How to make a Black Swan Tiara
Black Swan Tiara -- Photo by Sean Alderman - SciFiAnimeHeroes.com
I made two tiaras for a Black Swan Cosplay Costume for DragonCon 2011. Below you will find out how I did it. The Black Swan photo to the left was taken by Sean Alderman – SciFiAnimeHeroes.com at DragonCon 2011. In that image, the tiara was place a little to far back on my head. Later during DragonCon, I moved it up and more horizontal.
Since I don’t have any skills with metal working–melting, molding, burning–I have decided to work with a different material, molding clay. I will use metal wire, an air dry clay, and paint to simulate the look of metal. Then apply the crystals after they have been set in metal findings.
The molding clay I have picked can be painted, carved, sanded, and polished after it dries. It will also stick to metal, which is important because I am building the frame out of wire metal. Also the clay is light weight and has turned out to be surprisingly strong. I know the picture shows Aluminum spray paint. I do not recommend this after testing. Instead get a black metallic spray paint and a metallic gray acrylic paint. First spray on a base of black and use the gray has highlights over the black paint. The Aluminum spray paint has a weird texture, which does not apply nicely to the clay. After painting your base, I recommend using a glossy clear coat to finish. Do this before adding your crystals. More on that later….pictures coming after Dragon*Con…
The first step in creating the Tiara was to created small, mangled looking pieces of clay. While the clay is drying, you can create the wire base for the Tiara. I took Black 18 gauge aluminum wire and shaped it around the crown of my head where I estimated the Black Swan crown was placed. There is a slight dip in the sides of the crown; you can see this in the references images I provided. Once the clay had dried, I took another thinner gauged piece of wire and created the center point. About one inch from the top of the center point I took another piece of this wire and created a triangle and anchored it down to the sides. This provides some support while you are starting your tiara. I took un-dried clay and styled the center piece and let that dry for 24 hours. The next part I took un-dried clay and started to build of the sides according an image I had of the tiara. You will notice that there is a bend in the tiara coming of the side. I did not bend the wire. Instead I shaped the clay over the wire (the wire is not inside the clay). After I was finished with the tiara, I clipped those exposed pieces of wire leaving a nice arch in the clay. After these had dried, I start using the small pieces of clay and gluing them to the rest of the tiara. I start from the center and work around to the sides. The glue has to set at least 24 hours. So, I was only able to add a couple pieces a night. There are at least 30 individual pieces of clay that comprise these tiaras. There are at least 16 pieces of clay show in the image “Black Swan Tiara Front Finished.”
Supplies for the Black Swan Tiara
Dried, mangled clay pieces for tiara.
Tiara base with un-dried clay up center
Black Swan Tiara with Front Finished
Black Swan Tiara with Sides Finished
Closer Side View of Black Swan Tiara
After all the glue has dried, you can paint your tiara. I picked a metallic black spray paint as a base. Spray the whole thing and let it dry. Then take a coat of gun metal gray acrylic paint and paint over the top. I diluted this paint with water in some places in order to have some black show through. When this coat was finished drying, I used black acrylic paint to add shading. Then finished it off with several coats of acrylic gloss spray paint.
I used Swarovski crystals in clear and black as well as some pointed beads. The Swarovski crystals need to be set in metal fittings in order to be attached to the tiara. The only metal fittings I could find were gold in tone; thus, they had to be painted black. I used wire and or clay to provide an attachment point to the tiara. The crystals that used clay were glued to the tiara base; some were wired depending on their position. After everything dried, I painted the white clay with black then gun metal gray so it matched the rest of the tiara. The results follow with the exception I had yet to paint the white clay attachment points for the crystals.
Black Swan Tiara Right
Black Swan Tiara Center
Black Swan Tiara Left
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How tall is the center part of the tiara? My dd thinks its too high. Mine is about 5″ tall in the the center. Thank you! Tina
I made a total of three tiaras all of which had various heights. I thought the height that looked the best was about 3.5 inches. The one I am wearing is about 4 and I feel like it is too tall. Lori’s, who you can see in my Dragon*Con flickr album, tiara height is at 3.5″.
You did a beautiful job recreating the whole outfit!
Was just wondering how many of the little pieces you glued on compared to how much of the clay you just built all at once together on the wire base. Is there an advantage to gluing the pieces together versus just making it all at once as one big piece on the wire? Does it have to do with the strength of the tiara or maybe with the drying time?
Thank You!
The only part of the tiara where there was metal and that metal had clay shaped around it was in the center and maybe just a tiny bit coming from the sides. The majority of it was the clay pieces glued together. The wire in the center gives a nice study base to start putting your clay pieces together. Plus you have to anchor the whole piece to the wire base and this was done through that front piece of wire. I found it very difficult to get the shapes I wanted by using the wire. It kind-of looked messy and was a bit bulky. I found it easier to shape the clay pieces without the wire. That helped it look more like the movie tiara.
Hi there,
I was just wondering if maybe you can give me a list of supplies that i will need to try and create this tiara for Halloween.
You did such a great job on this. IT’S AWESOME.
