Spooky Spider Fun
Since Halloween is coming up, I thought it would be fun to explain how I made this cool, silver spider in my casting class. What I find so interesting about this project is that instead of using a wax mold, as I normally do, I used a plastic spider purchased very inexpensively at a local craft store by my casting instructor. There were also bags of skeletons available and both were packaged in bags of 100 for only .69 cents. Even if you don’t know how to cast, or don’t have equipment available to do so, these fun, plastic pieces can be easily transformed into seasonal jewelry.
First, I’ll explain about how I made the silver spider. The spider originally was a ring. So to start, I picked through the bag to make sure I got one of the best looking spiders. Some of them were a little deformed. Then I had to cut off the ring on the back and trim extra pieces of plastic that were sticking out here and there. Once I had made sure my spider looked good, I used the lost wax method of casting, but instead of using a wax mold I used the plastic spider. (To find some more information concerning casting, take a trip to the casting section on the main page.) The technique doesn’t change for plastic, only the safety precautions. Since burning plastic is toxic, during the burn out process, no one should be in the same room as the ovens. This is to make sure that no one inadvertently inhales any of those nasty fumes. Here’s a picture of what my spider looks likes now that I’ve cast it and pickled it.
After the spider is cast, you can either soder on a pin back or jump ring on it. Then polish it up. You could also polish it and then wrap some wire around it to make it into a pendant. I plan to add the jump ring. Of course, if I’d been thinking things through, I could have done that with some extra wax and cast it all at the same time. :)
Okay, now for those of you how don’t have access to all the equipment needed for casting, but who’d like to make some quick, fun Halloween jewelry for you or maybe even your kids to wear to school. Again, take the plastic spider and cut off the ring and clean him up as I did before I cast it. Take a few inches of wire (I used 16 gage square because I had some scraps of them left over), and make a small loop on one end of the wire. Make a larger loop on the other end of the wire, but don’t close it.
Next just wrap the large loop around your spider’s body and close the loop. Now you’ve got a quicky pendant that can be added to a chain.
Here are a few other ideas to do with your plastic spider:
Hope you have fun making some Hollween jewelry. Have a safe, spooky holiday!
As usual, let me know what you think.
All graphics created by Tammy Powley.