Recycled Tacky Brooch Hairclip (with Feathers!)

When I first decided to make a craft blog, I brainstormed ENDLESSLY and was constantly writing down craft ideas in my notepad, sketching concepts here and there, and making spreadsheets with my plans. I dreamed this craft and could never figure out how to doodle it so I’d remember exactly what I wanted. And then I found this old creeper of a pin that I actually used to LOVE. It was in the same box as the cuff bracelet from the previous craft. I actually found a truckload of old weirdo brooches, so there’ll be more pin-activities coming up.

There’s something special about wearing a unique hairclip - whether it be covered in feathers or jewels. Equivalent to having a festooned headband that nobody else has. I have two beautiful hairclips (purchases, not made) that manage to make me feel that much more special whenever I wear them. It’s so common these days to either shove a headband in your hair or just wear it loose. Yes - it’s also common to wear plastic banana clips or claw clips, but I’m talking more for style than convenience. A lovely hairclip can really just take your outfit up a notch, and hey, why not have one that nobody else has? Onto the craft!

Things You Need:

• 1 old tacky brooch that you KIND OF like
• 1 hair clip (mine are 3″ long & come in a pack of 6 from the dollar store)
• Glue gun
• Feathers
• Heavy fabric scraps or thick ribbon (I used 1.5″ thick velvet ribbon. I’m fancy.)

Things You Don’t NEED But Are More Than Welcome to Use Because I Did:

• Faceted jewels

How To:

1. Cut a piece of ribbon/fabric long enough to cover the hairclip, leaving about a half an inch hanging off the length - that’ll give you extra space to dazzle up the clip. This is purely to have a base that not only covers the clip, but also is a background for your pin and feathers. It doesn’t matter WHAT you use, it’s just for show.
2. Glue the bottom of the pin to the now-covered clip. I didn’t remove the back of the pin, but depending on your pin’s size, you may want to, with needlenose pliers. I only glued the bottom down so I’d have space for the next step…
3. Because of the style and size of my pin, I was able to cheat a little bit. Pipe glue between the pin and the covered clip and quickly push feathers, stem first, in between the pin and clip.
4. Continue piping glue and pushing feathers in a crescent form around the brooch, so it looks like a semi-circle of feathers exploding from the brooch.
5. Add jewels - if you like - to the edges of the clip. This serves 2 purposes: covers up excess stems and glue and adds EXTRA dazzle!
6. Clip it to your hair and prance around like the fab peacock you are!

Note: Because of the style of my pin, I was able to push feathers easily between the clip and pin. Most brooches aren’t as easy. If yours is on the more suspicious side, I strongly suggest glueing your feathers first and THEN topping it off with the brooch.

Estimated Time: 20 minutes of feather-glueing
Craft Level: Moderate - styling a brooch-feathered-jeweled-hairclip can be tricky!

Feather Cuff

My inspiration!

As usual, I was anxiously searching shopbop for things to order online, because June is free shipping to Canada month. Really, I was searching for jeans, but this is what I found, and the wheels in my little head started spinning like mad. Recently, I found a box of all my old costume jewelry - tacky necklaces, ugly plastic bangles, gifts I’d never worn. In this box, I also happened to find a great looking “silver” cuff/bangle bracelet (it’s “silver” and not silver, because there’s no chance that it’s real) that I knew would be too plain for me to wear EVER. My first instinct was to just glue on as many jewels as humanly possible, but then I found the shopbop cuff. Inspiration central! Nothing’s greater than taking an old piece of jewelry and - if possible - bringing it up to the current season with a little bit of glue and zing! That, and anything with feathers is SUPER trendy and SUPER right-now!

Things You Need:

• An old cuff bracelet or bangle - either one works
• Glue gun - can’t get around this one
• Feathers: I used 16 medium sized ones (no more than 3″ long) and 4 small ones (approx. 1″ long)
• Scissors

How To:

1. Starting on one end, do a little test run and see how many feathers you’d like to have across the width. In my case, 2 fit perfectly and leave a little feathery fringe on the side edges. Keep in mind that you’re working with the length of the feather and the bracelet (see pictures below for prime understanding).
2. Put a thin strip of glue directly on the bangle and press a feather onto it. You want the feathery/plumey part to be slightly hanging off the edge of the cuff and the sharp tip to be laying flat on the surface. Repeat and glue as many feathers down for one row.
3. To make the next row - and every row afterwards - place glue on the bottom half of the above feather and continue onto the bracelet. In order to get a cute fluffy feathered look, overlapping is crucial - and also hides the previous feather stem.
4. Repeat glueing the feathers - overlapping the above rows - until you’ve nearly reached the bottom of the bracelet. Trim overly excess stems as necessary!
5. When you’ve nearly hit the bottom, glue a row of smaller feathers lengthwise to cover up the last row of stems and one teeny tiny feather across the bottom to cover up the mini stems.
6. Wear your cuff for some boho-chic feathered fun!

   

   My inspiration!

   

   Supply Mess!

   

   The original cuff bracelet - SNORE!

   
   

   

   Feather placement - trial!

   

   Glueing the first row/layer!

   

   Adding the second row

   
   

   

   Necessary stem trimming

   

   Mini-feathers for extra trim!

   

   Finished feather cuff! Stylish!

   
   
   

Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes, depending on your glue-gun abilities
Craft Level: Easy - but finding chic feathers isn’t!

Tags: bracelet, feathers, glue gun, shopbop