Wow…I really wish I could….I can tell you in general. There is a picture of the clay on my blog. It is a light weight clay. You will need some 18 gauge black wire. The glue I mention below. Black metallic spray paint; gun metal gray acrylic paint; high gloss acrylic spray paint finish. The rhinestones and their settings would be a bit hard and time consuming for myself to just off the top of my hand tell you what I used. I would have to go through my receipts…if I still have them. I know I used four large rectangle crystal stones and around 9 way smaller black ones. I also added a few beads in there too. I purchased those from Michaels. I know I purchased the stones from http://www.glitzonline.com/ and the settings from a company in Hong Kong and it took about five weeks for those to get here–and I ordered bulk because that is the only way I could get them (meaning I only need four settings for the large crystals but I had to order a package of 12, etc–which was okay because I was making more than one…I used four on our buntoppers so it actually worked out perfectly for me…but this would not be so good for you.). The clear stones are rather large–second to largest size if I remember correctly and are about $5 a piece if you buy them individually. Then I ordered a gross count of the black ones that are in the 14 something size range. I could not find round ones in the size that I wanted.
In short you will need — clay — wire — black spray paint — gun metal gray paint — clear gloss finish — rhinestones — rhinestone settings — a smaller gauge wire for the rhinestone settings. If you want me to give you a brand name, size, quantity listing…I’m afraid at this moment I am a little too busy to do that. I am working on another costume project….I haven’t even had the time to finish my black swan costume tutu guide. Sorry! Wish I could be more detailed for you in this short amount of time that you have. I think even without the crystals you would have a mighty fine tiara. That aspect really increased the cost of my tiara making…$20.00 (not including shipping or the settings) alone in just the clear ones!
thank you. i will go to Michaels and get some of these stuff.
do i also get the clay from Michaels?
thank you again.
Everything but the rhinestones and the black metallic spray paint (Lowes) was purchased from Michaels! Good Luck! I would love to see what you do with these instructions.
Hi,
What kind of glue did you use? I looked at the pics and read the description but couldn’t find the type. Do you think any sort of 2-ton 2-hour set epoxy would do? Thanks!
The glue I used was Aleene’s® Platinum Bond 7800™ All-Purpose Adhesive. Another glue I heard was really good is E6000; however, when I look at the surface/type combinations I didn’t like what I read–so I went with the 7800. I’m not sure about the epoxy; you could always try a couple pieces. I’d probably let it set longer than two hours and then give it a little stress test to see how well it holds up.
beautiful, great work
Oh and one more question – how heavy did it end up to be? Did it easily stay in place once you pinned it or was it cumbersome?
It was very light, actually. It stayed on very well after the ribbon and bobby pins were used. Lori performed some ballet in hers. The heaviest part of the tiara isn’t the clay; it is the rhinestones. That being said; don’t get all commando with your tiara. They are fragile. You wouldn’t want to go tossing them about. I didn’t break any though.
Great job! A couple of questions. About how much clay was required to complete the project? Also what is that wire mesh used for shown in your photo of supplies?
Kind-of hard to say. I made two bun-toppers, and three crowns (one of which I didn’t like). I also made a bunch of little pieces that didn’t get used because they didn’t fit the design. For all of these I used on whole package. So I guess you could say a quarter or a package. The wire mesh I tried to use…nope you wont use it…that idea did not work. I just didn’t have another photograph without it.
Do you sell these Black Swan Tiaras and if so how much do you charge?
I only made two of these tiaras: one for myself and one for my friend. If I were to make one by request, a tiara without crystals would be $200.00 and a tiara with crystals would be $350.00–the crystals on the tiara are Swarovksi. In addition, the findings for the crystals on the tiara would have to be ordered from Hong Kong. It took about five weeks to receive the package. I couldn’t find any domestic sources for these materials. The construction process would take at least 6 weeks with crystals (taking in account the time it takes to ship and receive the metal crystal findings) and three weeks for a tiara without crystals. I realize that sounds rather expensive, but it does take a lot of time and patience to put one of these together. I would estimate about 40 hours of hands-on time–at least. That doesn’t include time for clay, glue, or paint dry times.
Thanks so much for your response. Unfortunately I would need it for Halloween and you would not have enough time to create it since I would definitely want the crystals. I have you saved in my favorites and will contact you should I need something in the future. You did an awesome job and the tiara is gorgeous! Thanks again! Lisa
Sorry I couldn’t do it for you sooner. I didn’t expect the crowns to be such a hit and didn’t order extra supplies when I was making them the first time! I plan on making another tiara for myself after Halloween because I wasn’t entirely satisfied with it–I am super-duper picky
. I will be ordering materials and plan ordering some extras just in case I get a request in the future. I’ll probably sell my old tiara after I make myself another one. But….I plan on wearing this one for Halloween. I want to make the other one for some events next year.
I think you could charge more – you list your materials at ~$150 and for than many hours of work… and your crown was perfect in person (saw you up close at D*C
I’m just saying, I think you could charge more and it’s well worth it!
I meant “for *that* many hours of work” (typo…)
Thank you! Hey! I have a question for you. Are you the same person that did a kick ass Moulin Rouge Headdress? If so, you website inspired me to create my own version of it. I totally would love to do a more accurate version of that headdress. Your was AMAZING! So was the dress! I’ll have to send you a picture of the one I did. If of course you are the person I am thinking about.
This is amazing! Did you have to use hair pins for extra security while weaaring it?
Good question! I totally forgot to mention that aspect. I tied on the crown ends a semi-transparent brownish colored ribbons. I would wrapped those around the back of my head and pin the ribbon down with hair pins. Then, on the crown near the back on both sides, I would pin through the crown’s wire frame to my hair. The bun-topper covered the ribbons very well. I haven’t written a post on the bun-toppers, which is the hair comb that sits above the bun.
[...] for the costuming contest–maybe next year. I came up the the design elements and made the Black Swan tiara and buntoppers. We both did our own sewing on the costumes. Added bonus: both of us use to take, or [...]