Moondust Jewels

How to create new Jewels

2017-10-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to showcase how I actually come up with some of my creations. Some things are meticulous planned, drawn out, and then created. Other things are on a whim. I see a lovely jeweled scrap, and decide to plan a piece of jewelry around it.

This is an example of what my "scrap" bin looks like. When you start letting everyone around you know that you'll take old, discarded, broken jewelry, you'll start accumulating some really great stuff that you can take apart, dismantle, rearrange, and make something unique out of.

Many of these were cheap jewelry purchases made by myself. Some of the earrings were simply too heavy for me to wear.

These are some of the items I ended up selecting. My plan was to make a bracelet that matches with an existing jewelry set I made about a year ago. I selected one of my "map of California" cabochons, which is simply a map glued underneath a glass flat back marble. I chose some lengths of rhinestones, some brass bird charms, some chain from an ankle bracelet, and some little black and gold charms that were from a pair of vintage earrings. I also knew I'd be using a lot of beads, so I've got my pearls and glass beads out as well.

I cut a piece of felt that is the length of how long I want my bracelet. This one is about 7 inches, which is a standard wrist size. I glued the cabochon and birds down in the middle of the bracelet, since I want those to be the centerpoint of the bracelet. I also took my rhinestone scraps and glued them around the central cabochon. I use E6000 contact cement in clear.

Once the glue was dry, I hand stitched the little black/gold charms and the decorative chain down. Interestingly, I used some nail polish remover and removed some of the black paint from the charms. They were much more interesting when I could see more of their fine detail.

I should have taken some more shots before this, but this is after I have hand stitched all the beads onto the bracelet. I like things to be symmetrical (both horizontally and vertically) on a bracelet, so what I put on one side will go on the other. I did use some glue underneath some of the larger beads, while also sewing them down. Since I am using a sewing needle and thread, I am limited to a certain extent to what beads I use, because they need to fit over the sewing needle itself.

Once the bracelet has everything on it that you like, you're going to trim around the bracelet with scissors, to get rid of the extra felt. I also like to glue another layer of felt on, then trim that too.

I added a lobster claw clasp to the bracelet. These types of bracelets are going to be more fragile than not, and should not be worn if you are to be doing any active or messy activities. That's not to say you can't wear and enjoy it, and if a bead does get lost, it's easy to sew a new one in its place. As with any jewelry piece, your jewels will last much longer if you do not sleep or bathe in them.

Jewelry Sets

2017-10-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love matching jewelry sets. Every royal family in the past and present have had matching sets of diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and more. Not only do I collect jewelry, I obviously make it too, and I LOVE to match all my sets together.

These are some beautifully matching sets (or parures) from my own private collection that I have made over the last 4 years.

A set I made from beautifully jeweled stars from a collection of J.Crew jewelry, consisting of a necklace of 5 large stars, and a bracelet consisting of 7 small stars. I disassembled both, and made matching earrings, brooch, necklace and tiara. Just missing a bracelet and a ring, which are probably my least favorite items of jewelry to wear anyways!

My wedding set! Made from titanium coated quartz crystals and large crystal pink teardrops, this set is made up of a tiara, earrings, necklace, brooch, and a bracelet (I didn't make the bracelet).

This is a set I made for an employee art show at my workplace about a year ago. This is an almost complete set consisting of a tiara, brooch, necklace, ring, and earrings. I had a matching bracelet, but I lost it one day on the bus! I think one of my current art projects is to make a new bracelet that matches the set, and maybe a hair comb as well.

My most recent set, inspired by my visit to Oahu and the Big Island of Hawai'i back in August. The set is made from velvet seeds, pearls, urchin spines, and most amazingly, resin cabochons that contain little treasures of things I found on beaches. This set has tiny detail, and it much more toned down compared to the other sets. No dangly earrings or full tiara here. The set includes a hair comb, button earrings, brooch, necklace, 2 rings, and a bracelet.

Brooches and Beyond!

2017-10-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

In addition to hair accessories, which I will always love, I have decided to expand my line to include brooches and necklaces. This is what I have come up with in the last couple of weeks:

Necklaces made with faux aurora druzy quartz cabochons, faux pearls, rhinestones, crystals. Everything is hand stitched to felt, and then chain is attached.

