A Copper Grecian-style Headpiece

There is something so yummy about warm copper, crisp pewter, and bubbly cream freshwater pearls, isn't there? Or is this just me? It's probably just me, but the flavor is almost as palpable as the colors. I've decided that I don't use copper and bubbly freshwater pearls nearly as much as I should!

This is a custom piece I recently made for a bride who wanted a Grecian-style headband set made out of copper!

It was a rushed order so I used the odds-and-ends from my bead stash for the fascinator part. This always forces me to be extra creative about what kinds of beads go together. The dress is a blush with hints of pewter in it, and I wound up using many more gray and blue tone beads than I normally would in a copper piece. I think it works!

image via

The headbands are designed to be worn separated on the head with a messy bun. To the right is the hairstyle that the headpiece will be worn with!

They are thinner than most of the braided circlets and headbands, as I used 20 gauge copper. It is designed to accent her hairstyle rather than overwhelm it. Copper is stiff enough that the headbands will hold their shape on their own but I imagine that she will use bobby pins or ribbon to make it extra-secure on the day.

After taking these pictures we decided that a patina (basically oxidation that makes the copper look older, less shiny, and more rich) would be the perfect finish!

Aaaand, I randomly stuck the main headband onto my cloche hat. I kind of want to make one of these for me now, so that I can tie it onto my hat with a nice poofy ribbon in the back and be all fancy! :)

Pieces like these are so much fun to work on. ^_^

P.S. I have a cool tutorial coming up in the next few days (hopefully)! There has been so much to do lately that I haven't had a chance to finish up with the pictures, but I promise I'm going to blog about something other than custom orders soon. :)

Aurora's Circlet from 'Once Upon a Time'

This post was originally published over at Confessions of a Seamstress, my friend Elena's blog. If you like the costumes in Once Upon a Time-- or any lovely clothing-- you should go visit her website! Elena makes beautiful outfits and costume replications and I highly recommend her!

This post is a lot longer and more image-heavy than the original guest post because I've had the chance to work on a couple more of these circlets!

Image from ABC's Once Upon a Time

With the latest season of Once Upon a Time, we were introduced to an awesome new character: Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty.

I'm watching this show as much for the costumes, props, and sets as for the actual story... it's not unusual for my eye to wander everywhere except the actor's face! Right from the start, Aurora's headpiece caught my eye. ~*~*~ THE SPARKLES ~*~*~

A couple of days later, Elena recommended me to a bride who wanted a replica of Aurora's circlet to match her wedding gown! Eeep! This was my first time ever creating a replica piece, my first time ever working with rhinestones, and the first time making a bridal piece this large. I was a little nervous, but so excited.

Everything went well, though, and I can't wait to hear what the bride thinks when it arrives on her doorstep!

I started by re-watching the first episode and snagging screencaps to analyze. I analyzed it to death. :)

Her circlet is made from rhinestones and ribbon which are plaited together into a band that rests on her hairline. At least two small braids are woven around this band, creating a lovely mix of ribbon, hair, and sparkles.

Additional rhinestones are woven around her hairstyle in a very asymmetric zig-zag. This top part fits much more like a cap than a tiara, as it folds snugly over the crown of her head.

I noticed pretty quickly that Aurora seems to have found plenty of time to do her hair between scenes...  :)

The rhinestone placement is not consistent, especially at the edges, and she wears at least three hairstyles in the first episode.

At first, her braids are woven around the top, zig-zag-y part, so that the rhinestones are barely visible. Later, the braids move down and are intertwined with the bottom band. In the last scene, the circlet rests on top of the braids, above her forehead.

I wanted to make the circlet versatile enough that all these hairstyles (and more) can be worn. The bride didn't want dangling rhinestones, so I simplified the design at the edges where it wasn't consistent.

Aurora always wears the back of her headpiece tucked underneath her hair. I think the actress had her hair teased and curled and then extensions added.

(This is a beautiful crown... I'd love to be a props/costume designer, I really would. It must have been so much fun for the designers to come up with a sparkly, girly headpiece that wasn't your typical tiara. Aurora's whole costume is lovely. I hope she doesn't get put in pants like the rest of the royalty. I feel that we need at least one kick-butt princess who can wield a sword while wearing a frilly skirt!!!)

After I figured how how the circlet was made (and planned a few changes of my own to make it sturdier), it was time to get started!

First, I wove a base from silver-plated copper wire.

The next part-- making the band of braided rhinestones and ribbon-- proved very tricky. If I simply braided the strands, they would move around too much.

