Well, this is dedicated to Zeruda, who requested that I post a tutorial on this.
The last time I made a mini crown, it was out of beads and wire and that just flopped all over the place without extra rienforcements though, so this time I used card and ribbon to make it ^^
I sort of made this up as I went along and hoped it would work (as I do whenever I make something) but it's turned out great, so...
♥ Make sure you have everything you need before you begin:
Thick card
Ruler
Craft knife/scissors
Superglue
Paint
Ribbon
Beads
Lace
♥ Okay. Measure out two 1.5x30cm strips on your card. Cut them out - preferably using a craft knife and a saftey ruler. (If you can't get hold of a safety ruler then just use a regular one, but be doubly careful or risk slicing your finger open like I did ^^) It's pretty hard work cutting anything out of card this thick with scissors and it'll give a very messy result.
♥ Repeat, but this time make just one strip of 2x30cm.
♥ Mark a line every centimeter down the length of each strip of card. At these points, score by cutting a shallow line across using the knife. DO NOT penetrate the card, as this is to make it bend easier rather than come apart.
♥ Now bend the card - see how easy it is now to get a smoother looking circle?
♥ We're going to make the base of the crown now, so find something small and round to bend the thickest card strip around. I'm using a hairspray bottle lid.
♥ Cut off the excess bit of card where it meets itself around the object.
♥ Now take your two other card strips and bend them into the shape they will roughly be when the crown is finished. You don't wan't them to be too big, or the crown will look odd and disproportionate. Trim them down to your preferred size, but make sure they match!
♥ Here's for the messiest part: it's time to paint your card strips! As I'm making mine more Gothic Lolita, I'm having mine black, but you can paint yours any colour you like! (Also, note I'm using Indian Ink to colour mine - partly because that was the closest thing I had to hand at the time, and partly because it won't peel or crack like some paints can.)
♥ Okay, glue your base into a circle now. I recommend superglue for this.
♥ Once they're dry, it's time to add your ribbon. This will hide the cuts you made to the card and decorate it! For the base, because it's wider than the other strips and so my ribbon won't cover it all, I added a lace border too. Once again, I recommend superglue, but if you have the patience to hold everything in place for about half an hour while it dries, go ahead and use PVA or textile glue.
♥ Right, now make sure your thinner strips are bent into the correct shape, then carefully glue them into position on this inside of the base circle. It's best to do this one at a time.
♥ Finally... get creative! Add beads, more ribbon, bows, flowers, anything to decorate your crown. It's up to you now to make it a personalised piece! Don't forget to glue some ribbon to the inside of the circle so you can tie it around your head!
I hope this tutorial was helpful to you, and if you happen to use it, please don't hesitate to share pictures of your mini crowns here on this thread. I can't wait to see what you'll design!
