, I covered the entire cap with a thin layer of clay, making sure that it covered all the metal but not letting it extend too far below the cap, so the bottle can still open. I pressed a plastic gem into the center of the top, then added the four "claws" to hold it in place. Thanks to the fact that polymer clay is baked at such a low level, the plastic gem was not damaged by the heat from the oven.
After baking, I used two colors of floral wire to decorate around the bottle neck.
I also added a little dragonfly brad to one side before baking the clay.