A nice Pisces fish brooch, complete with crystals, polymer clay cabochon mokume gane, brass fish charms.

My David Bowie tribute pieces. Here is Ziggy Stardust putting on his makeup.

I used various images of Bowie from the 1970s. I did faux distressed textures, sepia tone, and even some lyrics from Blackstar, typed in my favorite font of all time, Omikron.

This one is a pendant for a necklace, made with elongated mother-of-pearl beads.

This one uses real large pearls and aurora borealis rhinestones.

And some more classical ones, with a pink druzy quartz cabochon.

Moondust Jewels will be going away soon!

2017-01-09T00:47:00.003-08:00

Hello Everyone!

For anyone that has purchased items from my store or been a reader of my blog, you know full well that for the last year and a half, I have not really updated my Etsy shop and I haven't done any new posts on here.

I think Moondust Jewels has moved in another direction, and I want some time to get my new look, and my new jewelry style out there. My shop will be closing in a few months' time, and I want to completely get rid of my old stock and replace with all new creations sometime in the future. As to how long my shop will be closed, I am not sure! However long it takes me to make all new works that I am happy with, which could easily be 6 months or more from now.

Please visit my shop and see if there's any items you take a liking to! They are all 50% or more off of my original listed prices. A real steal!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MoondustJewels85

And the rest!

2015-09-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Regal Tiara

These are the final two designs I have completed this summer. I've been neglecting my favorite thing all year because of my job: making art. So, I'm back, and hopefully I can try to update more often and make designs more frequently. The only thing that makes me happier than art are animals.

This tiara is another I made from a necklace I never wore. The necklace was an attractive enough design, but I knew it would look better as a spike style tiara. I attached the necklace to a tiara frame, added a row of purple rhinestones, and wired in a metallic gold pipe cleaner for reinforcement.

Reine d'Argent Tiara

I actually made this tiara a while ago, but couldn't decided if I wanted to list it, then it got put into the back of my mind. As always, an elfin-inspired design, the tiara is very attractive when worn.

Onyx Crystal Tiara

Finally, I wanted to try out petite tiara designs using metal combs and crystals. This is just a start, but it's very simple and elegant, and adds a subtle touch of sparkle to your hair.

Wedding Tiaras

2015-09-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

I like the theme of wedding tiaras because the designs can be so elegant. I don't ever approach a tiara design with the thought in mind that it is meant for a bride. Rather, I think up designs, make it, and if it looks like a bridal tiara, then I market it as that. Simple. That reminds me of Maurice Sendak's interview with Stephen Colbert, where he said that he wrote and illustrated books, and then people told him, "that's for kids," and he was like, "ok!"

I just want to create what makes me happy.

Royal Princess Bridal Tiara

The Royal Princess Bridal Tiara is based from a beautiful vintage necklace that is covered with aurora borealis pale yellow rhinestones. I bought the necklace with a tiara in mind, so I never actually wore it. The trick was how to attach it to a tiara frame. I added pearls to the design, and the final result is so elegant and beautiful, it seems like a perfect bridal tiara.

Pearl and Rose Bandeau

I made this design after finding at a thrift store some creamy-colored ribbon that had little roses sewn onto it. I kept having it in mind as a design for a tiara, and couldn't come up with anything for awhile. I then realized I could make a bandeau or headband style of tiara, and use the ribbon. I added rows of pearls on either side of the ribbon. A very simple headband, but also very elegant.

Silver Pony Cake Hat

This final piece is a work of art! I've been working on the Silver Pony Cake Hat for over a month now. I love My Little Ponies and things spray painted gold or silver, so it is a match made in heaven. I handmade the top hat form out of cardboard, then started attaching My Little Ponies, knock-off My Little Ponies, random costume jewelry, and other findings for variety and texture. The entire thing is spray painted silver and I attached a comb to the bottom so that it stays in your hair. A heavy piece, not to be taken lightly!

Make-Your-Own Tiara Kits

2015-09-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

I've had the idea for a while to sell DIY tiara kits, it just took me a while to figure out the logistics of it. I finally found an online supplier of wire tiara combs, and I've decided to use foam for the tiaras. The marketed age group for these tiaras is 5-10 years old.

