Sunday, December 31, 2006

Making Hair Accessories

Hair accessories can add a great sense of style to your fashions. The problem is that finding good hair accessories can be tough and quite pricey if you like accessories to match each of your outfits. One way you can be in fashion and still have money leftover is to make your own fashionable accessories.

The first hair accessory you can make is a cool way to pull long hair up into a French twist. You should get a package of skewers, stirrers, or chopsticks. Basically you need something that will be thick enough to hold your hair and that will not break when you try to twist your hair up in it. We will use chopsticks for our example.

You will need to purchase some type of polymer clay. You can get the clay in the craft section of mass merchandisers or in craft stores. Begin by breaking off two even pieces of the clay and mold them into something interesting. You can try to make candy pieces, or you can mold them into letters if you are really talents. You also can just go with swizzles and make them pretty easily.

Once you have molded the pieces together, get out your chopsticks. Use them to poke a hole about a quarter-inch or so into the polymer clay. You need to use the chopsticks as the tool to make sure that you get the right size. Then you will bake the polymer clay. Once you have baked the pieces, you will need to let them cool for a while before you do anything with them. Then you will use craft or wood glue and glue the ends of the chopsticks into the holes you made in the clay. As soon as the glue dries, you are ready to use this new fashionable accessory in your hair.

The next idea is the simplest hair accessory you can make for yourself. You need absolutely no crafting ability to make this clip. You will need to purchase a pack of the little hair clips that open in the middle. You can find a set for $2 or so in the hair section at most stores. Then you will need to check out the craft section. Look for something that you think is cute. You are looking for a fairly small accessory piece. You may have luck finding them in the sewing section or in t-shirt section as many people decorate t-shirts with these pieces.

All you will need to do is use good quality craft glue and adhere the accessory you purchased to the clip. Allow it to dry for at least an hour and then put it in your hair. You can make matching pairs or just use one. These little clips make cute presents, and you can personalize them with ornaments that match the interests of the recipient or have name initials.

Another simple (and very cheap) way to create your own hair accessories is to use garbage twist ties. Ask your mom or use the ones from your latest box of garbage bags since few people actually use them to tie the garbage together. You will need to use a craft or scrapbook pen to color the twist tie. Once you have allowed the paint to dry, you can glue on gems or other stones from craft stores. Then pull your hair back and use the tie to hold it up. You will never worry if these hair ties get damaged or lost because they cost you only pennies to make.

These are just a few of the hair accessories you can make if you spend a little time in a craft store and use your imagination to put together pieces that really work. The best part about these hair accessories is that they are not something that will take you a lot of time or money to create. You can work on them for a few minutes and have them for a one-time occasion, or you can make them frequently. Experiment with these types of hair accessories as they will add to the ways you can put your hair up and help you to create awesome pieces for your hair.

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