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Lesson Info

Designing the Crown

So are you guys ready? The get your hands dirty with some glitter? Get your hands blinking. Bring it. Bring the hitter on. Okay, so we will get this out of the way. Um, okay, so I'll show you again some of the pieces that I have prepared for today. Um, so and I'll, I'll do a little little modeling for you. I find that when I am doing some of this, like design phase, even at the store, I like to just find a beer and put it on my head and see how it looks, because, um, a taller piece of lace like this, um, it just looks a lot different than a short one. So, um, so this one, this one is sized to go a little bit past halfway back on my head. And so this one would be great for a child or an adult or, you know, make matching ones a child and an adult. So this is kind of a nice height. Um, and it it has a riel crown Feel to it. And so this is something that that would look great with a spray of feathers in the middle, like, um like this. Like what she's wearing, or it might look nice with one...

feather coming out on the site again. That's sort of Ah, a flapper feel. Um, Then this one is is the exact example that you're wearing and this one goes about halfway back on my head again. And even though this one isn't as long as the one Jamari is wearing, it doesn't detract too much by by not going all the way to the back of the head. But it's a different expression, though. I mean, you wore this one and I thought you have legal, Uh, and then you have this when it was more princesses, huh? Great. I was also thinking to I mean, we have a lot of photographers out there, like he said, props for newborn, even props for a photo shoot Yet. And also, you know, anyone out there making things for a play or there's just so yeah, yeah, you're setting my imagination off vehicle. Great. Um, so with this gold one and again, I have ah, finished product of the gold one here on display. This one I made shorter. Um, So, um, this one goes not quite halfway back on my head. Um, so So why don't we get all students kitchen out with amateurs of They're going to. Perfect. So here there's a pile of prepared lace that you can choose from. I have a few extras up here as well. So take a look at what you've got there. And, um so for you guys here in the studio, your design process starts right now. Um, so if you guys want to choose what you'd like and you can pass him on down And, um, Christina, if you want to run up here and grab one of these examples, you are welcome to do that. Uh, which one are you liking me personally? Like this. OK, and should I grab one for Heather or, um, have you have She's completed her design phase already. Perfect. Okay, so, you, you all four have what you need work with. Okay. Wonderful. When I get to pick one yet who I like. Okay, you're gonna go with the tall Any exciting. Okay. Um, so, um, so next for for those of its here in the studio, Let's, um let's go and think about, um, about how we want to design. So there are some feathers that you can use. And there are some Rhinestones. Feel free to mix and match. Um, this this is my my simple cutting board. Um, would you like to use this or No, you all of it. Like I can do this air. You're gonna use this. Let's make our together sweet. Okay. So, um so, what are you thinking? Would you like to do feathers? Um, I have some really fun. Others here. I think this one would look really nice. Yeah, I like that. You like that? I'll take your suggestion. OK, great. OK, wonderful. So, um, how about any any Rhinestones we've got? Um, I'm in love with sparkling. Okay. And I mean, there's color is really cool. Beautiful. Okay, so we've got quite a few here. Um, So these, um, they actually have a sticky back, uncle, but you can peel that off or just use it and then will will just glue. So why don't we pull some of the spark lips off and lay them on? Sure. Where, where we like, um, would you recommend doing like, a big in a small or, um, we're just worried. Whatever we want to play. Okay? Right now we're just laying everything out, and then we'll talk about putting it all together. Um uh, so I think it's nice to just press it on our, well, glue it. Okay. So even though these spark, let's in particular, they have a sticky back were just laying out to see what we like to do it. Okay, so, um, it's nice to sort of, you know, be symmetrical, and so I might choose, like either these spots right under the peaks or these spots, right? Right in between them, Um, we could do, like a big one on every other and a small one on every other. I like that idea. Okay. Yeah. And so I think that that you and I share the same tastes of just sort of a tonal option where we're not We're not using too much color, but but these beautiful Rhinestones. They just make it really classy and simple and exciting without being covered and and like, pink and green, right? Not that we don't love tingling without the plane. And I think that, um e think that that's one thing that is is really special about some of these designs is that they don't need to go over the top and they don't need to be too cheeky. They sort of speak for themselves. So let's see here. So perfect. Yeah, I just was wondering cause this side has that. Oh, you're right. Um, so let's see that. I'm so glad you brought up that point. So I'm gonna count how many points we have and we'll see if we want toe shift and sort of move the center. So we have We have