Each Kit makes 5 tiaras, and includes the following:

Purchase your own Make-Your-Own Tiara Kits

Each kit has 5 bags, with each bag containing:

• 1 hair comb (w/added wire fittings for the foam tiara to fit into)

• 1 piece of foam (choose from pink, yellow, or a mix of pink and yellow)
• 4 stick-on foam glitter stars
• 3 silver star sequins
• 4 round rhinestones
• 1 heart rhinestone
• 1 strip sequins
• 1 stick-on silver Ferido rhinestone
• 2 strips stick-on rhinestones
• 4 sparkly beads

• 1 package of gold glitter is also included with each kit

All you need is:

• Scissors

• Glue (hot glue or school glue will work; you'll just have to wait for the school glue to dry if you choose this option)

++PLEASE HAVE ADULT SUPERVISION WHEN USING SCISSORS AND HOT GLUE++

Directions:

1. Fold your rectangle of foam in half "hamburger style."

2. Draw out half of your tiara design, making sure that the tall part of the design is on the crease line.

3. Carefully cut out the pattern drawn and unfold the foam.

4. Decorate your tiara - half of the items are self-stick, the other half will need to be glued down.

5. Now to attach the tiara to the comb.

Simply fit the ends of the tiara in between the two wire loops on each side of the comb. Gently pinch the loops together to secure the tiara. You could even add some glue to the backside of the loop and tiara at this point so that the tiara does not comb off the comb.

Secure the tiara to both sides of the comb.

6. You have your own custom made tiara. Congratulations!

Different examples of tiaras that can be made from each bag of tiara goodies. I have included more goodies in each bag than will probably be used on each tiara, but it will allow for more variation and choice in design.

Ruby Red Tiaras

2015-09-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Red seems to be a hot seller, I think mostly because of Alice in Wonderland's two red queens, The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, and the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass. Red is also just a great happy color!

Red Rhinestone Diadem

Not only to I make jewelry, I also love to buy jewelry. On one such visit to a department store, I stumbled across a clearance jewelry section, and found this awesome red rhinestone necklace. I wore it several times, but it was just screaming "tiara" at me, so I finally put my plan into action. I took the necklace apart, which was made up of various rhinestone pendants, and put them back together into a graduated tiara shape. The final tiara looks a lot like the Russian kokoshnik form popular at the turn of the century. To finish off the piece, I added rows of red rhinestones to the top and bottom of the tiara frame.

Ruby Elf Tiara

I found a great sale recently at my favorite supply store, with items up to 90% off. That meant a score for me, since I don't have to worry about breaking the bank on supplies I don't have immediate plans for. One of the items I found was a sparkling red oak leaf sort of craft sprig. I used this as the basis for the tiara, and added red rhinestone beads to the piece. This piece really could be worn anywhere, it's not too large and adds some sparkle into a dreary day.

Red Queen Diadem

This tiara was an experiment of sorts. I tried to make a tall crown shape using glittery red craft twigs. Each one is in a vague heart shape, referencing the Queen of Hearts. I used some black netting behind the twigs to add some mystery and glamor, and a row of black rhinestones is at the base of the tiara.

Woodland Tiaras

2015-09-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Juniper Tiara

Woodland tiaras are always in style, and they are usually simple enough that you can wear them anywhere. Here are some of my new woodland tiara styles.

Ocean Flora Tiara

This one is more of a mermaid tiara than a woodland tiara. The sparkling green and the bright turquoise sequins make it a bit more flashy. It has a very attractive asymmetrical shape to it.

Frosty Woodland Tiara

A simple frosty leaf tiara.

Woodland Winter Faun Tiara

My first woodland faun tiara. I made horns out of glittery white polymer clay, and interspersed frosty winter branches on the tiara. Also asymmetrical in design.

Woodland Queen Tiara

This is more of an elfin queen tiara, with upright glittery velvet leaves and sparkling gold berries.

Bird's Nest Tiara

And this is a super adorable tiara! I've been wanting to use the golden bird for a long time, but couldn't come up with a design for it. For this tiara, I made a nest out of glittery brown twigs and leaves, and juniper branches. I suppose it's really more of a hat or fascinator than a tiara.

