Slytherin's Locket (handmade)

Rnmld91

New Member
This is probably my favorite prop from any movie ever, and has been a long time in the making. I'm slightly more confident in my skill, and after about 3 attempts at it this is what I have been able to come up with. Let me stress that I'm not an expert in metalworking by any means; it's just something I like to do for fun. I used copper for the earlier versions, but this latest one is in nickel silver (which is around 60% copper, with the rest being nickel and zinc) with copper plates used only for the front and back faces. It's a much more affordable and tougher choice than real sterling silver, which I thought was suitable since there would be less warping of the material while working with it.
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I started out by cutting out two octagons out of the metal, while making sure of the dimensions by gluing both sheets together and carefully filing away until they were the same shape. This is essential and determines the shape of the entire locket, and ensures that both halves meet more or less perfectly when closed. After cutting them out and brazing the copper sheets to them, I cut out the sheet lengths that would be used for the framing portion and made sure they fit in perfectly with the sheet. This is much more difficult than it sounds; and was achieved by lots of hammering, using a vice clamp and binding the pieces together with steel wire (as shown below) to ensure there were no gaps.
I attempted to make this easier by constantly hammering against a wooden octagonal template I made around one inch thick, along with an aluminum template around half an inch thick that I had made for an earlier attempt. These both helped maintain the overall shape of the frame as I was working on it.
Once I was happy with the shapes of the two halves, I had to do a lot of filing and grinding to make sure both were perfectly flat and more or less equal in width. This was also quite a challenge as I didn't know the exact dimensions of the screen used locket, though I was aiming at making it slightly larger than the Noble version, which I own and used as a reference. The main locket face ended up being around 4.1 cm long.

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The faceted crystals were another story entirely and honestly felt like a whole separate project! They were made with Castin Craft epoxy resin, cast in plasticine as mold material. It was not the greatest option since I had to continuously remake the mold every casting. Since the finished castings were by no means the perfect shape, I had to carefully hand file each facet with a diamond file to make sure they were the right size and shape. The color of the finished castings however was slightly yellowish and not clear, which may have been due to the product being expired or the way I mixed the two solutions in the first place. However I later found that the yellowish color was an advantage, since the crystals would have to be backed by the copper plates, which both went together well giving it a beautiful look that I found was very close to that of the actual prop. The two 'bubbles' were carefully carved in with a round diamond bit. The polishing was done by using 600, followed by 1000 and finally 1500 grit paper, and finished with a polishing powder (not sure which type) and water on a microfiber cloth. Tiny bubbles can be seen included, which I didn't mind as I thought added to the ancient looking effect. I realize the prop lockets have much more inclusions in the crystals, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about creating that effect, though I'm very happy with how they turned out.

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I ran into quite a few problems along the way and I had to retrace my steps. If you can tell from the above photo, the bottom half was about a millimeter longer than the upper one. This was solved by cutting a segment of metal off, filing down the face plate and re-soldering another segment that would fit in properly into the frame. And this was just one of the problems; because of the constant heating that was done for soldering and annealing purposes, some of the sides would come loose. This also was a result of constantly hammering the pieces to maintain the octagonal shape.

Hopefully I will be able to get the few remaining appendages (hinge, clasp, etc) to work. I will probably not be adding the thin chain that is seen around the rim of the screen prop, as I'm afraid more parts will come apart due to the heat. We'll see how it goes from there.
 

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Wow! Fantastic work, now I really need to make something from Harry Potter! Have you in plans something more from series?
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback, really appreciate it!
elilay, i know what you mean, it's really the most inspiring universe for me, anything from it is just so satisfying to replicate, even simple paper props and such. I've done lots of wooden wand replicas that I'll probably do a post on later. Also, if you'd like to check out my thread on the Time Turner, you're more than welcome!

