Osteria Al Vecchio Stallo occupies a 17th-century building in Udine, Italy, that was originally a stable and rest stop for deliverymen transporting goods via horse and cart. It is natural, then, that much of the current decor is centered around horses. Along one wall of the restaurant, between the entrance and the bar, hang a half dozen horse collars and assorted tack. I decided to recreate a pair of similar collars out of polymer clay.
At a mere 2 inches tall, it was impossible for me to be entirely accurate with all the metal hardware and other details, but I did use a photo of the actual collars as inspiration for the general shape and tried to preserve their spirit as best I could. I used jewelry jump rings and chain in gunmetal, as well as some narrow aluminum strips I had left over from a previous project. To give the aluminum a rusted look, I first painted those strips black. Then, while a second coat was still wet, I shaved on some soft pastels in varying shades of orange and brown.
As I was sculpting the horseshoe-shaped form, I needed some extra clay for support between the horizontal and vertical strips. I just happened to have lying on my work tile a bunch of jagged scraps of black clay, the edges that had been trimmed off after running the clay through the pasta machine. It suddenly struck me that these were perfect for creating the appearance of time-worn, raggedy leather. I used them on the underside as well as on the top to hold the aluminum strips in place.
When I had finished sculpting, I shaded the pieces with brown and dark gray soft pastels. After baking, they needed to be sealed so that the pastels wouldn’t rub off, so I tried out my new Helmar Crystal Kote Matte spray varnish, one of the very few spray sealers compatible with polymer clay.
To hang the collars on the walls, I built a pair of hooks from scrap wood and stained them dark walnut to match the floor and trim.
