During the whirlwind of Black Swan Tiara making in September and October, I was approached by two different ladies needing tiaras with a special twist.

The first woman was seeking crown for her daughter for her Steampunk Sweet 16 Birthday Party.  The idea of that party theme was inspiring to me, so when she said she would mail me some skeleton keys to work with, I could really see the whole thing come together.  We went with the gunmetal wire and smoked topaz crystals and I incorporated keys in different tones to create a fun, vintage look.

The second woman wanted the standard tiara but with more bling.  A lady after my own heart, more crystals means more fun.   She and I worked together to find some larger, statement crystals and an assortment of smaller ones in shades that coordinated and added glitter.  I also hammered the wire a bit to add facets that would reflect more light.  This helped with sturdiness, too, since the weight of all those crystals was tremendous.  We met in person at an outdoor cafe in full sun to hand off the tiara. Talk about bling!  Using 3 to 4 times the amount of crystals adds 10 to 20 times the amount of sparkle.

Neither photo does justice to the tiaras, but at least you can see the level of detail in each.  (I need a camera and/or photo-taking tips that really capture the huge sparkliness that comes from Swarovski crystals.)  I loved working on both these tiaras and can’t wait for the next inspiring project!