Slytherin's Locket (With Secrets Inside!)

Greetings, magical crafters!

In this Instructable, we're recreating Salazar Slytherin's locket from Harry Potter, which was turned into a Horcrux.

Even if you don't care about Harry Potter, you can learn how to make a locket from scratch - with compartments for pictures and secret messages inside!

If some of the steps are hard to understand, it may help to watch the embedded video. It was fun making this one, so check it out if you're interested :)

Supplies

2 types of wire in gold (1x thicker, 1x thinner)
hot glue
thin cardboard (like from a cereal box)
scissors
glue stick
air dry clay (I used the brand DAS) - https://amzn.to/3oL4OeV
green rhinestones - https://amzn.to/3oO54Ke
necklace chain - https://amzn.to/3sAJ4Dv
acrylic paints (black and gold)
paintbrush
clear nail polish (or superglue)
map tack and empty pen
baking paper or silicone
toothpick

(the links are affiliate links, which means I get a commission if you buy something after clicking on them)

Step 1: Research, Sketches & Experiments

In the movies, they showed a silver octagonal locket with faceted glass, but I decided to just use the descriptions in the books as a guideline:

"There upon the smooth crimson velvet lay a heavy golden locket".

"He looked at the serpentine S, inlaid with glittering, green stones: It was easy to visualise it as a minuscule snake."

(I think it's also described as being oval, but not sure since I couldn't find a quote.)

As you can see, there's quite a lot of creative freedom here, so I recommend drawing some sketches. They also help during the crafting process to figure out where to place things.

It took me a few experiments to figure out how to make picture frames on the inside and how to make the locket look like metal, but I'm happy with the end result!

Step 2: The Chamber of Secrets?

Let's start with the inside of the locket, which can hold pictures and secret messages.

First, salvage some thin cardboard from a cereal box or something similar. Cut off the thinnest strip you can make (1-2 mm) and use glue to form a long oval ring. If you're struggling, you may need to find thinner cardboard.

Add more paper to the ring, then cut some strips that are about 1 or 2 millimeters wider (so about 3 mm for me) and add them to the outside. When you place the ring on something flat, there should be a gap on the inside.

Glue the ring to another piece of cardboard and cut it out. Now you can test if you can slip in an oval piece of paper.

Repeat these steps to make another picture frame, or use the Doubling Charm ;)

Step 3: Making the Hinge

For the hinge we need two golden wires - one that's thicker and one that's thinner. It works with different sizes!

The thick one is the base and the thin one will be used to make the coils for the hinge. In my experience 5 coils make the most sturdy locket.

Cut off a piece of the thick wire and straighten it out.

Then cut off a longer piece of thin wire. With this piece we're going to make three coils with gaps in between.

Next, get a new piece of thin wire and make two coils in between the other ones.

Squish all the coils together until there are no more gaps. Then bend the thick wire on both sides to keep the coils in place.

Get the cardboard picture frames we made before and put them on top of each other, with the flat sides on the outside.

Position the hinge next to the cardboard ovals and bend the wires into place. Looking at sketches cen help you figure out where to place the hinge.
Then cut off any wires that stick out. Make sure to leave a gap between the cardboard and the hinge.

Step 4: Hot Glue Magic

Now get a glue gun out and place a good amount of glue on the wire. Don't touch the wire because it gets hot! (I learned from experience)

Press the glue down with baking paper (or silicone) and something flat. This ensures that the locket doesn't get too bulky.

Repeat the process on the other side and test the hinge. Then reinforce the wires that come from the hinge with hot glue.

Step 5: Closure

To give the locket a closure, cut two strips of craft foam and glue them to the side of the locket. Only add glue to the ends of the strips.

Next, make a U-shape from wire that will go in between these foam strips. Bend the wire over, trim it, glue it and press the glue down.

Then add another long U-shape made from wire so you can add a chain later on, glue and press that one as well.

Step 6: Sculpting

Next, I made a template from thin plastic so I knew how big I wanted the locket to be. Maybe I should have done that sooner to be honest :p

I used DAS air dry clay to shape the locket (but most air dry clays should have the same results). I learned that it's better to add too much clay than adding too little, because we will sand the clay anyways when it's dry.

The sculpting takes some time because it's a bit tricky to shape both sides of the locket at once. The plastic template is really helpful as a guideline, for making the inside flat and for preventing the two halves from sticking to each other. And with a toothpick you can work on the hinge area.

When you've had enough of sculpting, make sure that there's still a gap in the picture frame. In hindsight I should have just slipped something inside to keep the gap open.

Then let the locket dry.

Step 7: Sanding

When the locket was dry, it didn't close so well anymore, but that's something we can fix with sanding.

I used a file to make the outside smoother and the inside flatter. I recommend using a face mask so you don't have to worry about breathing in the dust.

For touching up really small areas you can use a map tack.

When you're done sanding, you can brush off the excess dust with an old toothbrush.

And we got a basic locket that works!

Step 8: Rhinestones & Sketching

Now to the jewels! I found these rhinestones in a nice variety of sizes.

I arranged them on the locket and marked their position with a pencil. You can even use an eraser on the clay!

Then you can sketch out the engravings on your locket. Any kinds of swirly shapes look antique to me.

My theory is: The more details your locket has, the easier it gets to make the locket look like metal.

Step 9: Scratching / "Engraving"

I chose the painful path of scratching the designs with a map tack :p Is it finnicky? Yes. But I tried many things and this just gives you the sharpest and finest results.

For filling out larger areas (like the "S"), it's better to use an empty pen. It's nicer to hold as well.

Brushing off the dust helps to see how far you've come. You can also use a colored pencil so you can see the scratched lines a bit better.

Since I wanted to make my life really hard, I added the tiny runes from the movie's design on the inside. But I think it was worth it.

Now is a good time to test whether the rhinestones fit in the "S"-groove, which of course I forgot myself. But it still turned out good in the end :)

Step 10: Painting

When you're happy with your engravings, it's time for my favorite part: painting the locket. I'm using black acrylic paint first.

This time, I slipped some cardboard pieces into the picture frame and only took them out when the frame was dry.

For an antique metal effect, I'm mixing golden acrylic paint with water first to make it really smooth. When I didn't do this, the golden paint looked less realistic in the end.

Then ironically I'm removing most of the paint from the brush again so I can dry brush the locket. This is where the locket is really starting to shine. I love this part.

It's hard to stop, but we don't want to cover up all of the black areas. Of course you can always go back with black paint if you think you've overdone the gold.

Step 11: Rhinestones and Chain

Now we can glue on the rhinestones!

Instead of superglue I just used clear nail polish - I think it's more forgiving and it works surprisingly well. This may be due to the fact though that the rhinestones I bought are meant for nail art.

Make dots of nail polish with a toothpick and add the rhinestones.

Now all that's left to do is to attach the locket to a necklace chain!