Wire Masquerade Mask

This week is finals week, and to start things off right my campus ministry held a Masquerade formal on Dead Day Eve. I could have easily worn the mask that I made for my 16th birthday that I was so excited about, but would that do? No, of course not. This is me we are talking about. I had to make something new!

Almost a year ago, I scribbled a little note in my sketchbook about "wire masks with swirlies." I can't remember which sketchbook and I very well might just be making that up, but I think it was written somewhere, and I certainly played with the idea in my head for a bit.

My problem was that I am very ridiculously busy and I kept prioritizing other jewelry projects, particularly the tried-and-true variants that I know I can sell, because, you know, it's quite nice to have money. Although I had the opportunity to do some experimenting last summer, there still wasn't time for everything!

The night before the dance, I sat down at my desk with sterling silver plated wire, rhinestones, three boxes of beads, pliers, a mirror, and some good music. After an hour I joined some of my friends in my dorm, and we all worked on masks (they made some gorgeous painted ones) until after midnight!

The finished mask is very sturdy-- I am pleasantly surprised at how it turned out! The nose piece-- inspired of course by the traditional nosepiece on Venetian masks-- does an excellent job of keeping the mask in place on the face.

The swirls give an almost fairytale appeal to this mask, and of course the pearls and rhinestones make it glimmer and sparkle!

One of the best surprises about this mask is that even after several hours of wearing it, I did not have any dents from metal on my skin, and the swirls NEVER tangled up in my hair!

(My necklace, on the other hand...)

(Fun fact: I made my necklace in a metalworks class, the first ever jewelry class I've taken, last semester-- I'll blog about that class soon. The chain is made from solid sterling silver wire and solid fine silver wire and took at least five hours to make. I love it.)

I found that it was quite difficult to mold the mask to fit my face. It must have been quite a picture-- every couple of minutes, after hammering wire in my little dorm room, I held crazy strands of wire up to my face and shaped it just so.

I also had to show off my hair... I did it myself and it worked out the first time I tried!

For those of you girly girls wondering what a girl who doesn't own a prom dress wears to a college formal... I wore an a-line knee-length little black dress with a slender red belt, a red bracelet and silver ring, black leggings, and black boots (let's face it-- who can actually dance in heels? It is totally not worth it). To top it off I wore a sparkly red scarf as a shawl to drape across my elbows, but that (of course) lasted about five minutes. Since it was cold out I wore my jacket-- a red faux leather that looks very much like Emma Swan's from Once Upon a Time.

Of course I couldn't resist putting at least a couple of my favorite Czech glass leaf beads on the mask!



The circlet seems to fit everyone who asked to try it on-- including my lovely suitemate, pictured here.

Sparkly beads! 

See our cute little Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the back? It's actually the topper from my family's old tree, which we stuck in a jar and taped to the table. :)

Thanks to my amazing suitemate for helping to model!

I only took one in-progress shot. Here it is! At this point I was not very hopeful because the wire kept going everywhere and I may or may not have poked myself in the eye once. I will not be doing that again! I've learned my lesson!

The mask has now been cleaned and is available for sale on Etsy at Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe in case anyone is interested. I'd love an opportunity to make other kinds of masks, too!

The mask was a big hit, but the best thing was getting to spend hours dancing with my friends! I'm off to the world of studying for finals, so I must bid you adieu, but I hope that you've enjoyed these pictures! 

Queen Fastrada Jewelry + Raffle

This spring I had the honor of designing some jewelry for Fine Linen Drama's performances of Pippin (an absolutely brilliant show as they performed it!). These pieces were made for Queen Fastrada, a rather magnificent, fabulous, and twisted queen.

The set is available through Fine Linen Drama's raffle-- chances are just $1 and there are many other beautiful costume pieces made by hand by other local artisans.

The three pictures below are courtesy of Alyssa Jean Studios, and the "in-action" pictures are from Fine Linen Drama's website and facebook page, which you should check out if you would like to see the other costumes!

Queen Fastrada's Circlet by Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe, photographed by Alyssa Jean Studios

 The circlet is crafted out of non-tarnish sterling silver plated wire, glass beads, and crystals. It was a challenging piece-- I have some in-progress pictures near the end of this post that prove that I had no idea what I was doing when I was crafting this! Interestingly, the circlet also looks really cool (and eccentric) if worn upside down.

Queen Fastrada's Necklace and Earrings by Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe, photographed by Alyssa Jean Studios

The necklace-- oh the necklace! This piece was so fun. I was sitting at the table in my dorm with a cup of tea, a show on Netflix, a bunch of silver wire and blue beads, and time to bend and hammer and design. I really do love wireworking!

I could honestly spend an entire post raving
 about the play and all of the actors, but
since I'm writing about Queen Fastrada,
I'm only sharing pictures of Lesley in
costume! Check out finelinendrama.com
for others. :)

Seeing some of my jewelry on stage was a huge honor. :)

I snapped some pictures of my own before the pieces found their way to the theater:

Here's the promised work-in-progress shots:

Tonight I went to see Pippin for the second time and got a picture with Queen Fastrada!

(If you are interested in pieces like these, check out Fine Linen's raffle, or contact me so I can make and customize one for you!)

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!