HAL-9000 pendant
This is my week to sing the praises of Arthur C. Clarke. 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my favorite movies and it was my saving grace this week. Not only did the movie (as well as its sequels) keep me calm and distracted through an anxious period, it gave me the idea for a great jewelry project.
Unfinished wood tag
Americana Gloss Enamels black paint
Sharpie metallic silver pen
3M packaging tape
Clear aerosol spray matte finish
Mod Podge adhesive/sealer
glitter
When I first started making decoupage jewelry, I originally used pre-cut squares of unfinished craft wood and I would use a tapestry needle to create a hole for the jump ring (because the wood was so thin, a dremel would have split the whole thing in half). These tags, which I found at Joann's Fabrics, were a nice surprise. I painted the tag first, using the gloss enamels paint I used on the figurines. Once again, two coats and the tag was completely opaque, no touch-ups needed. I coloured the trim with a Sharpie metallic silver pen to both emulate the edges of Hal's computer panel in the films and the dimensions of the monolith.
Hal's eye is a 100x100 pixel image I downloaded from Google Images and printed on Kodak 98 brightness acid-free computer paper. To prevent the image from being ruined by the sealer I covered both sides with packaging tape before cutting out the eye. I brushed a small amount of the Mod Podge adhesive on the back before fixing the eye to the front of the tag. I've worked with Mod Podge when I've made other decoupage pendants. It's effective as a sealer but kind of gummy and the effect wouldn't have worked for a pristine computer like Hal. kobold-kun originally recommended I try a spray matte finish for my painted figurines. I decided to try it out on this project to see how I liked it and I must say, it surpassed my expectations! Three light coats and the front of my pendant was smooth and glossy.
I'm a sucker for a good caption and the majority of my fandom-inspired pendants have a quote on the back in cut-out text. The text here is in black 11-point Broadway type -- the same typeface used for the chapter headings in all four of the Odyssey books. I printed it on the Kodak paper and covered both sides with packaging tape before cutting the letters into individual cut-outs. The quote is actually not one of Hal's -- it's Dave Bowman's. But considering what happens to Dave and Hal by the end of Book 4, I thought the quote was more than appropriate.
The pinch of glitter -- meant to emulate stars -- was sprinkled on after the text was glued on, between the first and second coats of spray finish. It's very easy to overdo it with glitter, a small pinch is just enough to be effective.
What do you think of how it turned out? Thoughts? Comments? "Why Hal?"