OUTLANDER (Gabaldon) MINIATURE BOOK PENDANTS

It took 8 months of solid research, effort and trying but it is now here! Spurred on by my obsession with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and encouraged by many to "further the cause", I have created the Outlander Miniature Book Pendant Collection. Frankly, I just wanted something to do, while waiting for Herself to finish the next book (ahh, some 3 years from now, gulp!). 

Sculpted out of polymer clay, each pendant-sized book pays homage to all current titles in the Outlander saga, including The Exile. Polymer clay is a very interesting medium to work with. It is resilient, flexible and forgiving. I knew that I wanted details to show, so I opted for pendant-  NOT charm-sized books. Shaping books from clay was a lot of fun! (It was a great way to relieve stress at the time. As in "Why has my copy of The Exile not arrived yet?" Punch. Splat. Blob. Punch. Enough said.) I digress.  

Getting the image onto the clay was another matter. I had dreamed of immortalizing DG's beautiful book covers into pendants. Fell in love with both US and UK edition covers. Not a stranger to image transfer techniques, I knew that this was going to be a challenge: getting double-sided images onto a book form. Following suggestions from fellow clay artisans, I tried a number of things, but none were full proof. Sometimes it worked. Most of the time it didn't. Just like Edison, I found 3000+ ways of how NOT to transfer an image onto clay:

In the end, it took a combination of chemistry, physics, baking, persistence and lots of patience to pull it off. The result: the Outlander Miniature Book Pendant Collection:

The symbolic nature of the US editions contrasted well with the scenic imagery of the UK book covers. I vacillated between the two, unable to decide which one I liked best. The final product reflects my indecision, as you end up with a choice of US/US or US/UK book covers front/back.The exceptions are Outlandish Observations and The Exile, where I only used US covers.

Relief and detail on the mini books is evident here:

It is essential that the image be sealed and a protective finish applied. Both glossy and matte finishes are available. This process takes several days to complete as each coat must be allowed to dry naturally.

Once I had the pendants, the possibilities were endless. As I write this, my mind is still reeling with ideas I can't wait to try out. Got any suggestions? I'm all ears. In the mean time, enjoy two Outlandish gifts crafted out of these polymer clay miniature books at my Etsy Store: Just Charming!