Third Lunula pendant

Bird Lunula made from shrink plastic after baking and shrinking (larger than life!)

 

Since I was quite happy with the results of my first & second Lunula pendants, I decided to make a third, a bit more elaborate.

I started with inspiration from a Pinterest pin – which included three different Lunulae – and I chose the more complicated and detailed of the three. Of course, so much of Pinterest leads to Tumblr.. and Tumblr is like the wild-west of copyright violations and lack of credit/attributions… so I had no idea of the original source.

After I had already made my version though, and was just wandering around the web… I found what I think might be the original source – or at least a website selling the item pictured on Pinterest. Visit the “Slavik Paganism” page of Dragonscale.com if you’d prefer a metal (Bronze or Sterling Silver) version to my plastic one… (I would!)
Dragonscale.com describes the design as:

“Bird Lunula – Also called a lunitsa – Crescent moon shaped woman’s charm found in ancient Slavic and Norse cultures – shaped in the double bird image found in Scythian art – a reproduction of one found in a 8th century burial in Nitra-Lupka, Poland”

 

The bird lunula before shrinking

Like my previous shrink plastic projects, I used Grafix brand matte shrink plastic which starts as transparent and shrinks down to white in colour. I traced the design to both sides of my plastic and used black, bronze, and silver Sharpie markers. I didn’t sand the plastic before colouring, and found that large areas of colour weren’t as solid as I wanted.

Since my original Lunulae had short (about 1″) long ‘stems’ which folded over to create the ‘bail’ to attach the pendant to a chain or cord – and the resulting fold over was only enough to go around a toothpick… I made the ‘stem’ substantially longer on this version so it could easily go around a chopstick instead – and thus a larger cord.

Not quite right…

Although the finished shrunk plastic pendant was ok – the colours were nice and bold… I didn’t really feel that it looked metal. Like the other pendants, I opted to emboss this as well, using silver embossing powder.

Pendant covered with embossing powder before knocking off the excess powder

When the pendant was re-shaped and embossed, I decided to scratch some of the design back into the pendant, which I’m kind of fond of, though I might need to live with it for a while before knowing if it’s ‘right’.

Copper pendant along with a silver one and the bird silver embossed pendant.

More to come…

I still have a few more projects to share with shrink plastic – so stay tuned! In the mean time if you have some cool inspirational links for shrink plastic – feel free to share them in the comments below!

Some of the shrink plastic projects I’ve made recently…

 

Hand-made Lunula pendant

Lunula pendant before shrinking and after shrinking

The other day I posted about trying shrink plastic… here’s the first project!

Along with some of the other Viking and Norse-inspired pendants that I’ve been able to find from various sellers, one of the icons I’ve been looking for (without much luck in a price-point I want to spend for a costume piece…) is the Lunula.

Viking wardrobe inventory / index

When I first started to think of a Viking-Age costume, I made a bit of a list of what I wanted to make/find/acquire, but I neglected to create an inventory of what I already have (or could adapt…) I wanted to do a bit of a post on that – mostly for my own sake. I intend to keep this a “living” document that I can add to when I need.

Underdress

*image still needed*	White linen underdress – long sleeves, slit neckline, couched hem Needs: brooch for neckline, long enough apron-dress to cover the embellished hem
	Blue linen/look/blend (need to look at this) underdress – t-tunic style, long sleeves, slit neckline Needs: good to go
	Pink/purple linen/look/blend (need to look at this) underdress – t-tunic style, long sleeves, square neckline, tonal bands on arms Needs: Don’t think that the neckline is right, so maybe to be worn with a shawl or something?
	Brown linen underdress – short sleeves, slit neckline, no embellishment Needs: brooch for neckline.  Short sleeves should be worn over a long sleeved underdress unless super-hot weather, or sleeve-messing work.
	Black linen underdress – long sleeves, slit neckline, embroidery at neckline and hem Needs: brooch for neckline
	Navy blue linen underdress – very tight long sleeves, slit neckline, silk cuffs, neckline and cuffs embellished with trim. Needs: brooch for neckline
	Pale green linen under derss
	Drab grey-green wool under dress

1913 lampshade dress

Me and some of the attendees of the costumed picnic

I joined a very small group of local costuming enthusiasts, and during the summer we had a little costumed get together – so I thought I’d make something NEW for it.
BUT.. it’s a bit of a mixed up thing – I didn’t finish the hem (with a hoop) in time. Then I finally finished the hem by adding the hoop in November (after wearing it twice without the hem being finished…) and hated it! So I took out the hoop, and am calling my once named “unfinished” costume… finished.

Unfortunately…. I originally wanted to make this for the Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge #11: The Politics of Fashion – which had already passed before I joined the challenges. I knew I’d be a bit late… but.. I had no idea HOW late I’d be in finally posting this!

Enchantment Under the Sea – Dress

Enchantment Under the Sea costume complete!

After reviewing some of the different dress designs that I had pinned on my Pinterest board I selected a general style that I thought a) would flatter me, b) would be easy enough to make c) would be reasonably “1950s” feeling, and d) would allow me some ways of inputting the “under the sea” theme into the costume as well. I sort of shifted my idea from an octopus wearing a prom dress, to something a bit more elegant and slightly less costume-y, while still being much more costume-y than I’m sure a lot of other guests will strive for.