Heart of Te Fiti

My daughter loves the movie Moana, every aspect of it. It didn't surprise me when she first asked for a costume of one of the characters - the goddess Te Fiti. Although I found the most important part to be the wig for which I made this tutorial, my daughter kept reminding me that Te Fiti needs her heart. And so the heart actually became the star of the costume and here's how you can make it.

• some green polymer clay (transparent green if possible, the transparency will be a great effect) – I use Cernit
• thread - I used leather thread but any natural material is ok
• tools - I use sculpting tools but if you don't have any, just look around your kitchen, you can use knives, chopsticks...
• picture of the heart – you can use one of the photos of the heart I made

Take some green polymer clay and knead it properly. Place it on the working table and form a pebble. You should be working in rubber gloves to prevent any fingerprints on the clay but this time I worked without them. There were fingerprints but later there was so much carving that they aren’t visible anymore.

Look at the picture you chose as template, you'll notice a central ornament in a shape of a spiral. This spiral will section the pebble. Start carving the central spiral in the pebble. I was using a pointy dentistry-like tool and then a tiny spatula but you can figure out for yourself what works best for you. If you're not working with sculpting tools, I recommend tracing the line with the tip of a sharp knife, then cutting a little bit and finally using a more dull tool (like the backside of a table knife) to kind of open the cut.

Then carve the rest of the shapes. That is all there is to it. It will take some time and the process is the same like with the central ornament - trace, cut and open.

And finally, punch a hole at the top of the pebble.

Bake the clay according to the instructions on the package – in my case 30 minutes on 120°C/248°F. Let it cool down and you can use some kind of finish if you like, for example polish.

Although the heart in the movie isn't a pendant but rather rests in a medallion, I find it's best to make it a pendant if a child is supposed to wear it - it's harder to loose that way.

Put the heart on a thread (I’m using dark brown leather thread).

That's it, the heart is done. If you want to make the wig as well, the tutorial is here.