indulgence

Indulging in a bit of satisfying Finish What You Have work while enjoying A&E's five glorious hours of "Pride and Prejudice." (the darling boy scores BIG points for this gift!) This ostentatious hair ornament is inspired by the incredible work of Louise Black. Had I the money, I'd gladly buy one, but this little bit of frippery cost me all of $5 or $6 in materials: an ivory velvet poinsetta (some cast off from holiday seasons past, the plastic hair comb on its back and superglue).

I think it will look fabulous with some of the bright sailor/preppy styles that are popping up in stores now.

Here's how I did it (for those that might be curious):

the center of the rose is an ornament from an old dress that I bought at a garage sale to rip apart and use its components separately. It was missing some rhinestones, so I replaced them by supergluing pearls into the empty holes.

Then, I ripped apart the poinsetta and painted the petals a pale pink with darker reddish edges, using very watered-down acrylic paint. After the petals had dried, I arranged them and stitched them together, one at a time, adding the ornament at the center. I tucked many of the edges under to create a curled "rose petal" look, using a touch of superglue to affix the curled tips.

For the little flowers, I cut flower shapes out of a bit of fulled grey cashmere. I brushed both sides of the cutout with a mixture of water and tacky glue, allowing each side to dry before moving on. I then mixed some acrylic matte medium with some copper metallic pigment to make a shiny "copper paint," and polka-dotted the flowers. I stitched and gathered the cutouts to give them shape, then made a center with a brass head pin and a freshwater pearl. I put a bit of tacky glue on the front before pushing the pin through flush to the fabric, then put glue on the back and turned them all upside down to dry. I left the long ends of the brass pins sticking out the back, and covered them in superglue and stuck them in between the petals of the rose, letting it sit and dry.

For the lace, I used a bit of antique lace that I received from a friend's mother about 16 years ago. I painted it with watered-down acrylics in a deep amber yellow colour (over paper towels, so that all the excess moisture could be absorbed). When dry, I added the little bits of ivory lace, stitching them down. I then stitched the lace to the back of the flower and added the hair comb.

time consuming (many steps), but fairly simple!