The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Quest Marker Amulet With Concealed USB Drive

I'm not really a video game junkie, but Skyrim is the one I'd never stop playing. Its design is absolutely mindblowing: every detail is meticulously thought through and prseneted in a most stunning way - from the main character's swords and armor to the architecture and even UI elements. One of those tiny details that I deeply admire is a quest marker that leads you inside a door. This is where the idea of turning it into an amulet came from.

Should you embark on this journey you shoud acquire some goods:

1. a small full-metal body USB drive (I used GoodRam 64GB UPI2)
2. various sterling silver wires (mainly 1.0 mm thick)
3. silver solder medium and easy
4. silver soldering flux
5. soldering block
6. gas torch reaching at least 750 C (I use Dremel 2200)
7. solder pick
8. silver pickle (I use citrine acid)
9. bunch of files
10. sand paper (mainly 800, 1500 grit)
11. engraver with burrs (I use Dremel Micro)
12. pliers
13. cutters
14. tweezers
15. small hammer
16. vise
17. thin steel wire
18. sharpie
19. epoxy glue

[Optional]

1. polishing machine (I use a rotary tumbler with steel shot)
2. liver of sulfur - an oxidation solution for silver
3. varnishing to make a protective coating for blackened parts

Since the marker has an arch shape the only sensible way to slide the USB inside it would be from the bottom. Hence, the USB has to be rid of its plastic body and a silver one must be creted instead.

Its new body is just a small box which will hold the USB drive firmly by its grip bumps and some epoxy glue.

To build this body I use 1.0mm wire. I cut 4 for pieces 36mm length and marked 4 bending points with sharpie. To simplify the process a bit a hold all 4 wires together and carve grooves using a square file. These grooves will make it much easier to bend the wires into rectagular rings.

Once the wires are bent into the rectangular shapes it is time for the first soldering. I place the rings on the soldering blocks and apply flux on the joints as well as on the corner points. At this step I use medium solder to close the rectangulars and reinforce the corners.

The next step is to attach these 4 frames on top of each other to form a hollow basket. Since they are made out of a round wire it is a good idea to grind them a bit in order to have more flat surface to make the connection stronger. I lay a sheet of 800 emery paper on my desk and grind all the frames a little to get some flat surface.

I stack 4 frames together and use some steel wire to hold them in place. Heated up with the torch I use solder pick to apply some medium solder to the joints between the frames.

The last piece of the basket is the lid. I made another rectangular frame and fill it with some pattern using the same silver wire.

In the end of this step the lid is soldered to the hollow basket. Remember to flatten the lid and file the basket endges for a stronger joint. Once the soldering is done we have a nice silver basket where the USB drive should fit. I recommend trying it with side without the bumps, otherwise you would have a hard time taking it apart. Don't worry if the basket is too tight or too loosen - it will be fixed later on when installing the USB drive into the basket.

The amulet will consist of two identical flat wireframes set 5mm apart to form a cavity that would fit a USB drive inside. Each frame has two interlacing parts: a spearhead on top and an arched doorframe below.

I first cut pieces of 1mm wire to form a spearheaded parts. I mark bending points and file them a bit to reduce the bending radius and make the angles look sharp. For the arched part I used double wire to make it look more like a doorframe. Since bending a doubled wire is extremely difficult I make one doorframe first and then a second one a little smaller to fit inside the first one.

Once all the elements are prepared I line them up, file the contact points and solder them together using medium solder.

I wanted to achieve the similarity with the door mark in the game, where the inside of the doorframe is black. I need to fill the empty doorframe with some filigree wiring so that I could later blacken it.

It appeared to be not easy to evenly fill the whole doorframe with filigree so I decided to add a vertical divider. This is a deviation from the original design, but this divider gives an additional structural strength and makes it much easier to fill in the filigree evenly.

Once the filigree wire is tigtly packet into the frames I heat up the entire frame and use pieces of soft solder to fuse all the elements together without breaking the joints I made earlier with medium solder.

When two flat mainframes are filled with filigree and cleaned up from the excess solder spots it is time to form the main amulet body. For the side wall I cut a 5mm wide strip out of a 0.6mm thick silver sheet. Then I bent it into an inverted U-shape to fit exactly the doorframes. It is very important to file the edges flat to ensure a good contact surface between a U-shaped wall and both mainframes during the soldering.

On top of the amulet I add a loop of 1mm wire connecting tips of front and back mainframes. This loop will be used to hold the amulet on a chain.

An important part at this step is to add small loops on both sides of the amulet wall. These loops will hold clasps that are necessary to lock the USB drive in place.

When all the soldering is completed the amulet goes into the rotary tumbler where tiny steel balls bombard it conctantly for couple of hours to get an even polished look.

At this point the amulet is fully formed and cleaned up, but it still misses the color similarity to the quest marker. This is very intricate process because it is only certain parts of the amulet that need to be blackened.

For this process I go with a commonly used liver of sulfur - a chemical that boosts the oxidation on the silver surface making it black. I use a toothpick to apply tiny drops of oxidation solution to the filigree filling of the amulet doors.

The oxidation layer is proned to wear off during the normal usage of the jewelry. This particular piece of jewelry will be probably used more often since it has an additional function of holding a USB drive inside.

So it is a good idea to apply a protective coating to the blackened part of the amulet. For this operation I use a water based non-toxic varnish to cover the parts that previously were treated with liver of sulfur.

Also at this stage I install clasps on both sides of the amulet using the same 1mm wire. It must be formed in a loop that clicks onto the ball on the USB basket.

Once varnish is set the quest marker amulet with concealed USB drive is ready to be worn and attract attention of Skyrim admirers!

Fus-Ro-Dah!