Also, you may notice that my portraits look better than they usually do. This is because I employed my husband to take my pics, no selfie shots this round!

Polymer Clay Tiaras

2015-09-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

Aquamarine Blue Tiara

I've seen people do some really neat stuff with polymer clay. I don't have a lot of experience with the medium, but I have been using it more. What I love to do is use glass marble cabochons as gems in jewelry. They are inexpensive, but they are very striking in jewels. In the past, I have handcrafted bezel settings out of paper, which was time consuming but does look good. Recently, I've been using polymer clay, and the end result is just as good, and much less labor involved!

Basically, I make all the clay bezel settings and bake them in the oven with the marbles attached. I then wire all the pieces onto a tiara frame, spray paint the entire thing either gold or silver, and then glue the glass cabochons into the frame.

Here are three tiara designs I came up with.

Blue Elfin Tiara

Emerald Cabochon Tiara

Queen Maxima Star Tiara

2015-09-03T05:36:00.002-07:00

Stars are my favorite emblem in jewelry, and most notably the many-pointed stars you see in Victorian jewels. I decided to finally make my own "diamond star tiara," and the end result is fantastic! I used polymer clay and rhinestones and wire.

This tiara resembles the one worn by Queen Maxima when she married King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

I have many more new tiaras out, so I will be updating the blog for next week or so.

The Queen Maxima Star Tiara

Stay tuned...lots of new tiaras on the way!

2015-08-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have been busy indeed making lots of new tiaras! Stay tuned, I am very excited to show them off in a few weeks' time. This year has been a struggle, and I've been neglecting my favorite hobby: tiara making. This is to make up for that, and there will be lots of new stock for Halloween.

A small taste of what's to come: some new tiara designs in a stack.

I also made another crab claw tiara:

A custom order for a customer. I made the three-clawed tiara for her originally, and she really just wanted the two-clawed one, so I made another!

Purple Empress

2015-08-04T09:02:00.001-07:00

Queen Hermione Tiara

I have once again gone back to a tiara that I made years ago, to revamp it. This was a tiara I originally made for an Alice in Wonderland costume for Hallowe'en, circa October 2011. You can see the original tiara below. I was never 100% happy with the design, so I never listed it for sale. I used lots of fun jeweled baubles: vintage clip earrings, mismatched pendants, and odds and ends. The band was originally wrapped in a bright blue ribbon, which matched well with the Alice theme.

To remake this tiara, I added another band to the bottom of the tiara, so that there isn't a "ballerina" shape to the tiara anymore. Because I didn't want the blue ribbon to show anymore, I spray painted the new band and the blue band silver (by masking off the parts I didn't want sprayed). To the band I then added a double row of purple rhinestones. The tiara is a now a lovely purple and blue theme, colors I don't often use in my designs. I also added some purple rhinestones throughout the tiara to help pull everything together.

The finished piece is quite magnificent, if I do say so myself!

The original tiara, circa October 2011.

The tiara itself is very large and grand. The design is also finely detailed and delicate, creating a very royal look. This would be a perfect tiara for a fancier Empress costume.

Mermaids and Flowers

2015-08-03T08:29:00.001-07:00

Crab Claws Tiara

Who knew people were going to like the crab claw tiaras so much? This one utilizes three real crab claws into the design. I ran low on supplies and did not have two even remotely similar crab claws, so I went the asymmetrical route, which I think works very well!

Golden Hydrangea Tiara

This tiara was actually inspired by a Pinterest post. You know the post where they show how you can make little metal wire outline flowers, then fill them in with nail polish? I didn't quite believe it, so I tried it! It does work; however, the tiara is only as good as the strength of the nail polish, so I decided to mod podge the whole thing, therefore reinforcing all the flowers. And of course, I like when things are spray painted gold, so spraying it gold pulled it all together. A sweet little delicate thing! Tiny glass aurora rhinestones decorate the middles of some of the flowers.

Seastar Tiara

And let's not forget about the mermaids! Oh, how I love mermaid hair accessories. This one centers around a nice large papier mâché sea star that I bought ages ago. This was always the intention for the sea star, so I painted it a nice opalescent blue color, put some glass rhinestones on it, and attached it to one of my handcrafted wire tiara bands.

