Scope

To design and construct a pendant or medallion that reflects your identity, interests, design preferences, goals, achievements, etc... Inspiration should be drawn from tattoo art and its significance/symbolism to the wearer. The piece should include at least 1/4" of dimensionality, incorporate contrasting materials/textures, and should be interesting to view from the front as well as the back. 

​

Design

This pendant was inspired by some of my fondest childhood memories playing Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. In character selection, I would always choose Bowser without fail. I suppose it was because he was such a strong and powerful character, but more so because it was comical how starkly contrasting our appearances are. 

​

I used Solidworks and a low-poly image of Bowser's face to model the pendant before physically making the piece. I used the .DXF files from my Solidworks models to laser cut cardstock templates so that my saw-work in the sheet metal would come out precise and symmetrical.  This was especially helpful when cutting out the teeth and horns, which are actually a single plate of nickel-silver and the single largest piece on the medallion. The nickel-silver is a very bright and flashy material (especially after I polished it on the polishing wheel), so I decided to reserve it for Bowser's most flashy and intimidating features, so as not to drown out the rest of the piece. 

​

The main face/back panel is brass, textured with a chasing hammer, patinaed, and then lightly sanded for that scaly reptile effect. Each strand of hair was individually embossed into copper with a lining tool, before being patinaed and lightly sanded. The mouth, muzzle, and nose are made from brass and given a brushed look using 400 grit sandpaper. They are spacer-riveted together to give the piece some added dimensionality.