The Boy in the Iceberg (AtLA-inspired) Pendant

The inspiration for this pendant struck during a rewatch of the opening scene of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It might appear to just be a cute silhouette of Aang and Appa before they're broken out of the iceberg, but have an extra surprise with Aang entering the avatar state when it's seen in the dark!

Materials:

• Black polymer clay
• UV resin
• Blue glow pigment
• Resin pigments in various shades of aqua, blue, and white
• iridescent glitter
• Cap bail / bead cap (jewelry findings)
• Bake and Bond or liquid polymer clay
• Superglue

Tools:

• Oven
• UV Lamp
• Gloves
• Toothpicks
• Sphere silicon mold for UV resin
• A surface to mix resin on (I use the bottom of another UV resin mold)
• Craft knife
• Needle tool
• Sand paper or sanding tool
• UV topcoat (or a cheap paintbrush)

• Roll out a sheet of black polymer clay
• Trace a rough outline of Aang and Appa with your needle tool, following a reference picture
• Cut them out with the craft knife
• If needed, use the needle tool and craft knife to adjust their shapes to make them look more like the silhouettes

Tip: It won't be seen in the final product, but I add some texture to outline Appa's legs, horns, and fur to see if the proportions look right

• Mix a drop of liquid clay and a small scoop of glow powder.
• Use a needle tool to 'paint' on Aang's tattoos and eyes with the liquid clay

• Bake according to the directions on your package of clay. The clay I use is baked at 110 C or 230 F, for 15 minutes.

Tip: It might take a few tries to get the resin part right, so you may want to make a few sets of these

• Take out your sphere mold
• Mix UV resin and a pinch of iridescent glitter to make the first layer. Do this slowly to avoid air bubbles, and pour it into the sphere mold.
• Cure it with the UV lamp.

• Pour a thin layer of UV resin into the mold
• Place Appa and Aang into the mold, making sure that the glow-in-the-dark side of Aang is facing downward. Arrange them with a toothpick, if necessary.
• Cure this layer of resin with the UV lamp. Check that this layer is fully cured so the pieces won't move around later.

• Pour out a few dots of UV resin, one for each color of pigment (I'm using four)
• Mix in a bit of glow powder and iridescent glitter in each dot of UV resin.
• Mix in a bit of pigment to each dot.
• Use the toothpick to add the colored resin to the sphere mold, alternating colors one drop at a time.
• Fill in the rest of the mold with resin, and swirl the colors around with the toothpick.
• Cure with a UV lamp

• If there is a small dip in the resin after the last layer has cured, top off the mold with more resin and cure.
• Turn the lamp to the other side of the mold as well, to make sure that all the layers are cured fully before you unmold the sphere.
• Remove the sphere from the mold.
• If there might be some pockets of resin uncured within the sphere, continue to place it under the UV lamp until the entire sphere is fully cured.

Here are some photos of things to look out for as you're completing the resin steps. The individual photos are annotated with what went wrong with each attempt:

1. This sphere had too much fine glitter, and the glow pigment was mixed into the top layer so Appa and Aang aren't visible except in the dark.
2. The silhouettes are hidden; there is too much glitter. Aang had also moved because the second layer was too thick and didn't cure fully until the final curing step.
3. There is an air bubble in the first layer and too much glitter.
4. This one was finally a good attempt, where both silhouettes are clearly visible and have the right placement.

• Use sandpaper or a sanding tool to remove any excess resin.

• Use superglue to glue on the bead cap
• Once the glue is dried, hold on to the bead cap (it helps to do this with pliers) and paint on a final topcoat of UV resin over the entire sphere.
• Cure this last layer under the UV lamp.

Now the pendant is finished and can be added to a jewelry chain to make a necklace. It can also be used as a charm for any other jewelry project you wish!