Running low on inspiration, but with plenty of motivation to do anything other than what I should be doing, many of my spare moments lately have been spent watching the new series of Ghosts (thank you, BBC iPlayer, for letting me put my poor impulse control to good use), and showing my kid how to play The Sims 4 (how timely, as I’ve just learned that The Sims 5 is on its way!), and it’s all been very fun. Except for when it wasn’t.
Anyway, my kid and I, we both realised that our favourite way of “playing” the game isn’t actually to play the game; creating the Sims and building the houses are the parts that we love most of all. Maybe because by the time everything is made and ready, it’s either time to do something else, or we’ve run out of steam/enthusiasm. So anyway, it’s pretty much become a design tool for us at this point.
Which has given me an idea: to recreate a piece of jewellery I like from The Sims 4. Not with any intention to profit financially from this, by the way, if anybody from EA is reading!
I thought I should make a pair of earrings, so I scoured through all the options and narrowed it down to these three pairs, as modelled below by the series’ newest iteration of one of its most famous characters, Bella Goth.
(side note, I don’t know when they updated the Goth family in the game, but I do know I’m not a fan of their new looks. But that’s another story for another time. And perhaps another audience. Anyway, she’s #NotMyBella)
I decided on the big birdie pair in the middle, and thought polymer clay would be a good medium for this project. It’s simple enough to work with, I can make pretty close colour matches and – perhaps most importantly – it’s lightweight, so the earrings would be comfortable to wear.
The design of these earrings needs to be the same on both sides, but as a mirror image. I was thinking of approaching this in one of two ways: make a stencil/template, or make a cane.
Using a stencil would certainly be the less time-consuming and simplest option – I’m imagining something similar to decorating a cake, which I enjoy doing (likely because I only do it once a year for my kid’s birthday) – but after watching so many polymer clay cane slicing videos online, I kind of want to try that.
In case you’re like myself who didn’t know what a polymer clay cane was until those videos showed up in my Instagram feed, they’re pretty much like a stick of rock, with a pattern or design running all the way through it.
Unable to make a decision out of only two choices, I gave it a few more seconds’ thought. And came to the conclusion that enjoying the look of polymer clay canes is one thing, but I’ve never made one before and if I can’t get the hang of it quickly, I’d soon be fighting my own waning enthusiasm for the project to get it done.
So, it was decided: stencil method. I could get ready to make my very own pair of big birdie earrings.
But wait! There was another decision to make! There are 12 different colour variations of these earrings, and I liked them all.
But, this time I had the power of the process of elimination on my side:
Right off the bat, I ruled out the green and plum ones. I know I said I liked all of them, but I still have a least-favourite.
Next, I nixed the white one. Because no matter how clean you think a workspace is, polymer clay attracts “stuff” like a neodymium magnet. So dust and other bits would show up too easily.
This also applies to the other lighter-coloured ones. So the cream, pale pink, green and yellow ones were gone too.
Black is nice but – like the white one too, actually – it’s all just one colour. So I don’t want that either. A bit plain. However, the turquoise one is also all one colour and that doesn’t look so simple. Same goes for the bright pink. Maybe this situation isn’t all black and white, as it were…
I tend to find it difficult to separate red and green from feeling christmassy, yet for these earrings, I’m not having that trouble. This colour combo is officially the first one on the ‘yes’ pile. And a close second is the blue and purple pair.
Another ‘yes’, this time for the red and bronzey ones. I like the warm, autumnal colours. Even if it does remind me more of a turkey than an elegant, exotic bird. I suppose it would be fitting if I was making them for someone who celebrates anything turkey-related in autumn, though.
And now we are down to a final three. Again.
…
…
… Stuff it. I’m going with the blue and purple ones.
Colours all mixed, stencils all prepped, I can finally get started! Here’s a quick picture dump, in lieu of a full step-by-step guide:
And now, the finished earrings:
“BONUS”: Some shots with Instagram Reels ‘Sims’ filters. The Bella one was a fresh shot of nightmare fuel, and the other one gave me clearer skin and a 10-foot neck.
So, final thoughts? I like them. I’m not completely bowled over by them, but for a first attempt off the back of an idea that was completely on a whim, I’m quite happy. And I love the colours. I’d definitely do this again, making something from a game. Particularly this one, as everything does have a simple, cartoony look, so it’s fairly simple to replicate. Plus, it’s an excuse to play it, in the name of research!
So I give these a Pass in terms of how they look, but how about wear? I did mention polymer clay being light. And yes, they are very light and comfortable to wear. I almost forgot to take them out because I couldn’t really feel them! So they get a definitely get a higher score for wearability.
If I did do it again – making this pair of earrings, that is, not just something from the game – my main aim would be to make sure the earrings look like mirror-images of each other. This pair are definitely sisters, not twins. I imagine that’s where learning to make a cane would come in very handy. Other than that, I would add more movement. Maybe thinner layers or separating the tail feathers. They’d make nice clicky-clacky sounds too, actually. Yeah, I’d do that.
If you’d like to see me do something like this again, let me know in the comments? Also, let me know if you also grew up playing any Sims games like I did.
Oh, just one more thing before I go: I’ve not forgotten about my upcoming Halloween make, I’ve just not got around to doing anything to prepare for it as of late. A bit of schedule re-jigging should find me some time.
Right, that’s all for now. Thanks so much for popping in and having a read. Have a lovely rest of your day!
If you’d like to see more from me, you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and of course, you can support me and treat yourself in my Shop (and the Sale is still on until tomorrow night)!
Helen x
BRIDGE JEWELLERY 