DIY Polymer Clay Goblet
How to turn a red wine glass into a
medieval gothic style pirate goblet.
Firstly research. I wanted to wrap my head around some of the basic shapes in the hand.
I used the kids science book.
'100 Things to Know About Science'
by USBORNE books.
I mixed white and beige polymer clay to create a bone color.
Then used 'Bake & Bond' on the stem of the glass.
Wrapped the stem in clay.
Blended and smoothed with my fingers.
Holding a ball helped me to see how my wrist and fingers reacted in this position.
I found a great picture from the Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary,
That had all the different hand bones.
Visual Dictionary
I worked on a few of the lower wrist bones
and then added in the second forearm bone.
Added some grooves with a ball tool.
Then smoothed the surface with baby oil on a paint brush.
Sizing and shaping up some carpal bones.
Blend and smooth in the Carpal bones.
For the hand bones.
Roll out a length, thicker on either end.
Detail with a ball tool.
Lay the hand bones into position.
Creating the leather wraps around the hand.
I have a full in depth video on making polymer clay look like leather.
Leather Effect Tutorial
Cut two thinner strips of leather, one with a join.
Thin lengths of clay for the stitching.
For the rope around the hand. Roll out two lengths.
And texture with a needle tool.
twist the two textured lengths around
each other, to create the rope.
Moving onto the top rim of the glass.
I spent some time coming up with
a design that I liked.
Textured the rim of the glass
with scrunched up foil.
Press out some squares and cut them diagonally
to create triangles.
Place them around the rim.
Ball tool in the center of the triangles.
And dotting tool along the upper edges.
Add in a straight line at the base of each triangle.
Twist two lengths together and cut diagonally to create a neat join.
I added the twisted ring to the top of the glass.
Then decided I didn't like it.
But . . . now looking at it, I wish I had of kept it.
Roll out a set of finger bones. These are sculpted in the same manner as the hand bones.
Only they are shorter in length.
Everything was starting to come away from the glass.
And it all went down hill from here.
I wrapped some fabric around the glass to keep it all in place.
This is a visual representation
of how I was feeling.
Added the rings to the fingers, then attached the finger bones to the rim of the glass.
I have a full video on creating the rings that I used for this project.
The glass flipped, face down in the oven. Melted, squished and burnt everything.
I was devastated and weeks of work ruined.

I knew if I didn't get straight back into sculpting that I would never come back to this project.
I repaired the rings and tore off most of the leather. Repaired the rope.
I re-baked everything,
with a weight in the glass.
Moving onto the base of the goblet.
Using a circle cutter to remove a section for the arm bones.
Then lay that into position.
Repeat the same design as the rim of the glass, around the bottom edge.
Time to paint.
I am using water based acrylic paint.
Painting a solid black base coat.
Once that has dried, I then go in with a metallic silver on top.
Re-fuel
'you know how it is.'
Brown Base coat on the triangles.
And then metallic bronze over the top of that.
PVA glue in the holes, to attach the gems.
Solid brown base coat on the leather wraps.
I also lightly dry brushed over the bones with an ivory colored paint.
Water down some brown paint to add 'grime' to all the brown surfaces.
Brush on a thin layer of watered down yellow over all the bones.
Widely blend in some orange/brown paint
around all the creases.
Go in with a light brown, deeper in the bone joints.
Then with a small detail brush, go in with a dark brown in the deepest areas.
Finish of the painting with a light brown rope.
For inside the goblet I am using an
orange/yellow tulle.
And a row of warm white LED's
Cut the tulle into lengths. Wrap and scrunch the tulle around the LED's.
Then place the Tulle and LED's
into the glass.
Now we can lay our coins and medallions around the base of the goblet.
I made this goblet for my younger brothers 30th birthday.
I wanted it to be meaningful so I added elements like the Scorpio constellation, with Antares as a gem.
Added a few other Scorpio elements.
I added some Citrine/Topaz colors throughout to match his Birthstone.
I also recreated his puzzle ring, that I bought for his 18th.
I went for a medieval gothic style for the actual goblet. And added plenty of pirate elements.