The two main remaining portions are the hinge, and the wire loop portion for the chain. I've done the hinge in brass because I don't currently have access to any silver colored tubing that will connect to the body of the locket. This took many attempts and was really very frustrating. It's all about lining up the three little tube portions properly so that the locket can close and so that the hinge pin can be secured and the hinge can move freely. Additionally, I had to make sure that there were as little gaps as possible between the tube portions so the movement would be natural and so the two halves wouldn't wobble around. It's still not perfect and there are still a few gaps present in its closing position, but I'm more or less happy with it for the time being.
The gaps should be visible in the video. I really don't know if I'm gonna be able to tackle this problem, so I've decided right now to just leave it as it is. I've temporarily fitted in the resin crystals just to give you an impression of what it should hopefully look like when finished. (I had some problems while trying to replace the copper sheet on the main face; I couldn't remove it successfully. still trying to figure out how to fix this)

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I apologize that the photos keep showing up tilted, I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm still new to this whole attachment thing so please forgive!
 
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I will definitely check it out. I'm thinking about making golden snitch with hogwards door logo as display. Or even whole set of quidditch balls with chest. Once again amazing progress. I just saw your updates photos excellent job and very nice weathering
Thanks everyone for the feedback, really appreciate it!
@elilay, i know what you mean, it's really the most inspiring universe for me, anything from it is just so satisfying to replicate, even simple paper props and such. I've done lots of wooden wand replicas that I'll probably do a post on later. Also, if you'd like to check out my thread on the Time Turner, you're more than welcome!

The two main remaining portions are the hinge, and the wire loop portion for the chain. I've done the hinge in brass because I don't currently have access to any silver colored tubing that will connect to the body of the locket. This took many attempts and was really very frustrating. It's all about lining up the three little tube portions properly so that the locket can close and so that the hinge pin can be secured and the hinge can move freely. Additionally, I had to make sure that there were as little gaps as possible between the tube portions so the movement would be natural and so the two halves wouldn't wobble around. It's still not perfect and there are still a few gaps present in its closing position, but I'm more or less happy with it for the time being.
The gaps should be visible in the video. I really don't know if I'm gonna be able to tackle this problem, so I've decided right now to just leave it as it is. I've temporarily fitted in the resin crystals just to give you an impression of what it should hopefully look like when finished. (I had some problems while trying to replace the copper sheet on the main face; I couldn't remove it successfully. still trying to figure out how to fix this)

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I apologize that the photos keep showing up tilted, I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I'm still new to this whole attachment thing so please forgive!
 
sonicfreak04 I'm thinking of adding a generic steel chain, there's no way I'm gonna be patient enough to make one from scratch :). As for the engraving, I'm probably gonna go with chasing, which basically involves hammering in the runes with steel punching tools that have been shaped with either flat or curved ends, resembling chisels. I've practiced a bit on some scrap metal, with the tools made from different sized screws. However, it'd be nearly impossible to cover up any mistakes if I made any. If that method doesn't work, I'll probably use some engraving bits on a Dremel. I'll definitely use the latter method for the back plate, which contains lots of illegible, tiny script which would be difficult to create otherwise. I still haven't decided if I want to take the risk of including the large S in the middle. I could just leave the circle empty like it appears in the fake version (the locket from the cave). Both versions are great in my opinion, but ideally I'd like to replicate the real horcrux version.
The top loop attachment probably still needs some work. I realized too late that it was a little too tall compared to the prop versions.

Here's a quick update next to the Noble replica:

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Thanks a lot! I absolutely feel the same way about it, I remember the disappointment I felt at finding out the differences between the screen used and the Noble one. I feel like it's one of their least faithful replicas. What makes it even more annoying is that the promotional photo for the cave locket features what appears to be the screen used prop, with all the visible little details suggesting it was handmade. I don't know what they were thinking using this as promo material.
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I really wish someone would make a 3D printable version one day, as was done with the opening DH snitch. At least for the metal parts.
Having said that it really feels great to finally bring this project to a level I can be satisfied with. I've literally been wanting to do this for years.

Here it is with most of the engravings done. Not too happy with it though, I may have rushed it a little. The back plate is basically gibberish, and I used the chasing method to create the runes. Hopefully as the copper develops a patina, the engravings will show more clearly. Not sure how I'm gonna do the 'Salazar Slytherin' inscription that runs around the middle circle, as I didn't really leave any space for it due to how I positioned the runes. The entire front plate still needs quite a bit of work if I'm honest with myself, but I wouldn't mind leaving it at this current stage, mostly because I'm just too worried I might ruin the whole thing if I modify it any further. However, I would like to add some kind of closing mechanism to it.

