A few weeks ago I did a test shoot with the wonderful Bernadette Lemon in Thetford Forest. I wanted a crown or headpiece for one of the shots but it was short notice and I was on a very tight budget. So I thought I would make one myself, and I'm going to show you how you can make one yourself. If you want to skip making them altogether, order one from me.
The gold spikes are meant to emulate classical paintings of saints and religious icons, where the artists would paint lines of gold to create a halo effect.
Halo crowns seem to be particularly popular at the moment, with Beyoncé sporting a few in her recent pregnancy shoot and Grammy's performance.
I did a search online for various tutorials and used the information I garnered through them to make a purple rose and gold spike crown. I went with purple fake roses to compliment Bernadette's red hair. Obviously, you can use the colours you want.
You Will Need:
- Wooden skewers (sold in any supermarket) - I used 50 in this crown
- a sold hair band (I bought Primark's finest)
- hot glue gun with lots of spare glue sticks (Hobby Craft)
- gold spray paint (Hobby Craft)
- fake roses (from a bunch of fake roses bought in Dunelm)
- loose gold glitter (Hobby Craft)
- rhinestones (Hobby Craft)
- PVA glue
- pair of scissors
- newspaper to work on top of to prevent you glueing yourself to the table
1) Work out how long you want your tallest spike to be and cut to size with the scissors. You then want to cut the skewers either side of this first central spike so they're the same size, but about 0.5cm shorter than the central spike. Continue to cut spikes in pairs slightly shorter than the previous spike, so the spikes get shorter around the hairband.
2) You will want to plug in your glue gun and get ready to glue the spikes onto the headband. Put a blob of glue in the centre of the hairband and position your central spike. You'll need to hold it in place for a minute whilst the glue cools and solidifies the spike in position. When the glue has cooled, put the next blob of glue right next to it, and continue in this way all around the headband.
3) When all the spikes are glued in position and the glue has cooled, take the hair band outside or to a well ventilated area and give it one coat of gold spray paint. Let it dry for an hour, then give it a second coat. You can spray the upper side of the hair band in gold to match the spikes (you'll probably do this by accident anyway). Leave the crown to dry for another hour.
4) Place your crown on some newspaper, ready to apply some glitter. Use your finger or a paint brush to randomly place PVA glue over the spikes. Then shake loose glitter over the patches of PVA. Do a few spikes at a time, alternating PVA and glitter so the PVA doesn't dry without glitter on it. When you've finished applying the glitter, attach the small rhinestones using small dots of PVA glue. Be sure they don't slip around the sides of the spikes. Leave to dry for a few hours, ideally over night.
5) To prep the roses, cut them off the stems and, if necessary, apply some hot glue to the underside so the layers don't fall apart. When dry, start glueing them with the hot glue to the hairband. Roughly place them beforehand so you know where you want to put them before applying the glue. Apply a generous amount of hot glue in front of the spikes and then place the rose. Hold it in place for 30 seconds for the hot glue to dry. Repeat with as many roses as you want to use.
