Entwife Circlet { Dark Forest Green Version }

Every now and again I make the time to create a large piece of fairytale jewelry. I love creating these large "art pieces," but sometimes it is difficult to justify the dozen hours each piece takes, when I know I could be making dozens of smaller jewelries that sell more readily.

Oh, the joys of running a business and needing to make money for school.

This spring, I was contacted to create a custom Entwife Circlet with oxidized copper, dark brown and green glass leaves, and black details. Unfortunately, the commission fell through, but I had already gotten enough work done on the circlet to finish it a bit differently and add it to my Etsy shop.

I'm glad I did; every time I make large pieces like this, I can see my craftsmanship improve dramatically. Art (and hours and hours of practice) is really its own form of very human magic.

For those of you unfamiliar with my previous work, the Entwife Circlet was originally designed for a Lord of the Rings themed ball. My friend was dressing up as an Entwife (the Ents were tree people, shepherds of the ancient forests of Middle Earth) and I created a custom ensemble of jewelry for her in exchange for a gorgeous medieval dress. You can see the jewelry ensemble here, and additional pictures of her handmade costume here.

Last autumn, I created another one in brighter greens for a bride to wear at her wedding.

The Entwife circlets are headpieces appropriate for any woodland or fairytale themed costume. The most dramatic feature is an array of pinecone flowers on the back, with beaded chains that dangle over the hair.

(This chain feature was inspired by the headpiece that the Elf Arwen wears in the Return of the King movie).

The base at the front of the circlet is made out of braided copper wire. On this particular headpiece, I kept the copper raw (no jewelry wax to protect the color) so that it can oxidize and gradually change from bright shiny copper to a deep dark brown.

(Of course, any jewelry made with copper can be cleaned to a shine by gently rubbing it with vinegar, washing in water, and patting dry).

Since copper reacts with the salts in many people's perspiration, I lined the front of the headpiece with a black ribbon.

Czech glass leaf beads-- my most favorite beads in the whole wide world, short of actual gemstones-- are meticulously wirewrapped onto the circlet, along with Swavroski pearls and wood beads.

The necklace and earrings will be up on Etsy soon!

I didn't have any friends handy the day that I finished this circlet, so my sister Rosie helped out by manning the camera.

Rosie has been my apprentice this summer and has learned about everything from how to package and weigh envelopes to how to use a soldering torch to designing Celtic knots to building workbenches with power tools to being the second shooter at both a portrait and a wedding photoshoot. I don't think I ever caught on to things so easily when I was eleven!

(BTW, I'm going to put in a plug for the company I bought my shirt from (I have not been asked or compensated to do so). You may have guessed that I really like fairytales and costumes. Unfortunately, it would be more than a little bit weird if I wore my full medieval getup around a college campus. But what I can do is wear this shirt with the corset-style lacing, the bell sleeves, and the embroidery and pair it with a pair of dark wash jeans and a cool hairstyle. It's the Miranda Gothic shirt from HolyClothing, and Indian company, and is one of my favorite clothing splurges ever. It's probably also the most well-constructed shirt in my entire closet.)

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed looking over these pictures! I certainly enjoyed making this circlet.

It's the wrong season, but once the pinecones are again littering the ground, I will make a tutorial on these pinecone flowers!

UPDATE: This circlet has sold! I hope that the new Entess loves it! If anyone is interesting in commissioning one just email me at shealynnsfaerieshoppe@gmail.com.

(Above is the Entwife circlet I made for the wedding; below is the very first Entwife piece I made).

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Wire Masquerade Masks {Wedding Set}

I had so much fun creating the red and silver masquerade mask a few months ago. The piece was a hit at the dance, and there is nothing quite like the joy of designing really unique pieces.

Masquerade masks are fun and beautiful and all, but once you add some wire and swirls and beads and rhinestone, it doesn't seem to get much better!

When I received an email asking me to create custom wirewrapped masks for a wedding, it made my day!

At the time, though, I didn't realize how much work it would be! That first mask was an experiment in a true sense; although very nice, it wasn't as stable and elegant as it could have been. 

 I challenged myself to focus on craftsmanship-- craftsmanship, craftsmanship, craftsmanship is everything!-- and while I logged more hours than I had intended, it was worth it! (This is the curse of custom orders; I consistently undercharge on these things.)

 The first mask was the women's rhinestone and cream pearl. The bride wanted a fuller and more solid design than the first red mask, and she sent me inspiration photos for an extravaganza of swirls to go up one side of the mask.

(It's great to work with people who have an eye for design and knows what they want, but are still happy to let me do my thing).

The base was made from 12 gauge sterling silver plated wire. The skeleton of the mask is by far the most difficult, as it is entirely freeform.

Imagine taking 12 inches of stiff wire, pliers, a hammer, and an avil and trying to make a sturdy mask with symmetrical sides that will form to anyone's face, sit comfortably on the nose, and will not fall apart.

(It's a wee bit difficult and took me several tries).

Adding the swirls was next, and while this intricate hammered wirewrapping is very similar to the techniques I use regularly, forming everything to fit a face added a third dimension-- literally-- to the techniques.

All of the pearls and rhinestones were lashed to the mask using thin sterling plated wire. I was surprised by how much stability the beadwork added to the piece!