I used two different sizes of silver-plated rhinestones and twisted them around each other, using temporary jewelry glue to hold it in place.

After this was done, I wove the ribbon in and laced everything together with wire before removing the glue and polishing everything.

The ribbon in the show looks like a champagne or a pink (depending on the lighting and editing) but this one was requested in bright white.

The asymmetric zig-zag design was made from more rhinestone chain twisted onto freeform silver wire.

The circlet can be attached with bobby pins, or tied with ribbon. It's just heavy enough that it won't stay on without being secured in some way.

And then... it was done!

After I took these pictures, I tweaked things a bit more... I "de-fluffed" the ribbon and adjusted one point of the zig-zag so it isn't so tall and pointy. (The zig zags are slightly adjustable so it will fit any head size or hairstyle like a glove!)

The bride was kind enough to me model the circlet before shipping it!

I usually have friends model for me, but I'm the only one with long and dark enough hair to attempt Aurora's hairstyle. So one cold autumn morning, I put my hair up in braids and taught my lovely mom how to use my camera.

________

After I completed this circlet, I received two more orders for replicas of the Sleeping Beauty's crown! This one was practically identical to the first:

This next one, however, has several requested modifications that were a joy to work on!

I specially ordered 100% silk satin ribbon in a creamy champagne color. It's a vintage French ribbon line, and there is something about those words that makes me so happy to finger the shiny ribbon.

They wanted a very sturdy circlet that would not require ribbon to remain securely on the head, so I used my vise to twist silver plated wire into a strand which I attached to the plaiting. 

It holds its shape very well. I think that I will always use this technique on future circlets (or at least the higher-end ones, because it requires a lot of wire!).

(excuse my workdesk mess). Two full feet of wire and ribbon and beading to wrangle into a circlet! 

I replaced every other large rhinestone with an amethyst crystal. I really like this look, as it adds a touch of color and interest. 

Replacing all those stones in their settings was a great learning experience. Those are fiddly little sparkles, there, guys!

If you would like to request a custom item like this, don't hesitate to email me at shealynnsfaerieshoppe@gmail.com I can usually accommodate many kinds of budgets on more intensive pieces like these, depending on how much customization you want.

I'm also in the process of using the leftover odds and ends of the rhinestones to create some Aurora-inspired cuff bracelets. There are a couple on my workbench right now which are going to get colorful ribbons!

The Entwife's Jewelry

The Long Expected Party dance came and went in a flurry of beautiful music, tired feet, lots of laughter, and many beautiful costumes.

And now I can finally reveal Laura's outfit and the jewelry I designed for her!

Laura (of Sew Many Seams-- check out her blog!) created the world's most intricate costume and dressed as an Entwife. You can see more details of her handmade corset and cloak in this photoshoot.

Right as we were leaving I got a few pictures of the finished outfit:

 click to enlarge and see the costume in its full glory!

Just look at her insanely awesome green yarn dreadlocks!

A shot of Laura, and me in the dress that she made for me! Isn't it gorgeous?

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I haven't had so much fun creating jewelry in a long while! Normally I can't justify my time and the cost of materials to work on intricate new designs, but when I do custom work I have a very good excuse. :) Laura had a few very specific ideas but left most of the designing completely up to me.

I doodled three or four pages of ideas in my sketchbook. Here's the circlet design page. This is the only "draft" I had to do for the headpiece, and I'm a little bit overly proud of it. :)

For those of you who are wondering how I go about drawing jewelry, I normally don't unless it's for custom orders or insanely complex. This project was both-- and the circlet in particular. I pictured it in my head for several days, mulling over ideas and lines and shapes and colors. I knew it was going to be a braided base, so that was the first thing that I drew. (Now that I have an intuitive feel for basic Celtic knotwork, drawing braids is super easy!) Then I added the details, changing a few things here and there when it looked funny on paper. The finished drawing-- and the finished product-- wound up being remarkably similar to what I pictured in my head.

On the bottom you can see the specifications she had-- tree-like, braided copper circlet with leaves and pinecone flowers.

Both Laura created Pinterest boards (here) with inspiration-- this was very helpful because she had so many wonderful and detailed ideas that I had a hard time understanding in writing. 

This post is going to be something of a photodump, so I apologize to anyone with a slow internet connection-- it will take a long time to load. :) 

I'm rather proud of these new designs and wanted to get good photos to show them off! I am always more than happy to make custom jewelry and I can create similar pieces to the ones shown below. Everything but the circlet would be in the $10 to $30 range.

