Sea Horsin' Around

Behold, my spoils of war!!

Ok, so not so much "war" as "craft store and Pier 1 shopping," but whatevs.

(Ah, clearance, how I love thee.)

Granted, the large sea horse bottle necklace was a bit pricey at $10, but I have a secret passion for seahorses, and immediately thought I might be able to jazz it up a bit.

Here it is out of the package:

First things first: that "cheers" dangle had to go. I enlisted John's help, and he used a Dremel to cut off the rings.

Next came the fun part:

Paint!

The seahorse already had a slightly aged patina on the metal, but I wanted it to look like it came from the lost city of Atlantis (or Rapture!). So, I used a vivid teal and a rust red paint (along with lots of water) to give it a more corroded look. The teal I allowed to pool in the cracks and run down the body, while the rust I flicked on with the bristles of my brush.

Note: the paints I used are acrylic, and so will come off with soap & water - but since this won't be handled by anyone I'm not worried about durability.

I was surprised at how subtle the overall effect was; I had to keep going back and adding more and more color.

Ready for the big reveal?

Ta-da!

Here it is from a distance:

As you can see, the finish doesn't show up very well from afar. I may go back and add even more "corrosion" later.

The original chain was too long, so I swapped it out for a bit of broken necklace I had stashed away. Then I discovered that the longer chain was just the right length for the Gin tag. See?

I was surprised by how much these dress up a plain glass bottle - verrry nifty. Plus, since I already had the little O rings & spare chain, both bottle necklaces cost less than $15.

Oh, and remember the smaller seahorse charm? I used another O ring to make a sweet necklace for me:

I'm pretty sure this is the best two-dollar necklace I own.

It's actually two pieces, as you can see here:

I like the little hidden quote! Very apropos.

And one last beauty shot of the larger seahorse:


As you've probably guessed, this is another piece for my steampunk dining room, which is coming along swimmingly. We're currently working on the leather-look curtains, but I hope to have more pics soon.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at what I'm starting to think of as our "cabinet of wonders":

I really must learn how to take good interior shots.
(Although I suppose not taking all my photos at night would probably help!)

This is only a small section of the full cabinet - there's much more above it - but it's my favorite part of the room so far. I love everything here: the Doktor A drawings, my diver dude, an Art Deco decanter we found at an antique shop, and the French antique opera glasses, which are on a pair of my gloves (also vintage). The gold stand was a $3 thrift store find, and the frames were $10 at Marshall's - John cut them to fit and refinished them. The globe is from Home Goods, and when the inset lights above hit it, it glows like burnished gold - really gorgeous.

I think the beauty of steampunk is in its creativity: preserving and reusing the old while re-making the new into something richer. It's perfect for us craftsy types who can never throw anything away. :) Plus it dovetails nicely with the more eco-conscious, DIY mindset of today.

But, that's enough of my steampunk fan girl ravings. Heh. Stay tuned for more pics as I have them!