Nice green sparkling seaweed sprigs are intermixed with faux turquoise and creamy white pearls, and I used some recycled green netting (you know the ones that your avocados come in?) to imitate...fishing nets, I guess. It sounds very weird now to say that I am imitating fishing nets on a mermaid tiara, but anyways, it does look good.

More Creativity!

2015-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting not only the artistic creation (haven't been making too many new tiara designs) but the blog has been getting forgotten as well. The last post was from February! So sorry.

I buy things I am partial to, and I found these beautiful titanium-coated quartz crystal beads, so of course I bought blue and turquoise ones. The first piece I made with them was several months ago, and it's an asymmetrical headband. I've seen this type of headband in fashion magazines quite a lot recently, and wanted to jump on the design bandwagon. This one is a bit more elaborate, and is a traditional tiara design, with the pieces wired onto a very nice comb that I found off of Ebay, of all places! To fill in the gaps, I wired on little crystals in the same color around the base of the quartz.

The piece itself sold quite quickly, which was awesome. The biggest encouragement for me is when I make a sale, it gives me so much motivation to create more!

Red Queen Sceptre

Meanwhile, I've been wanted to get into the accessories market for a while. Many other princess-themed Etsy shops sell not only cute tiaras, but the wands to go with them.

Naturally, I went with the Red Queen theme, and made a simple gold and red wand that is about 14 inches long. It is made completely from wire and rhinestones, with some other craft findings. Definitely a lot of potential in this market to do some crazy stuff, so I've got the wand/sceptre idea in my head for future designs.

And of course, a tiara that matches well with the sceptre. This is actually a similar tiara to three others I have made in the past, what, 4 years? This is a made to order version, and I had the ingenious idea to not use a real watch face (where it can not only be expensive to find a watch to use the face from, but also consistency with what watch face is used and the color scheme, etc.). Instead, I used my handy Shrinky Dinks and made a watch face! So I get my classy Roman Numerals face that I love so much, and I can keep each rendition consistent.

Made to Order Queen of Hearts Tiara

Love for an Artist

2015-07-05T15:47:00.001-07:00

When I was in high school, a new bridge opened up in Tacoma, WA. It had been designed by an artist named Dale Chihuly, and included a popular installation by him called a "Persian Ceiling." Naturally, I fell in love with Dale Chihuly's work after that. His objects are colorful, bright, textured, transparent, translucent, and he works mostly in glass. Glass is a material I haven't much experience with, except for one 3-hour long lampwork glass bead class at Pratt Fine Arts in Seattle, WA.

Sunset Persian Flowers Tiara

In Seattle, there is an entire exhibition dedicated to Mr Chihuly's artwork, which makes sense because he does currently live in the city and was born and raised in the area. The pièce de résistance of the exhibition is a 100-foot long chandelier in the glasshouse. There are over 1,000 individual pieces of glass attached to a steel frame. The glass objects are very flower like, and are from the artist's Persian series, which he started back in 1986. The series is characterized by swirls of colored and clear glass, spider-web like texture, and colored glass around the entire edge of the piece called a lip wrap.

Not being a glass artist myself, and not having the resources to delve into creating a glass tiara that was inspired by this amazing chandelier, I set about trying to figure out what I could use instead to make those delicate Persian designs. First, I tried Shrinky Dinks, but the issue is that when heated in the oven, the flower shapes shrank too much, and actually ended up much too thick. They also didn't have the characteristic crimpy shapes that Chihuly's Persians have.

After a long pause, I then decided to try polymer clay. My sister had bought a large block of translucent white polymer clay. I made swirled canes with colored clay and translucent clay (similar to making a jelly roll), sliced off thin pieces, then carefully put these through a clay pasta roller. The pieces were ridiculously thin, which was perfect, and I carefully draped and shaped these over round balls of aluminum foil that were set out on a cookie sheet. I baked them in the oven for a good long time (that's the trick to baking polymer clay!), and out of the oven, I glazed them with polymer clay varnish.

Where does the tiara end and the chandelier begin? At Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle, WA.

