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Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 4h00

Beautiful gothic cracked mirror charm made of Fimo clay and a CD - very detailed and precise!
(My first how-to! :D)

Update: Holy crap! How'd this get to #3 on the "Popular" list?! Wow, thanks a ton you guys! :D

Okay, this was SO fun to make and SO satisfying when i was done. I love how this looks and it's very unique. Kinda looks like something you'd buy, doesn't it? Ah, probably not, but it looks cool and it's one-of-a-kind! :D It's time-consuming and tedious to make, but also oddly therapeutic...

Don't be intimidated by the massive length of this; I just took too many pictures and explain a lot (too much? nah!) :)

I wouldn't have known about the cracked-CD-microwave thing if it weren't for this:
( http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/cd_jewelry )
so go check it out! It totally inspired this whole thing and i gotta give it some credit!

Enjoy :D

Posted by Christina Y. • Published 31st January 2012 • See Christina Y.'s 22 projects »

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Step 1
Get your clay ready and workable, then form a little snail-ish thing. I found this was the easiest way to make that mirror shape.

*Make sure you warm up the clay properly, you don't want your mirror falling apart on you! (Especially if you believe in getting 7 years bad luck! ... ha ...nevermind.)
Step 2
Squish the snail!!! Muhahahaa!!

...Or just flatten it with a rolling pin. :) shape it however you like, I found that pinching the top end (opposite the handle) made it look nice.

*Don't worry the swirl in the middle, if it doesn't go away by the time you're done, you'll paint over it anyways.
Step 3
Now get with the details!

This is a pretty general step, but it takes a lot of time and precision. You might even wanna get a magnifying glass :P I even got my tweezers out to make it absolutely perfect.

The way I did it was make tiny, tiny little snakes/ropes of clay and slowly, lightly, pressed them onto the base.
Once they were somewhat secure, i used a pencil (or my finger) to curl them, then pressed them down better.

Pro tip: you're probably gonna end up hunching your back over as you go cross-eyed to make this, so straighten up. Your back will thank you later.
Step 4
Just to show you how small it is :)
Step 5
ditto ^
Step 6
Keep adding little ropes and curling them. To the sides, the top, the handle, wherever feels and looks right to you! Curled or straight, just keep decorating it until it's perfect! It should really start coming together by now. :)
Step 7
What the hell?! Hey, where'd that rose at the top come from?

Dude, chill. :) Flatten one of your snake-y/rope-y things and roll it up. Now stick it on your mirror (WAIT! not by the top, fool! push it down on the sides of the rose so you don't squish your petals together!).

Now VERY LIGHTLY use your finger to push the outer petals away, and curl them just a little, so it looks more like a rose than a cinnamon roll.

Whenever you're finally done with decorating (take your time! this part matters the most!), stick it in the oven and set it to whatever the package says. Around 225 F is a safe temperature.
Make sure not to burn it; give it time while you do other stuff while it's "cooking".
Step 8
Okay, this part is FREAKIN' FUN!
Though it lasts for about two seconds...

Stick your CD in the microwave. That's right. Only five seconds, though, and on about half-power. Watch it. Just watch what happens. BOOM. Amazing, right? Yeah, and it looks awesome too!

By the way, I have no idea how safe this is for the microwave, so don't sue me if you end up with a broken/burnt/radioactive microwave after this "experiment". Mine's still fine, though.

Stick the cracked CD in boiling water and let it chill (or heat, rather...), and try to break it into two halves (not down the middle, look at the picture - done right you'll end up with "two" CDs). This happened to me without trying, so you might was well get it over with.
Step 9
Take whichever half has been left with the metallic/iridescent/shiny rainbow layer...

Get your wire cutters and find a nice part of the wonderful cracked mess to cut out the shape of your mirror. Don't worry about being too precise, you're not done yet...
Step 10
If the thin layer of shiny rainbow stuff hadn't peeled off in the process of cutting your mirror, peel it off now.

you could keep it on the plastic, but you'd have to make up for that space by pressing it into the clay or something.
I don't know, do what you want. Whatever works :)
Step 11
The hard plastic (left) compared to the thin shiny bit you wanna keep.

I had painted black on the plastic so it would show through the cracks, but that ended up being pretty pointless, didn't it?

You'll use the thin layer, so cut it right to fit your clay shape.
Step 12
The shiny rainbow thing again, just so you're absolutely sure :)
Step 13
Is the clay done yet? No? Okay, I'll wait.

...

OKAY! Take it out of the oven and paint it whenever it's cool.
Looks AWESOME, doesn't it?

Paint in those nooks and crannies in all the details. But before it dries, scratch some paint off of the accents to give it a tarnished, antique look
Step 14
Decorate further by dabbing silver paint to the accents lightly, and add a second coat of black behind the where the mirror's about to go.

In fact, if you don't have/want the CD part, you could just use silver paint and end it right here. But I'm gonna take it to the NEXT LEVEL.

...Put an extra dab of black paint for the next step, and don't let it dry just yet...
Step 15
Get your clear nail polish and put a dab over the wet black paint. Get your thin-shiny-rainbow thing (make sure the right side is up!) and place it over the paint/nail polish and press down just a bit.

If nail polish gets pushed up, add some more over the "mirror" and spread it. If paint comes up, try to get it off.
Step 16
Add as many more coats of varnish/nail polish as you like over the mirror until you think it's good enough.

You could add some over the clay part also, but I decided not to.

Now (finally), YOU'RE DONE!!! :D
Superglue a jump ring if you wanna make it into a necklace, or whatever you want to do with it, who cares? It's absolutely AWESOME!
Step 17
I'm so amused with the way it turns different colours with the light as you turn it...

Yep, this is gonna distract me from A LOT if i wear it in class ;D

Enjoy! :)