Headdress
Dateline: 04/19/99Print Page
As always this looks cooler in real life. I had to flatten it out to scan it so it looks a little weird in the pic. It looks really snazzy on though, kinda of a celtic flapper priestess deal. :-)
What You'll Need
- Size 11 seed beads in bronze and teal
- Size 6 pony beads in teal and metallic gold lined crystal
- Opaque black daggers with green iridescent finish
- One small Celtic knot charm (Out on a Whim has these)
- 28 gauge gold beading wire
- Needle and thread
Roll up one end of the wire so your beads won't slip off as you string them (you can even just tie a knot). Then string on sets of 3 bronze seeds and 1 teal pony until you have enough to go around your whole head. Then thread through the whole strand again from the beginning to form a loop and strengthen it.
When you get to the last few inches of wire, wrap the tail around the base wire between two beads then thread through another inch and wrap around the base again etc. Do this a few times to make sure it will stay put. Then straighten out the rolled up end and wrap it once then tuck it into the strand. At this point you should have a semi-stiff circle of beads the right size to rest comfortably along your hairline.
Now take a new piece of wire about 3 times the circumference of your circle. If this is too long for you to work with comfortably, that's ok, just use a shorter piece and start a new one when you need to by threading through the last few inches of your work and taking a couple of twists around the existing wire as you go. Start the new wire the same way. Thread through a couple of inches of the circle taking an occasional twist between beads along the way.
Your wire should end up coming out of one of the teal pony beads. Pick up 5 bronze seed beads and go through the next pony bead. Adjust the wire as you go so that it forms nice even points. Continue adding 5 bronze seed beads between each set of teal pony beads. When you get back to where you started continue through the first 3 bronze beads you added to get into position for the next row.
For the second row add 4 bronze seeds between each point in the previous row. In other words, pick up 4 seeds, go through the 3rd bead of the next stitch in the previous row, pick up 4 more go through the 3rd bead in the next stitch, etc. When you get back to the beginning, secure your wire and snip off any excess.
Now we are going to switch to thread for the dangles. Enter the second row anywhere and thread through an inch or two. Knot your thread around the wire between two beads a few times along the way. Your thread needs to end up coming out of the second bead in one of the stitches in the second row.
Now we are going to add the dangles beginning from the center, work one side and then go back and work the other. The reason for this is that we all have differently shaped and sized heads so you will want to try on your creation now and then and make sure the length of the dangles suits you. If they are too short subtract a few teal beads, too long, add more.
For the center dangle pick up 11 teal seeds, one gold-lined pony, 3 bronze seeds, your charm and two more bronze beads. Go up through the first bronze bead you added and continue up through the whole strand. Re-enter the circle by going through the left hand side of the next bead to the right of the one you originally left.
Each dangle is made the same way so I am just going to give you the sequence of beads I used for each dangle on the right hand side. Simply begin again in the center and work the same sequence going in the opposite direction to do the left side.
Each dangle after the center one has the same color sequence, the only difference between them is the number of teal beads in each. The first two dangles after the center one are made with 5 teal seeds, one gold-lined crystal, 3 bronze seeds, 1 dagger and two more bronze seeds. The next four use 7 teal seeds, the two after that use 9, the next two use 11 and the last two use 13. You can certainly continue adding longer and longer dangles if you wish but this is where I ran out of skin and ran into hair and that's where I preferred to stop. :-) Now just tie off your thread and you're done.
Notes
I'm not sure that it's necessary to use beading wire for this. It would probably work just as well to use Softflex™ (or a similar product) for the base row and thread for the rest. I do think that the stiffness helps to support the dangles though. There are lots of variations you could try with this. Long loopy dangles at the temples with no forehead fringe would be interesting. Instead of daggers you could use larger round beads, little teardrops, shells, bells etc.
If you do use the wire, you can turn the circle the other way up and work upward with more wire to make a crown or tiara. I might do something along these lines in a future feature.
I'd love to have a pic of one of these actually being worn so if you make one and can take a digital pic or scan a regular one of you or someone else wearing it please send me a copy if you can. Thanks!
If you have any questions or comments about this feature, please post them on my bulletin board so everyone can benefit from the answers, thanks!
All text and graphics © Emily Hackbarth 1999
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