trouble-maker Prussia

Prussia!...Giving me problems!  @x@! 

Actually, I shouldn't say just Prussia. I'll have to go through this same thing with Spain, and the crest on his flag.  ~.~;  And unexpectedly, Canada too.  That maple leaf mold I made didn't account for the impressed clay being too soft to slice into an applique.  x_x; 
 I've been trying so many unsuccessful techniques to get that crest on Prussia's flag to work on my polymer clay pendants, and time is just running out!  0~0!

Technique 1:
Iron-on transfer paper.  I have books which said that this works, but apparently, they were strictly serious about only the Avery brand working.  My local craft store didn't have it, so I bought whatever they had. And that turned out to leave big paper hangings, distinct borders impressed between the paper and the un-papered clay, and it can be peeled off.  ;_;  Not only that, but the pictures of Prussia's and Spain's crests that I used, turned out all pixelated!  Not enough resolution!  ;~:  That, I fixed with better source pictures, but the iron-on paper technique just doesn't work.

Technique 2: 
Stamp ink.  This, I have experience in.  Printmaking was the area of studio arts that I pursued, further than anyone else in my class.  But after all that trouble of carving my own, tiny, Prussia eagle stamp, the ink just didn't work.  Neither of my black ink stock.  The first ("Comotion" brand), turned from black to red, when stamped on white Craftsmart clay.  The second black ink ("Carver's) maintained the black hue better, but wiped off, even after baking, and even worse than the first ink---Which did manage to stain the clay, but only in red.  ~___~;;;  The sad thing is that I did make some tests of these inks onto polymer clay.  Those tests didn't smudge, they were waterproof, and the impressions were clear.  I just didn't realize that testing on different colors of clay, would have different results, despite being the same brand of clay.  x_x;  So, yellow Craftsmart clay seems to take ink well and be stained with the proper, waterproof hue, but _white_ Craftsmart clay is another matter.  Too bad Prussia needs his eagle crest on a white stripe. 

Technique 3:
Baked clay applique.  I thought this one just couldn't fail, in any way.  _Thought_.   Turns out that making a reverse mold, for a properly flipped impression, was the wrong idea.  Typical for making transfers, but not best for this case.  This *strange* case.  After gettitng an impression from the mold, the top actually is composed of all the pits from the bottom of the mold, making the "bottom", sliced side, actually look better.  Very unusual.  But I don't have time to make another mold.  Still, that problem can be fixed, once I have time later.  The real problem with this technique is that it takes too much time, there's too much risk in damaging the applique during slicing from the base, and it usually does result in a skin&bones slice of the original impression.  Even though the baked applique can be applied to either pre-baked clay (using clear glue), or sunken into unbaked clay before baking, these slices of applique just don't look as nice as I would have liked.  They're all scraggly and emaciated.  Besides which, this technique may have been ok with Prussia, but considering all the tiny, unlinked components in Spain's crest, assembling all the pieces would probably take too long with a design like that. 

Technique 4:
Embossing powder.  So today, I'm going to try embossing powder.  The great thing is that I can just use a stamp, sprinkle powder, and bake.  The bad thing is that when I first tried making a mold for Technique 3, I used my rubber stamp, and forgot mold release.  ~__~;  So, my rubber stamp got ruined. Still okay, but I'll definitely have to make a new Prussia crest stamp when I have more time. 
There are so many techniques to choose from with embossing powder.  But since these pendants are going to get pressed with a stamp on both sides, back-filling an impression with embossing powder doesn't sounds viable.  After the pendant is stamped on 1 side, it'll get flipped and squashed with the stamp from the other side.  Then what would the embossing powder fill?  Besides, unbaked clay is so sticky, the embosing powder may not stick to just the relief's recesses.  Still, even if I waited to fill the reliefs with powder, after baking, the impressions on the bottom side would still get squashed from the top side's impressing pressure.
Fortunately, embossing powder has been proven successful by others, even when applied to already-baked clay.  So, I'm going to try that.  I'll have to rig some special supports for the pendants while baking, to keep both sides level and prevent the melted embossing powder from running, but it looks promising.
So, do I go with the clear embossing ink and the colored powder?  Or the colored ink with the clear embossing powder?  I already have black and red stamping inks and clear embossing powder, so I don't have to go out to buy some.  But if the tests today prove my inks just don't come across strongly, I may just go out and buy some black and red embossing powders. 

So why aren't I trying varnish, you ask?  My ink-stamped Prussia/Austria penants don't seem so red, even though that Comotion ink does have that tint.  Why don't I just varnish those and save more time to make Spamano or Nordics pendants?  I don't know.  I bought Varathane a while ago and it's sitting in my closet, for just the purpose of polymer clay.  I guess I'm always scared to try new things at first.  Takes me a few days, or weeks, to psyche myself up to take a plunge.  Besides, if I Varathane the crest, then I might as well do the whole pendant, for a consistent shine.  But if I do that, then I have to sand the whole thing first, and set up a drying area with no dust (impossible at my house), and then do that to each of my 20+ pendants,...  Yeah, now I remember why I'm avoiding varnishing my pendants.

I'm sick from something I caught at AM2 a week ago, and I still have so much to craft for Artist Alley at AX this coming week.  ;____;!