to think about the center to right. And if it's all going to be, if we're not focusing on the center, it's not as important, but it's something we do want to keep in mind. That's definitely so. 2468 10 12 14. So we don't have a Well, the center would be here. You know what? So let's dio, uh, do it from the valleys. Yes, okay. And then we can center. And that's something to think about two. When you're sizing it as well, how many peaks you have. And if you want to focus on the centre, right, Okay. And, um and I mean, my process is to do exactly what we just did it to, Like. We figure out what the sizes and then we work with that. But absolutely. When you're initially sizing it if you know you want you want some big bling, right in the very, very middle, then you can go ahead and, um, and make it very symmetrical. Okay. Gotcha. Tell me some more. Yeah, I'm on There. I go a little crazy. I think this is a great example, toe. Look at. I think you know, we could be done right here. But I think let's have a little fun, okay? Yeah. Why not? Yeah, well, I've just do this. Do this. Let's go. More blinking. Yeah, you know, what do you think about about? I mean, we could have fun with these acrylic Rhinestones on what? Having a sparkling sick with the sparklers. But let's let it out like you have. Let's see, also, how are students doing you guys? Christina, how you having yours? Yeah, Yeah, I'm just figured out my layout and design, and yeah, I think I'm gonna do a little feather on the side. Great. Great. Um, not have how you do it pretty well I think I'm going to do the feathers in the center. Um, and then add some sort of view. Did bling. Great. There's no such thing as muted. Thing is Crystal Ball. What are you doing? Similar Another. I wanted Teoh kind of a three feather on the side And then kind of a tone on tone. The spark left in the middle with one big and two small. So kind of like a regal, but with the feather beautiful on Holy How are you approaching it? Um, similar. Remember deals. Although I'm thinking of doing a bigger cluster of others on the side. More like a fascinator on Ben. I haven't decided how many, um, bling elements I'm gonna add, but a muted tone. I guess we're talking of clusters. Summary. Where you up to? I am making triplets of sparkle. It's over here, and I might just multiply. This is gonna be a spark lit, um, extravaganza. It's beautiful, essentially, and and you can see on the Kremlin summary is wearing I actually didn't use any Rhinestones on this one. It's all about the sparkle of the glitter and the feathers and and with the feathers that I used here. I put the fathers in the front, and I made the center feather the tallest so that it sort of works as some crowns do, where it's total in the middle. And then it goes down. And I think I used about five, maybe seven feathers. So I used one in the middle and then, um, several on the sides. And if you guys need more feathers, I have a few more up here. I have one more for one of you who's doing the loan feather. I have one more of these. I think just might be like, I don't know What kind of stretch isn't very surprising. I think you're right. Or pick meal stretch. Exactly. Would you put sparkle? It's on there? Or would it matter? Um, you want to keep the crown aspect of it Sort of sacred to you. Oh, it is. It is up to me. All right. Um, yeah, I I like, um I like them down here. You do? On the bottom? Well, yeah, rather than Well, I think like, um, like, if you were doing using something like the Swarovski crystals like that. Oh, that looks nice on the little peaks. Yeah, I think is a nice Okay, um, but those totally up to you would any of you like this? This guy you said wonderful. And I have some more I might take it. Are. Can I have two? Yeah, maybe 1/3 1 cause I'm doing a triple its thing. I just have to get to model any of these in the end. Um, also, I have these air some some guinea hen feathers, which are so fun because they're so perfectly spotted. Brothers air. So beautiful. They really are, um, so I don't think anyone is gonna go with with short decorative feathers in in this case, but, um, thes air. Really nice. So while we're working with feathers, I'm gonna tell you, um, a trick that I've discovered about feathers. And I use this trick on the the crown, the headdress that Jamari is wearing. When I put these feathers on, they were all curved a bit as most feathers are. They were all curved back. And so, um, So when I when I put it on and looked in the mirror, it just kind of looked around it and I wanted to give a little more life to the feathers. And so I heat styled. Um, and this is this is a trick by trick. Feather style is, too. This is a trick I picked up when I first started designing the feather headdress. When you want to take some control of the feathers, you can actually use a flat iron that would, you would use on your hair toe fix the feathers and to control them. And, um, and to move them in the direction that you need Teoh on. That's nice to if you're getting feathers from online and maybe they get all smushed or something and you look at it. Yeah. Oh, my father. Yeah, that's gonna fix that for you. Yeah, Exactly. Yeah. So? So what I've done and what I did with that one was I put I put the headdress on and I looked in the mirror. I just Yes. Can you make it Curly? Can you get out your curling? Oh, goodness. Have a feather. I think that's worth experiment. So fortunate. But the feathers could maybe source