Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Horn Hair Clips

These are darned easy to put in. And they're so light you forget you're wearing them. You're gonna love them!

I wanted to give some choices when it comes to how you wear these headpieces. The bat wing headband can be used to house the horn sculpt, or you may choose to use the clips on the bat wings. The pieces are all wonderfully lightweight because I used the FIMO air for microwave to sculpt them. These horns could be put into use as a demon, a cow, a goat, a unicorn, a rhinoceros...... well, I guess I'm trying to tell you they're pretty versatile horns.

Here is what you'll need to complete the Horn Hair Clip project:

1 package of FIMO air for the microwave
Basic sculpting tools
Black, white and silver acrylic craft paint
Craft paint brushes (Soft or stiff bristle will both work, use what you have.)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Black maribo or the soft fuzzy part of a black feather
Two old style curler clips (see pictures below)
Black felt
Scissors
microwave
small tub of water



Roll out some of the FIMO air for microwave (henceforth called clay!) into a 3cm thick worm. Cut two pieces that are 6cm long from the worm. Roll one end of each of the worms until they form cone shapes. Tilt the tip of each cone slightly inward and use a pencil tip or a sculpting tool to make indents up each horn fading out about midway up each horns length.

When you're happy with them place them on a microwaveable tray lined with parchment paper. Fill a microwaveable cup up half full with water and place it in the microwave with the tray of horns. Microwave according to the manufacturers instructions. (Do read them, they help!) I microwaved my two horns for 3 to five minutes. I didn't notice a big difference in the curing time between the wing project that was thin clay and the horn project that was a thicker piece. I think all that mattered was I used roughly the same mass of product for both projects. It worked GREAT!!! No more waiting for clay to air dry!

*Important*
FIMO air microwaveable is a COMPLETELY different product than FIMO polymer clay. Both are really great products but the curing instructions are completely different and should never be confused.

FIMO Air is a very lightweight, air dry water based clay.

FIMO polymer clay is a heat cured product.

I love them both!!!!


After the horns have cooled, base coat them with a layer of silver acrylic craft paint and let it dry.



Paint some black craft paint over the deep indents you made on the base of each horn. Before the paint dries, wipe off the black paint from the surface of th horns with a damp rag. Leave some black paint in the grooves to create depth and let this step dry.



Paint the tip of each horn white and lightly trail the white paint off as you near the blackened horn base. Make sure to let some of the silver show through your brush strokes around the middle of each horn. Let the paint dry again.



Cut two circles of black felt the same size as the base of each horn and cut two rectangles the same size as the top of each hair clip. add a 1/2cm to the end of the clip measurement so the felt can fold over the edge of the clip.



Close a hair clip on to each of the black felt rounds making sure they are centered. Glue the felt rectangle onto the top of the clip and the felt round so that all three are connected.



Glue some feathers to the edge of each felt round and then glue a horn to the top of each clip. Make sure to pay attention to what direction the horns are tilting. It will make a difference when you are putting them on. Try to have one facing in each direction. An easy way to ensure this is to have each horn tip tilt toward the clip end.


Special announcement

In the very near future I will be hosting a fabulous GIVEAWAY!!!!
It will be my first and I'm pretty excited about it. I can't wait to share some of the cool new crafting supplies I've been experimenting with.

You might want to click the "join this site" button on the right so you'll get a heads up when I launch the giveaway. I'll be publishing a more detailed post soon.

2 comments:

Fraulein To You!!! said...

I love your infatuation with Halloween. It's nice to know I'm not the only one crazy about it!

Kellie Mowat said...

Halloween is an open ended excuse to make more things. It's the time of year for the creatively curious. I totally love it. We get to play more!