I then had to hand paint the characteristic "lip wrap" on each one, so I chose yellow, red, and deep blue acrylic paints to do so. It was then simple to make a wire frame, glue each flower shape onto the frame, and voila!, it is absolutely perfect!

The tiara has about 25 of these delicate clay flower shapes!

Artistic Inpiration

2015-02-08T11:15:00.001-08:00

Tiaras are all around us, you just have to keep your eyes open for them! These are some tiaras I've seen recently here in Seattle:

A handcrafted Swarovski crystal tiara made for George Ballanchine's ballet Jewels, at Pacific Northwest Ballet here in Seattle.

A hand crafted Swarovski tiara made for Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of Black Swan.

The prima ballerina Black Swan costume.

The tiara that Tilda Swinton wore while playing Queen Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe film. It is displayed at the Experience Music Project museum here in Seattle.

Robin Wright's Princess Bride costume, complete with the tiara. It is such a lovely, highly detailed gown. Also at the EMP, along with the Star Wars outfits below, which are on temporary display.

Queen Amidala's Regal gown that Natalie Portman wore in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The headpiece is made from gold and red lace.

Queen Amidala's Galactic Senate gown that Natalie Portman wore in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The headpiece is based off of traditional headdresses worn by Mongolian royalty. It is made from real gold.

A concept drawing for a Queen Amidala costume.

Golden Crowns

2015-02-06T09:37:00.001-08:00

Golden Trinket Tiara

I made some new tiaras in golden hues! The one above I made using jewelry and findings. I had these brass rings that I don't remember where they came from, and I used these as the basis for the tiara. One top of these rings I have layered vintage earrings and buttons. From one side is a briolette drop, in a pale yellow quartz. The asymmetrical shape of the tiara is very attractive and high fashion.

Buttons and earrings in golden hues adorn the tiara.

This is another gold tiara, but instead of using vintage metal findings, I've used glittery gold craft sprigs and leaves. The tendrils that spiral out from the tiara add an amount of depth.

Fountain of Gold Tiara

Tiaras just in time for the new year

2014-12-29T18:15:00.002-08:00

OMG, a huge gap between tiaras this time around! I always have the ideas in my head, but I've been really busy at work, and visiting various doctors since my health insurance from my job kicked in in November. These are just two simple pieces I made last week.

Feather Tiara with Rhinestones

I've had these red sparkle feathers for a long time, they were just too cool not to buy! The trouble is, it took me forever to try and think up a design that would work for them. Then, the craft store I frequent started selling strips of colored acrylic rhinestones, so I've got a huge pack of red ones. I put them together, and voila! a lovely feathery tiara.

Asymmetrical Quartz Tiara

A couple of times a year there's a gem and jewelry show in the city center, and I found these amazing titanium-coated quartz crystal beads/pendants. I had to buy them, of course, and I've been super eager to make some items from them. This is just a beginning, I have lots of really awesome ideas for these crystals. I have the purple-y ones, pictured, as well as blue colored ones.

The tiara itself sits asymmetrically, in a high fashion way. I think I saw this idea in an issue of W magazine. It's very punk, simple, and super stylish.

And I bought all these super cute bottles, and came up with Mermaid in a Bottle charms! These are so much fun, I remember having a mini bottle with a penny in it when I was a child, and it was one of my favorite items. This is even better! Inside the mini bottle are mermaid treasures: glittering seaweed, crystals, goldtone chain, a shard of crystal, a real crab arm, and a faux creamy pearl. A cultured freshwater black pearl acts like a charm on the necklace. Super fun!

These are available for sale in my other Etsy shop, Sparkle Pony Castle. I want to keep Moondust Jewels just all about the tiaras, so I don't want to branch out with other items and clutter up my shop.

Mermaid in a Bottle Necklace

Elaborate and Fancy Crowns

2014-10-20T08:22:00.002-07:00

Rainbow Candy Tiara

I almost forgot to blog about my new tiaras! I made these in September, and it had been awhile since I made a tiara, since I got a new job and its obviously been eating up my free time!

The first one, the Rainbow Candy Tiara, is a tiara I've been wanting to make forever. I love color and rainbows and an overabundance of detail, so I used almost an entire pack of plastic raver beads to make this tiara. It is kind of a "Josephine" style tiara (named after the Empress Josephine of France, who was famous for wearing tiaras low across her brow), with the central point coming down a bit lower onto the forehead than I normally make my tiaras. A rainbow upcycled necklace drapes down the front and sides of the tiara, creating a beautiful effect. As you can see from the above picture, it is a very striking tiara.