from any craft store. Etcetera Are these real feathers that you source by clocking a bird? I did not do that. I think that's a great idea. I probably not a good back. You want that feather right there? So these these are all feathers that I that I got at my local craft supply store. And, um, it's amazing the options that you confined there is a huge wall of feathers that I was able to choose from and they come in in little plastic bags. Um, I there's I had a bag full of these guinea feathers, a bag full of these white feathers. I think these white ones, um, are marabou feathers. But these the ones that will use in our in our crown there a little bit different. But yes, there were quite easy to find. Now that I'm in the feather buying business, it's so fun. You know, You go on a craft store sometimes, and you think, How can I figure out a way to use these things? I feel like that. Is that something that these projects have really let me have so much fun with? I have a hard time doing that, you know, going in and having that vision. But now, knowing that there's active fine phase and that I can go crazy. Sparkle it. I'm like, Why would anybody want a Zeman? AEA's these, but yeah, now peeling them all off. When I want him in the mall, you peel off the paper and already stuck in the back. But some of them you're using glue. I think I'm going to use glue using. Yes, I would imagine that the adhesive that's on the spark let's is may be made more for paper. I'm honestly not entirely sure what what the intention is, but, um, but I want I want it to be a little more sturdy, so I'll be using glue and the glue on the students dual hatching out there. You think Kak Lou, I think way do have hot glue available, but what I actually recommend is to use a product calm. Gen Tack on gay This is a product that, like Martha Stewart, orders and the like five gallon buckets full. She has like that. That's a here. Come on, guys loaded it. So this is the product that's made my beacon adhesives. And, um, the cool thing is, I met the marking marketing representative for this brand recently, and she is the granddaughter of the founder of Beacon, and she told me he's He's about, um he's like over 80 and he's still working in the lab. Working on the different chemical makes up makeups of different adhesives. So because we have stuff to stick, yeah, we need the best adhesive that we could buy. I think that's such a fun story that there's there's a wonderful 80 year old man in New York who's working on perfecting the glues that we use to stick our spark left on our crowd. But you're saying that this Liu is awesome as it is right now. T stick it on. Yeah. Okay, So, um thing the actual lace itself, Erica M. Is asking, do you think do you and do you do anything special to the ends to stop them unraveling of the lace or the court? Know the lace? Actually, the stiffening product that does it, It does it, and so so again. What I recommend is is you've got your raw piece of lace and you stiffen it with its loose wrap, unraveled ends, and then once it's stiffened, you trim it, and it will not unravel anymore, and then you paint it and then the paint covers all the edges that you'll be that you'll have exposed the Smiths photos asking. I know you prefer to leave them open a type of bat. British assumes that she is saying, Would you Soviet together, We've ever made it closed ground. I, um, with one of these in particular, I haven't. You could absolutely so it together or fix it in any way. Um, it might be nice to even, um, use elastic at the back so that it could be adjustable. If you're making it for yourself, you can size it to your head. The thing that I think that is difficult maybe if you're doing some gift giving is that you just don't know the exact head size. So that's the only trick there. And that's what I like about the tight closure. So, um, so it looks like like getting ready to Cleo. Okay. Feeling like it was coming. All right. Thanks. So, yeah. Um, would you guys, um, here in the studio Would you like to use some of the gem tak for your rent? Rhinestones. Okay, great. Um, Christine, if you could bring me, um, one of the bulls that you've got on your death, we'll share ours with you. Yes. I'll just go ahead and squeeze some out for you. And then you've got some brushes down there, right? Chris was just having fun with me. Yeah, More more placement. Almost right. When you're If you want to do for others on the side, how do you kind of measure that? Do you just kind of hold it up and Mark were go. Great question. That's that's what I would dio again. You kind of wanna, You know, you kind of want to know what the middle of your crown is. And if you want to even mark that on the back side with a Sharpie, you can do that. But then I think it's a matter of putting it on your head and looking in the mirror or or sort of feeling where, where that side piece would be a good question. So I just kind of put a little bit on here and then press it. Yes. So the so The instructions are Teoh. Let's go ahead and read. We'll review them. But I know. Um, I know you don't need to press it very much, which is, which is great. So, um, apply the glue to the embellishment and gently position it without pressing. Alby is gentle. And so the reason I'm even talking about the brand of this adhesive is that it is kind of the gold standard for for, um, applying embellishments like like this and it will dry, clear. So don't worry about, um, about