Unfortunately, thanks to crazy college classes, I just barely made the deadlines I set. I didn't have a chance to take many photographs of the white mask, but these here modeled by my lovely friend do a great job of showing how the mask wears on a real person!

This mask just sings with elegance and whimsy-- if you'll pardon the flowery language! I can't wait to see how it coordinates with the bride's dress. :)

Now, for my pride and joy.

Don't get me wrong; I love the white mask and am in love with all of the design elements that my customer requested.

But this black mask is a step up in craftsmanship and technique for me. A leap, really.

Crafting this was one of those magical times when every almost-mistake turned out to be exactly what I needed, and my fingers and eyes seemed to work of their own accord. So many technical "aha!" insights fired in my brain while problem-solving this design. My fingers now know their way around wirewrapping like they didn't before.

It's a strange thing to explain, and another use of flowery, cliched language, but something "clicked."

I was asked to create this piece after the white mask was delivered, and from the start we needed it to be structurally a different kind of piece.

The white mask has large eye-holes to showcase nice bold eye makeup, but unless the groom wanted to sport eyeshadow and guyliner, this mask needed significantly smaller eye holes.

The problem is that everyone's eyes are really unique, and I needed to find a sweet spot where this mask could fit anyone's face without covering the eyes.

The general shape of the mask, too, needed to be different. I filled an entire sketchbook page with shape ideas. How should I make a pearl-studded wirewrapped swirly mask look more masculine?

The design that I finally decided on was much more solid and filled-out than any mask I've made before. The swirls are contained inside the mask, on the sides, rather than spiraling around the outside of the mask.

I attached dozens and dozens of tiny beads using tiny wire wrapped in very specific ways so that the entire skeleton of the mask was solidly filled with black pearls.

The beaded zig-zags above the nose was another design input from the bride; I had been struggling with how to fill in that space without overwhelming it. Her idea worked really well!

My brother asked to model it, and, in typical drama-kid style, jazzed up his look with some "dashing accessories."

I am so honored to make custom jewelry like this, and am especially grateful to be making pieces that will be a part of this couple's marriage beginnings! Theirs sounds like a very unique wedding and I wish them all the joy.

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Entwife Circlet, Revisited

Over the past two years, I've had the honor of making jewelry for several weddings. This autumn, a bride asked me to create an Entwife circlet for her. My side of the dorm room started to look like a fairy trove as it became laden with strands of wire, boxes of beads, and pinecones for two weeks. The end result? A woodland fairytale wedding headpiece.

The base of the circlet is braided raw copper, which should develop a beautiful patina over time. I twisted many of my favorite Czech glass leaf beads in various shades of copper onto the copper, accentuating it with some glass pearls.

But that is not all, my friends.

PARTY IN THE BACK!

The back of the Entwife circlet is made from real pinecones, more leaves, and strands of sparkling and rustic chains.

________

Two years ago (has it been that long?) a friend of mine asked me to create an entire jewelry ensemble for her to wear to a Lord of the Rings themed ball. She created an intricate Entwife costume, taught me how to make pinecone flowers, and left me to have fun.

You can see all of the tree-folk jewelry here, and a photoshoot with her costume here.

From this entire Entwife collection, the piece that I was the most proud of was the circlet. My fingers were so tired that I didn't want to do any crafting for days afterwards (gasp! --and, also, it's amazing how I've built up some serious finger muscles since), but it was worth it for this large Entish headpiece. 

The original version of the Entwife circlet. The copper is already patina-ed.

You can imagine how excited I was to get a change to re-create it-- with some changes to reflect my growing attention to construction details, quality supplies, and better techniques. Two years can impart a lot of experience!

I would like to officially thank my roommate for being a princess for an afternoon by modeling for me.

This entire crown took over 100 feet of copper wire to create! I spent several hours watching Netflix (Dollhouse, anyone?) and drinking tea while I busily slaved away at braiding and twisting wire. Unfortunately I had underestimated just how long it would take to make this piece, but thankfully even with all of my schoolwork I was able to ship it on time.

Pinecones do not like me.

First, I had to gather them. That is not hard on a college campus; there are several evergreens by the math building, and it was the right time of year for them to be blanketing the ground. The problem? I picked them up between classes, was on the receiving end of several odd stares, and only realized how sticky pinecones can be when I found that my notebook and sketchbook were glued together in my bag.

Then, I had to clean the pinecones. I wouldn't let that sticky mess anywhere near someone's hair. Plus, germs. Pinecones have to be baked to let the sap melt off-- that was an ordeal in a dorm.

Finally, I had to glue it all together and seal it. That part wasn't too bad at all, but it is when I am doing projects like this that I am eternally grateful for my roommates who deal with my weird projects.

When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough;
When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow;
When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain-air,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair!

-an Ent, in the song of the Ents and Entwives in The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

In the Lord of the Rings universe, the Ents are the tree people who the Hobbits run into in Fangorn Forest. The Ents are tree-shepherds, and the fate of the garden-loving Entwives is one of the mysteries of Middle Earth.

 

When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last;

When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past;
I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again:
Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain!

-an Entwife, in the song of the Ents and Entwives in The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

I hope that you've enjoyed these pictures! Making the circlet, taking the pictures-- it's all so much fun. :)

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