Heraldic Livery Collar – Dai Gerdwr

Notes

The second heraldic livery collar I made (not counting the alternate colored version of my personal collar), this one was requested to match the original elements of the heraldry (silver gear, red door) as closely as possible.

The door charms are a zinc base, plated with copper and then with chrome. I did not make them, they were purchased that way, but that super smooth chrome plating means that the red enamel paint was very resistant to staying stuck to the metal. After several attempts and the paint continuing to flake off, what I eventually did was take a wire brush to the charms until they had been thoroughly roughed-up, and as much of the chrome removed as possible, and it was problem solved.

Once the enamel cured, a dark wash was applied to sink into the deeper elements of the charms, creating a nice two-tone effect.

The gears came from a mixed bag of gears sold for use in steampunk costumes. They required no modification aside from drilling holes for attaching to the chains (as did the door charms)

Construction was fairly simple, as there were no special rings or fittings to make, just some simple nickel-silver jewelry chain.