As part of the screenshots that inkscape.org published to promote the new features of release 0.45, there was a nifty little tutorial that demonstrated a cool effect that could make 3d like tubes and ropes using the new gaussian blur feature.
View the Large Screenshot
Download the SVG file
Anyhoo, when valessiobrito uploaded a simple paperclip to the open clip art library i took my chance to utilise the technique outlined in the inkscape tutorial to remix the paperclip to give it bit more of a “3d” feel.
valessiobrito’s original upload
my remix