MAKE YOUR OWN TWINKLY TIARAS: Book and separately available "refill" package taken from the Klutz site.: Actual image size

CHICKEN SOCKS' MAKE YOUR OWN TWINKLY TIARAS
by Christine Daryleanne Paradise

Over the past few years, tiaras have become a significant if not major part of many LGs' world. And why not? the delicate, graceful appearance is a perfect expression of the feminine persona in "abstract" form and they are connected with fairies, ballet, princesses and aristocracy and other "fairy-tale" things. Several of us have more than one. Also tiaras have become a part of the world at large. I was in the local Post Office and got involved in some business about shipping a religious item to the Azores. The person sending it had a thick accent and was trying to send what sounded like he was saying "a chrome". Now I am pretty good with speech and was getting tired of the verbal carnage so I stepped in. When I got it all sorted out, it was a crown for the "Holy Ghost Feast" on the Island of São Miguel. Well the first thing the lady behind the counter asked when I got it untangled was "...a tiara?". I had to explain the difference between a crown and a tiara, which I usually refrain from doing in ordinary company since it might call attention to me and raise questions I would rather not have to answer, but I was on a roll. and the whole affair had been very consuming and the focus was on something else entirely so my over-expertise went unnoticed. As I knew it would.

Real little girls are "s'posed" to like tiaras. They are part of the "princess" thing. In line with this, Klutz.com has published a book under the "Chicken Socks" name called Make Your Own Twinkly Tiaras. From what I can glean, "Chicken Socks" is a pen name for the editors at Klutz when writing as a group. I saw an opportunity to get one on Ebay and did so. Physically it is a heavy cardboard spiral bound volume with some supplies in a clear packet of some kind attached to it. Calling it a "book" is a bit of a misnomer, there is very little text. It is mostly pictures, things to use and some instructions. The volume contains a pocket page of 'foil paper tiaras", instructions. tiaras for your doll and further instructions about how to make paper fans, wands and "button rings". The paper fans are the kind we learned to make in grade school and are really nice, if you make them right and put small sticks at the ends that extend down about 6-8 inches, you have something that might be an interesting wall decoration, the "wands" are soda-straw wands and not recommended here for more than just the most trivial purposes and the butto rings are lengths of pipe cleaner run through the holes in a button. If you could replace or cover the pipe cleaner with something metallic, you could do well as some of the buttons you can find are brass with bas-relief designs and some look like stones. So there is nothing wrong at all with that idea.

While the tiaras are cute, they are what you would expect and not up to my standards, but then again, I am difficult to please, and they do not really twinkle. The foil covering is diffraction-grating foil, what is now called "holographic". There are three of them; red blue and yellow-gold. The supplies consist of a mixed lot of acrylic gems, gel stickers, sequins, pompoms and a "glue stick". I have not opened the packet or pocket page yet as I wish to keep the book intact and bring it with me to LG camp. However I do not know if the usual glue stick will stick the gems to the foil face of the tiaras.

Also included are punch-out doll tiaras, two of which used the crown shape, which I do not like. There is also a cut-out stencil to make all the tiaras that you want, It too does not use a traditional tiara shape. While I am not especially pleased with the specific designs, I got the book as an idea starter. I can see it in use as an LG camp craft project. If you open the link at the end of this article, you will see that Klutz sells "refills" of 6 foil tiaras and the supplies.

Now, If I were to advise putting pom-poms on a tiara. Tiara Fairy Auriandra would have me turned into a frog (In fact, she would probably do it herself and I am one of her favorite persons): So lose the pompoms. Tiaras are always a good idea. I wonder if you can get foil and the gems and sequins elsewhere in larger quantities. I have seen them in Walmart in small packages and in more variety. I have also seen them in fabric stores, not only the usual acrylic gems but also star-cut clear gems, very realistic faux pearls and translucent diamond shaped Aurora Borealis (AB) stones. What I have not seen is the kind that actually sparkle in colors. 40 years ago they did have those with a hole drilled through them about half way to the rear point so that you could run something through them like a string (which is how they came) or silver wire; but that was then, this is now. Persons who make real tiaras have been using AB stones of late.

Make Your Own Twinkly Tiaras is said to be for ages 4-6 years at both Klutz and Amazon. I question that, especially since the girls pictured in here are all much older and what 4-6 year old could read the directions or is inclined or able to put the gems and sequins on the tiaras in an orderly way? When I was 4 years old, I did not even know what a tiara is. I think 7-9 is a more appropriate age and no earlier than second grade and no later than fourth. When I was in middle to late third grade, in early 1954, we were making paper crowns and hats, I got bored with that very quickly. I wanted something that had more variety of shape, size and appearance. I started doing tiaras with basic cut-out patterns that got fairly sophisticated as time went on, giving them to the girls in class. mostly my very special Sandra, and scoring "brownie" points with my teacher for creativity. When the 48-crayon box came to our attention, three of which were metallic, it really got intense. Since LG's are pretty much ahead of the curve on knowing how to do things, the refill packages might be a good item for LG camp craft class. I did not see any mention of securing the band to fit the head. It may be sized right for a real little girl, but an LG may need to attach an elastic in such a way that it is removable if it breaks. I also do not know how durable it is. As I said earlier, I do not know how well a glue stick works on non-porous surfaces (the back of the gems and the metal foil of the tiaras) but that is nothing a tube of  household Goop should not fix. Make Your Own Twinkly Tiaras ought be good to generate interest in tiaras for the 7 year old little girl since she could make her own and dream about having the real thing. From the site, the book sells for $US12.00, which I guess includes shipping, on Amazon.com, it sells for about $US10.00. The "refill" packages sell for $US10.00. I got mine on Ebay for about $US7.50 including s/h

To sum it up: Though Make Your Own Twinkly Tiaras is of no significant interest to me or any hardcore tiara girl for its tiara value, it does a good job introducing a real little girl to tiaras by offering hand-on experience, is all right for a craft project and may have a decent fun factor for LG's, demonstrates what is out there for beginners who, once engaged, can then move on to better things like designing and doing their own from scratch. It would make a very good gift for a 7-year-old girl. If you are a well-rounded tiara enthusiast, interested in all or most aspects of the tiara world instead of just the kinds and how many you can get, you should look at this item. For my purposes, this pruchease was a success since it salved my curiosity and the ideas can be adapted to more advanced do-it-yourself tiaras that could even be stage-worthy. For more information, go HERE.

NEXT PAGE

Table Of Contents