Friday, 18 July 2014

Alien, bee, and WTNV hair clips


Hi! Have you noticed that the 90s are totally back? I went to a 90s themed ice-skating night last week that was totally fun (albeit very very cold and we didn't actually end up skating since it was so overbooked) and while researching what people wore back then I started really regretting getting rid of my massive butterfly clip collection realising that so much of the clothes in the store right now are very 90s inspired! This is probably not a revelation to most of you, but I'm usually pretty out of the fashion loop so it was for me ~___^ I wanted to make something to go with my grunge-inspired outfit, but the only 90s crafts I could find were scrunchies and elastic chokers. And then I remembered how all the cool teenagers in my town had alien jewellery. I was both too young and too uncool to keep up with the trends as they actually happened, but now I finally have some extraterrestrial hair clips. And only 15 years after the nineties ended! ~___^


I made these little guys with white fimo, but if you already had a light green shade of clay then that would save you some painting time later on. Even better would be if you had glow in the dark fimo! I didn't know this existed until just now, and I desperately want some. Anyway, I rolled the fimo into spheres, squished them flat with my palm, and then pinched in the sides to give these aliens some Cumberbatch worthy cheekbones. I squeezed a plastic straw into a more oval shape and pressed it into the clay to create the outlines of the eyes and then baked them in the oven.
 

I painted the heads with Kaisercolour acrylic paint in lime, the eyes with black acrylic, and then gave them a couple of coats of glow in the dark paint. I used Tarzan's Grip to adhere them to the hair clips and then they were done!
 

They do glow, but they have a bit of a streaky look so I think the glowing clay would work much better if you were to make these yourself ^___^


For my 90s outfit, I did my hair in what I seem to remember being called "alien buns" (this is probably entirely wrong though); basically two small buns on the top of your head with the rest of your hair out. My clips weren't dry by the time we left though, so I didn't get to wear them that night. Still, I think they're pretty cute (in a creepy kind of way) so I think I'll still get some wear out of them ^___^
 

I had two hair clip bases left over, so I also made these tiny bee clips. They were ridiculously easy to make! The wooden bees are from the scrap booking section of my local craft store; I just spray painted them silver and glued them to the clip backings.
 

I really like how these look against my hair, they're so pretty and delicate which is a bit different to my normal creations ~___^ These pictures have also reminded me that I need to redye my hair soon! The red that turned my blue into purple has faded out quite quickly ...
 
 

While I do still have purple hair though, this next craft seems especially appropriate!
 

I wear *a lot* of hair bows (that, and the baby face, probably explains why a lot of people assume I'm still a high schooler) and I hadn't yet made a single piece of WTNV fancraft; two birds, one stone, you know?


I made this by crocheting two tubes, one large and one small. I placed the small tube on top of the larger one, and then pinched and sewed them together. I wrapped some yarn around the middle to make it look a bit neater and then sewed on the little Night Vale moon/eye/thing that I made from felt.
 

I sewed this hair snap onto the back and it was done! It makes a rather oversized hair clip ...


But it also functions as a smashing bow tie! ^___^ I can really only wear it this way with button up shirts, but basically it just clips in between the buttons.
 

Scott and I were brainstorming ideas for more WTNV crafts last night, so you may see more of this fandom here soon. I'd recommend listening to the podcast, if you haven't already! And that's it for me tonight, dear readers, so ...


Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.

- Lisa xx

2 comments:

bekswhoknits said...

yay! you have a button. have you always had a button and i've just been blind or is that new???

Oh your hairclips are so cool! I currently have my hair done up with a pen because I couldn't for the life of me find any clips, and it needs to be tied up whenever I eat. I need to buy myself some jewellery glue. Everything I've gluegunned has just fallen apart.

Lisa said...

It's new Bek! I spent an evening working it all out and now I just hope that it works! ^___^

I always manage to break my hair combs, so having lots of hair clips around is a must for me. I can't stand to study with hair on my face so my desk is covered in them! Hot glue definitely isn't the best choice for jewellery making, but I wouldn't recommend Tarzan's Grip either. I brought it out of lack of other choices and it's really not that great. E6000 is the best jewellery making glue I've ever used, but it can be tricky to find in stores. Internet ordering is the way to go! ^___^