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| ears ready for a new coat of gold, inside the new paint booth, a large cardboard box |
Since I first used that cursed Pébèo Deco Spray - Gold 868, I wasn't happy with the painting job. All three cans have splurted instead of spraying the paint, giving the ears an unwanted texture. Since I last painted them, and tried to glue them to the headband, they came off the headband and a few cracks opened. I talked about adding holes to the headband and nailing them to the ears, but I couldn't make the holes with my dremmel, and I'm not in the mood to bother some cosplayer neighbours, that have more tools than I do, just for that. Then it stroke me, maybe I could tie them to the headband with thin wire, if it's gold wire, the wig may hide it partially. Fortunately, I had some in my stash. I don't know why I have it, maybe it was for something for the dolls, I don't remember. Or maybe it came in the big fabric and related stuff haul my friend Ana gave me.
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| a very bad paint job |
So, I glued the damaged parts, sanded them, removed the glue from where I tried to glue them to the headband, and added another gold paint coat. Honestly, I shook the can for about 15 minutes, it still splurted the paint out... I let them dry overnight, and, in the next few days I wet sanded them smooth, to remove most of the texture. Because I tagged Pébèo on Instagram, they reached out to me, first through private message, and then asked me to send them an email. I'm now waiting and hoping they'll get back to me, and suggest some alternative. I still have the shoe embellishments and the sceptre to paint.
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| ears, headband, awl and thin gold wire. |
Then I pierced the ears with an awl and a thick sewing needle, two small holes near the centre in each and joined the ears at the centre, by glueing a piece of thin yellow ribbon to the bottom part with super glue. I first glued one half to one ear, and let it dry. Then, anchoring the ears, I glued the second half of the ribbon to the other ear. I let it dry again, and reinforced it with a second coat of super glue on top of the ribbon.
I cut four pieces of wire, about 12 cm each, and threaded them through the small holes in the ears twice. I placed the headband through the wire loops, and started by tightening the outer wires around the headband, and then the inner wires. I took turns tightening them, and shaping them if needed, and when I was overall happy, I started to twist both ends on each wire with tweezers. Again, I started twisting the outer wires, and finished with the inner wires. When all wires were tight, I cut the ends about 5mm long, and turned them inside, to not catch on the wig and to hide them.
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| ears attached to the steel headband with wires |
I tried the ears on, and they're pretty stable. Only the side thingies make a bit too much pressure on my skull, and get hidden by the hair, but they should be more visible against the black wig. So I may try to twist them a bit with the help of the heat gun.
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| testing the ears for comfort and stability |
Meanwhile, I've been zigzag hemming the petticoat flounces, 14 down, 10 to go.
+ I'm glad I changed the way to attach the ears to the headband, the wires are hardly noticeable on top of the hair, they're the same gold, and the ears feel very stable.
- The paint issue has been a real pain in the arse, and what is more frustrating is that this is probably the best quality metallic paint I've worked with so far. Very resistant. Besides, it's the exact yellow gold tone I need.
THE CUNNING PLAN
Keep hemming the flounces, and embroidering the collar. Once the hems are done, thread the sewing machine with grey and sew the goddamn dress!
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