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This is the only decent view of the closing mechanism I've been able to find online. It looks like a basic friction fit, with two opposing metal pieces fitting into each other when closed, and I assume it's partially covered by the thin chain that goes around the rim. Another problem I've faced is with the metal edges that secure the crystals in place. They're constantly being warped and reshaped due to my constant crystal fitting attempts with hammers and pliers. This hardens the metal significantly, and also warps the shape of the entire metal frame.

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So after about a year and a half I decided to revisit this project, starting over from scratch because, why not. I thought I could avoid some of the mistakes I did the last time after having had some more experience in metalworking. I'm using most of the same materials I used the last time and revisiting the many reference photos (and video reference) that are thankfully available.

This time around I had two steel octagonal template custom made, in order to make the lines and corners more defined. I think it worked to my advantage, if you can tell compared to the older version. I used the same basic methods, alternating between using steel wire and the bench vise to hold the parts together while brazing. I also used an additional silver-based solder alloy with a lower melting to use to attach the external parts, i.e. the hinge, chain around the border, which I thought worked well because I had some problems with color matching with the alloy I used last time, (the braze joints on the inside would turn an ugly copper color after natural oxidation). I ended up using the older alloy this time as well. I thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem since I'm not too worried about getting the inside of the locket accurate; I'm probably gonna just leave it plain, without any of the screen used details similar to my previous version.

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I kind of regret engraving the circle which would later contain the "S" very early on and without too much practice beforehand. The crystal shown here won't be the final one but I used it to practice getting the shape absolutely right so that it would fit securely as the frame closes around it.
 
So the next step was getting the hinge right, which I'm afraid didn't work out how I wanted. I spent quite a bit of money getting some sterling silver tubing, but unfortunately it kept melting on me and ruining the whole mechanism. The melting point of sterling is significantly lower than nickel silver, and it's much more 'sticky' which meant it kept welding itself to the steel wire I used to hold the tubes together while brazing the tubes in place. Ultimately after many failed attempts I decided to stick with copper because of its higher melting point. I was intending to use brass but I misplaced my brass tubing.
Also, it ended up being a bit crooked, which means the locket ended up opening crooked and not flatly, if you get what I mean. The photos don't really show it well. The top hinge piece also ended up with a more silvery finish due to some solder bleeding over onto the piece. Hopefully after some more cleanup it will look better.

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As a side project, I decided to try my hand at soldering the thin chain around the frame, just as practice. I knew I should've left it until the end but I was just too impatient and wanted to start working with some silver.

The results were not as bad as I expected, there was some melting of the chain around the edges which I was predicting, but at least I got a feel for how to work the torch and position the pieces for the next attempt. It's quite tricky working with such thin pieces of silver specially when in combination with higher melting-point metals.

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Thanks, Jintosh!

For some reason I thought if I flipped over the front face and redo the hinge, it would result in a better fit (alignment of the edges on both faces), which unfortunately didn't improve anything and I ended up wasting some precious time. Well, anyways, let's go on...

Here's what I've been able to accomplish in the meantime:
After some cleanup I added some of the engravings. I used the same technique, hammer and chisel, and I was able to get the basic S shape done, along with some of the runes. They're not too visible in the photos, hopefully later I'll go over the whole thing again to get it more defined.
I forgot to mention how I achieved the 'inclusion' effect in the resin, which is done by adding small bits of plastic wrap/cling film. There were more in the original casting, but unfortunately most of them were removed after I carved in the inner bubble depression. It's much better looking when the light hits it directly.

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Here is what it looks like after adding in the bail and swirl. I mounted a piece of metal I had melted previously in the drill and spent quite a bit of time using files and power tools to get the lathe-turned look. The above swirl was made, as before, by cutting out a long, thin portion of sheet and filing it into a more or less round shape, as I didn't have any nickel silver wire. The two portions were then soldered together. The end result is seen below with the hinge held together with some wire. I still haven't figured it out a way to secure the hinge pin... I'm afraid to use more any more solder as heat is always risky at this point.

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