Silver Queen Tiara

The second tiara is another silver trinket tiara. You all know that I love to make these silver themed tiaras, as they all turn out quite differently. It is all dependent on what items I have on hand to make the tiara, and I am constantly collecting silver items for these tiaras.

Empress of the North Crown

The last tiara is a very elaborate winter queen tiara. I told myself that I wanted to start making really elaborate pieces, since they allow me to really be free with my art, and explore form and size and materials. This tiara utilizes a strand of frosty beads to drape across the forehead for a lovely effect. This tiara has already sold, but you can see more pics of it here.

Never too much color or glitter!

2014-07-30T21:52:00.001-07:00

I don't think there is such thing as too much glitter or mermaid in any tiara. Am I right?

This tiara uses all my left over scraps of sparkling green craft findings.

Even the tiara band is painted a sparkling green.

My favorite addition is the green star added to the top.

Ocean Flora Tiara.

Mini Princess Crown Comb.

This is a cute mini crown! It is attached to a faux tortoiseshell comb and is covered with a pretty translucent Angelina film.

This is a revision to my wing tiara! I've added a bunch of lavendar rhinestones, and purple Angelina film to the wings. It is like the coolest thing ever now. I mean, really.

Mercury in Flight Tiara.

And of course, you can never have too many rainbows or colors at once. I really don't think so. I have rainbow pants that are probably more rainbow than this tiara.

I used up all my delectable scraps of craft findings, plus some sparkly beads, to make this delicious treat.

There's even a yellow glass skull bead with ruby glass rhinestone eyes. I went all out with this tiara!

This tiara is not for the faint of heart!

Rainbow Burlesque Tiara.

And I finally took better photos of my Purple Wedding Parure! I spent a long time trying to decided whether I should sell this, since I wore it to my own wedding, and it has a lot of sentimental value, but seriously, except for sometimes wearing the earrings and necklace, I never wore the other pieces after my wedding. I would LOVE for someone else to wear this at their wedding, or to wear with a really elaborate, expensive Halloween/Cosplay costume.

I love the brooch. I think people nowadays don't wear large brooches often enough. In fact, this is so large, I think it classifies as a stomacher!

Purple Wedding Tiara and Parure Set.

The whole set, including Tiara, brooch, earrings, necklace, and bracelet.

And the crowning glory of the whole set, the tiara. I am so proud of this tiara, I will miss it more than any other tiara when it sells. It truly is a masterpiece, and it is one of a kind.

Rainbows and Peacocks and Fun

2014-06-26T19:25:00.001-07:00

Peacock Carnivale Tiara

This is a large impressive Peacock Carnivale Tiara! It is actually made off of a tiara I made a couple of years ago for Seattle Pride Parade, and I added peacock feathers, glittery craft sprigs, and rhinestones to the piece. It is now a perfect tiara for Cinco de Mayo, Brazilian Carnivale, Pride Celebrations, Burning Man, Gypsy Hallowe'en costumes, Mermaid costumes....the list literally goes on and on!

Beautiful peacock feathers peer out from the Cinco de Mayo beads.

The tiara looks great with blue and purple clip-on hair extensions!

The tiara is large, and bit heavy. It is sure to turn heads at your next celebration.

Tiara that is full of Rainbows!

This is a tiara I've been wanting to make for awhile. I have lots and lots of pretty glittery craft findings that I've purchased over the last 2 or 3 years, and often when I make a tiara from them, I use almost all of it, with some precious scraps left over. This tiara is made from all those scraps that I've collected. A rainbow myriad of glitter berries, silk flowers, glittery sprigs, and rhinestones adorn this piece. The result is a magical, rainbow woodland delight.

The pink flowers are left over from the huge bouquet I had originally bought to adorn my wedding shoes with.

Glittery gold, pink, blue, red, green and silver findings cover the tiara.

A wondrous bouquet to wear on your head! Perfect for any occasion, and suitable for children.

