Hair-flower Tutorial: "The Authoress"

"The Authoress"

It seems that hair-flowers are all the rage recently. I hadn't jumped on the fad until a few weeks ago when I designed and made what I've termed "The Authoress" hair-flower. It's a very simple, very smart-looking addition to an out-fit, and as several people have wondered how it is done, I've put together a tutorial on how to make your own Authoress Hair-flower. :)

What you will need for "The Authoress" hair-flower:

• A large bobby-pin
• A small wire hairpin
• Pages of a book (or other paper)
• A cute button
• Glue
• Scissors

It all begins with Opera and Poetry. ;) 

 Actually, this was an old poetry book my brother rescued out of the trash for me...I used it but it finally fell apart. Rather than throwing such a precious volume away, I decided it would serve its purpose very well in different projects. That's how I got such cute paper for this hair-flower. But really, you can use any kind of paper--it won't have quite so much authoress to it, but that's okay. [The Opera part is just what I happened to be listening to. Norma, in fact.]

Step One: 

Cut out 7 or 8 flower-shapes of graduating sizes. The largest  will be the base of your hair-flower.

Step Two:  

Cut out 5 or 6 decorative-edged circles. I did these with a pilfered pair of scrapbook-scissors. ;)

Step Three: 

Begin stacking the shapes--a flower or two, a fancy circle, another flower or two, etc. Glue each layer with a small dot of glue in the very center. For the first flower I made I actually sewed the layers together. It was a bit much for my poor finger-tips, however, so I went with glue this time--it worked perfectly well.

 The first two layers--

I like to shift the second flower-shape so its petals go in the spaces in between the previous layer's petals. It gives the over-all appearance more fullness.

 

Here is the finished stack of shapes, all glued together.

 

 

 Now you'll need one large bobby-pin (I use roller pins) and a hair-pin.

 Step Four:  

Trim off the "ball" ends of the hairpin and stick the hairpin's "legs" through the bottom layer of the flower. Spread out the "legs" like a brad, leaving a little hump of wire on the back of your flower.

 Step Five:

Bend the edges of the petals forward, so your flower looks like its blooming. :) 

(see "Paul Revere" on the top layer? The British are coming!!! :D)

Step Six:

Slide the top "foot" of the bobby-pin through the little wire-hump.

Step Seven: 

Glue a button in the center of the flower. I used a black-velvet button to coordinate with the colors of the hair-flower, but you can use any kind you want! :) Just be sure it isn't a shank-button--that won't lay right.

 There you have it! A lovely hair-flower: Romantic, vintage-looking, very smart, and entirely fashionable. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I'd love to see any flowers you make using it. :) In the picture I had just washed my hair and hadn't done anything with it, but I could see this flower gracing a super-cute up-do as well. :)