Many thanks to my friend M. for coming over and modeling for me last minute. It was very last minute-- I called her up the day before the jewelry had to be shipped. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi M, *frantic babble* jewelry *frantic babble* need good pictures *frantic babble* last chance

M: ?

Me: *blahblahblah* model *blahblahblah*

M: Um, ok?

Me: Are you free this afternoon? (I was calling in the midafternoon)

M: You got it! Give me five minutes to change and I'll be right over!

(See what I mean about how awesome she was about this?

And now I have great photos for my portfolio!)

This circlet is made from thick braided copper wire. I nearly killed my fingers making it-- I forgot to order dead soft wire and instead got half hard, which is not easy to bend when you are wrangling six three-foot strands around a vise!

There are around twenty five or so Czech glass leaf beads in sundry shades of green and iridescent periodot. I also used a few Swavroski pearls.

The pinecone flowers are Laura's idea, and the pinecones are from her yard! I'd never heard of this technique before, and they were so easy to make. All you need are pinecone "leaves" ripped off the cone, hot glue, lots of time, and shellac (I didn't have shellac so I used potter's glaze). I added a few touches of my own, namely the beads. I should do a tutorial...

You can't tell from these pictures, but the structure of the circlet's back is very complicated. Laura made yarn dreadlocks for her costume, so I used elastic cording to attach the biggest pinecone centerpiece to the edges of the circlet in the hopes that it would stretch to the right size. (It did!).

There are also several strands of chain dangling in the back. The center one has some beading in there.

I ran out of thin raw copper partially through this project (just look at how much wire is needed for this little bit of the circlet!), so I'd like to send a shout-out to UnkamenGifts for mailing me more last minute.

The circlet, modeled by my beautiful friend.

Since M. clearly does not have on thick faux dreadlocks, the circlet hangs low on her head.

This is a torc necklace, also made of raw copper and glass beads. Someday I want to learn to solder and to get a torch for melting copper (our propane one is too weak)... I think that this turned out very well and extremely sturdy with wirewrapping, but it would be neat to experiment.

Sidetrack over. :) This is made with thick wire recycled from remnants of one of my dad's old electrical projects. I shaped it and then hammered all the wire to make the necklace very sturdy. A bit in the back was left unhammered and soft so that it can stretch a little bit so that it can be slid around the neck. It's not like the torc necklaces that Wikipedia talks about:

A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large, usually rigid, neck ring [pennannular, forming almost a complete ring with a hole in it] typically made from strands of metal twisted together. The great majority are open-ended at the front, although many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. [...] The Celtic torc disappears in the Migration Period, but during the Viking Age, torc-style metal necklaces came back into fashion.

The bottom bead is removable, since I wasn't sure how low Laura wanted the necklace to hang on her neck.

An upper-arm cuff with thick raw copper hammered to be sturdy. It's adjustable, and quite small because Laura is very slender.

A couple of adjustable rings.

Rings for nearly every finger!

I'm not sure what to call this (although a friend recommended that I name it "Awesome," heehee!) It is a swirly bracelet cuff that attached to a ring with a strand of beading. Kind of sort of like a handflower or slave bracelet, but not really...

The beading is attached with a removable hook, so the cuff can be worn on its own.

The cuff can be worn on the wrist (as shown to the left) and is long enough that is can be caught up in one of the adjustable rings and wrap around the fingers like a vine. Or, the bracelet cuff can be worn higher up the arm (above). Laura removed the green wirewrapped leaf and wore the cuff on her wrist without it wrapping over other fingers. (I hope that this makes sense and that I am not just rambling!)

This vine-like necklace was so fun. It's made with reversible beads and a ton of wire! The entire back just has strings of wirewrapped beading-- it was designed to go with the choker-length torc necklace and having leaves around the back of the neck would overwhelm it.

I like this technique and plan on experimenting with it for bracelets and more!

Fairy sandals, also known as foot thongs or barefoot sandals! These are so fun, but it was hard to size things properly so that the ankle width and length were right. I used a bit of elastic cord on the toe, but I tend to avoid that stuff as much as I can and the rest is beading wire and jump rings! I've got it all figured out now, and look forward to having the time to sit down and make some more.

This is a decorated ear cuff with two removable and interchangeable dangles!

Last but not least, a cool ear wrap (and a small ear cuff). This is not an original idea-- as much as I wish it were!-- and was inspired in part by Thyme2Dream and SunnySkiesStudio.

Making this set was a wonderful experience and it has really pushed my wirewrapping skills! I can't wait to work on more jewelry like this. :) Which is your favorite piece?