squeezing, squeezing any off the side. Just gonna as well as the for the you. You could go either way on that. Um, I also use a product. Thistle is like an all purpose glue. This is a leans tacky glue on dso. Oftentimes I use tacky glue for the feathers. Um, the, uh, the gem tack is it's formulated. My understanding is that it's formulated Teoh Teoh that he's Teoh like a solid side, as well as a fabric site or or leather or whatever the case may be. So it's really made specifically for this purpose, which is the beauty of it. And I've learned that you do when I use the right glues for the job. And, um and so uh, so the people who make these clues are pretty serious about the formulations that they create and and they'll say on the bottles. What what types of materials their best for. And the tacky glue. It's thick and gummy, sort of. And so that's one reason I like it for the feathers because, um, because especially when it comes to some of these fine find the soft parts of the feathers. It really like sort of grabs onto it, which is nice. And, you know, have you ever done like a combination of the lace? So you've got, like, a two different sizes. So maybe it's higher in the middle and shorter, like layered Lee That what they're saying? I think that would be great. Much tears in a tiara. I think I think that would be great, especially if you want to get some height. I think that sounds perfect, right? I'm gluing away. All right. Okay. So while you're gluing, I'm going to talk about about, um, one more. One more thing that I use in some cases Thio thio add the feathers and draw Marie. Yes. Can I borrow the headdress that you're no becoming one with Okay. Like fabulous. No worries. Okay, Wonderful. Okay. So, um so and I'm going to reach across you. Yeah, to grab this problem right here. So the last step, um, after we have after we've added our our our Rhinestones, the last step is Teoh a fix the core that will tie it around the head. And so, I mean, use this lace as an example again, because this is one that is available to anyone at home to order online from from Bright Tex here in San Francisco. And so when I bought this lace, it had, uh, ribbon in the bottom. It just had a It's an ivory lace with an ivory ribbon. And so I took the ribbon out before I stiffened it. And in this example, I used, um, the rat tail satin cord that I that I mentioned. And I wanted it to match the gold. So I actually painted it with the exact same fabric paint. And, um and this is a nice quality, um, rat tail. I've used some that that I don't like quite as much, but this started out as a nice matte satin. So, um, so with the paint, it gave this red tail a little bit more structure as well. And if you were to use something like like a suede lace. This is also that had also something that has some structure and, um, you know, just sort of have some traction against against the crown. Different leather cords in here in the studio. We're using the metallic, the Metallica leather cords, and you can see that I've got a great color match here, and this is a nice sort of toothy cord. So So again, have you ever used elastic? That's what somebody was all skin. And I think that would be a great option. I've used elastic for the leather headdresses. I haven't used it for the crown's. But But what I did was I used elastic, and, um and I so well, actually, I glued a loop of leather to cover up the elastic. And then I sewed it by hand on each end. And so then its adjustable. But But again, I love the Thai closure because you're not restriction restricted by any head size. Have you ever braided the court? Um, I don't think I have, but I think that would be a fabulous fashion. Have a good idea. Maybe you could use a couple of different colors as well. Yes. Yeah, I think that would be wonderful. So So again, you just got a lot of options with the court you can use. But I do think that the satin court is really nice. So with this lace in particular, I was able to just leave the court in and out. And so we've got no blue, No. So which is really, really nice and simple, And I think that judging by the lace that that we've all chosen here in the studio, this, I think is one of our favorite styles for for the crown. And, you know, like, again this one doesn't even have the feather. Is, um it's It's really nice and simple. So that's one way of fixing some cord. And, um, and with, uh, with this crown, it would also be an option. Teoh not glue the court on. And so this is another. This is another satin cord rat tail, and I use the bronze paint on this just like I used the gold paint on the other one. And so we could actually we've this through the lakes so you can see here that this place has a lot of openings that we could weave through this one doesn't. So this is another one of those cases where it kind of depends on the materials that you have available to you that you can use. So, um, you want to keep it as close to the bottom as possible? Is that is that the general rule? Yeah, I'd say I'd say about about 1/2 inch from the bottom, because you don't want you want it to be able to tie around the large part of your head, and you don't want it to come down too far. So, um, to use these examples, you can see here that this has a nice trip on the bottom. So there's plenty of room to hide, um, the court behind it and glue it, which is what I did on this example. But here you don't have that strip, so so weaving the court and will be a really nice option