Steampunk Brass Tiara with Emerald Rhinestones

2014-06-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

A beautifully antiqued photo of myself wearing the steampunk tiara masterpiece.

This is the most exciting tiara I've made in a long time. I have made quite a lot of silver tiaras in the past, but never a gold one. The watch parts I've had for a very long time, and I finally wanted to make a tiara from them. Luckily, I had just acquired beautiful antique brass flowers and leaves, and a contemporary golden butterfly that looks nice and vintage. There are some other found items stuck in there, also. The finished piece is old, regal, vintage, and super Steampunk awesomeness!

Victorian Steampunk Tiara

Green glass rhinestones finish off the piece, adding a subtle amount of sparkle.

Clock cogs and springs mix with vintage brass findings, and a heart that was from a contemporary piece of broken costume jewelry.

Tiaras: Redesigned

2014-06-22T15:04:00.001-07:00

Okay, so to update on my last post. I unlisted about 9 tiaras from my shop that I wanted to improve. These were all tiaras that my sister made, and that she gave to me to list in my Etsy shop. I've improved the first 5, but I don't know whether I will continue with the final four, or just list them at a clearanced price in my shop.

These are the glorious transformations of 5 of those tiaras:

Jester Crown Before

I added a bunch of rhinestones to this piece to really jazz it up. It was pretty plain before, but now it is fancy and will add charm and prestige to any harlequin or Harley Quinn costume. The white beads I covered in sparkling glitter.

Jester Crown Redesigned!

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Mini Icicle Crown Before

This one I've added quite a lot to. I kept the original frame, since the shape was attractive. I've changed the coloring from a subtle aurora sparkle to a silver sparkle by covering the tiara in silver glitter and adding lots of rhinestones to it. I've removed the original dangling elements, and simply added 4 briolette drops to the crown.

Mini Icicle Crown Redesigned!

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Mini Princess Crown Before

This one needed a bit of work, since it looked sort of cheap, and that is never my intention in designing tiaras/crowns. I removed the sequins my sister had dangling from each crown point, and replaced these with golden crystal briolettes. I also added a row of orange rhinestones to the base of the crown, and added an orange rhinestone to the tip of each crown point. The points themselves also needed a little bending and reshaping to look even. The end result is a sparkling mini crown, perfect for little princesses everywhere!

Mini Princess Crown Redesigned!

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Purple Fair Crown Before

This crown was incredibly simple to begin with, so all I needed to do with this one was to add stuff! I added trailing green vines to the crown, and lavender rhinestones to the middle of each swirl element. The end result is a magnificent fairy crown.

Purple Fairy Crown Redesigned!

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Empress Butterfly Tiara Before

This was a tiara that was just never very popular in my Etsy shop. I can tell whether people like a certain tiara, because it will almost immediately get lots of views. This tiara was never to be, and after more than 6 months in my shop, it only got a measly 90 views. I knew it was high time to redesign it into something amazing, and I did. I added lots of rhinestones to this tiara, helping to fill out the shape and also hide the wire frame. I put silver glitter all over, which added lots more sparkle to the tiara. Finally, underneath each butterfly, I affixed a horizontal rhinestone bead, filling in that large gap beneath each butterfly. My sister has good ideas, but she doesn't always bring the tiara to its final finished state. I am pretty good at taking her work and making it look perfect and polished.

Empress Butterfly Tiara Redesigned!

This post reminds me of those before and after shots for home miracle remedies, where the person slouches or is not smiling in the "before" shot, but in the "after" pic, they are standing up tall and looking super happy. Because let's face it, the "before" tiara shots in this post are TERRIBLY taken photos; they do, however, make the "after" redesigned tiaras look just that much more amazing!

Tiara Redesigns

2014-06-20T10:20:00.002-07:00

Some of you may notice that I have unlisted about 9 or 10 tiaras out of my shop. I feel the need to redesign them, and make them better! They are actually tiaras/mini crowns my sister made. She doesn't have quite the same level of craftsmanship or design sense as me, and since none of these items that she made have sold, it indicates that customers probably noticed that they weren't MY creations. So, I will be "Allisonifying" them, and making them the high quality you expect from Moondust Jewels.

The new Moondust Jewels business card. I always include one in each order!