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MorganCrone — Horned Headdress-Since you asked:
Published: 2012-06-11 19:30:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 6338; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 0
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Description I have had so many people asking how the headdress was made so here it is for everyone. Do forgive if it doesn't read smoothly, it's a collection of copy and pastes from previous replies.

The diadem was moulded over a white domino mask to begin with in layers about 1/16-1/8th inch thick. Each layer was smoothed while still wet and let to cure. The base was then cut with an Exacto knife off of the plastic mask, the epoxy fused with the plastic of the mask so it was then one piece.
Each layer was then sanded with a coarse grit emery cloth or a medium grit sand paper depending on the need. As it was built up the details and shapes were more defined and due to the texture of the clay a lot of the details were sanded and scraped with ceramic tools and various Exacto and straight razor blades. Toward the end the details were being built up in quarter to pea sized bits of the clay. Once cured it was all scrapped down, basically a tedious carving to make sure everything was as symmetrical as I could get it. The horns were attached and reenforced by the sockets which are made out of epoxy putty (Procreate brand) which is nearly unbreakable under normal circumstances. After the full piece had its hard cure it was again sanded with a fine grit sandpaper (about 400 grit) and then again with a finer grit (600 grit)sandpaper, after that it was polished down with a sanding pad, it's sort of like extreamly steel wool only not steel. That was used to buff everything to a smooth finish before priming and painting. So that's why it's so smooth. About 35-40 hours of work not including curing times.
The 'V' design on the front was separate and attached later, the horns were attached last and the sockets were built up last with Procreate epoxy putty for extra strength. In between layers it was dry sanded with different grits of sand paper, carved and cut down with various Exacto blades and when it was all done it had another full sand down with a medium grit and then ultra fine grit sand paper and finally buffed with a sanding pad until it was smooth and somewhat shiny. After that it was sprayed with 3-4 coats of ModPodge gloss sealant, then a few coats of red Krylon spray paint and about 3 coats of Krylon Speciality Metallic spray paint in Gold.

The horns have an almost wire thin core of tightly twisted 'heavy duty' aluminium foil in about a 9 gauge thickness. This can't support the shape of the epoxy though, it just gave a base length to start with. While the epoxy was about a forth of the way cured is when I put the final curves into it and then exaggerated them even more in each layer. While curing the first layer I had them draped over different forms to support them and keep the curves from going flat. I used 3 layers of epoxy clay for each horn. Between each layer I scrapped them down with a bent razor blade and sanded and then a finishing sanding once all was done. One thing to remember, the epoxy clay is heavy and must have a VERY secure way to attach at the base of whatever you're putting it on. If what you're making is going onto a leather mask I would say to try the paper clay or polymer clay over a thick base of aluminium foil. There's also some really sturdy variations of paper mache these days that finish like clay. I had my reason for using the material I did for the horns but in other applications and designs I would use a different material. The epoxy clay (Magic Sculpt) is also rather expensive.

The diadem is designed to be worn under a wig attaching to the head with 2 sets of adjustable straps made of 1" wide black velvet ribbon that fasten with a set of 4 metal snaps set in Velcro on each set of straps. One set of straps around the top of the forehead and one just above the ears and around the fullest part of the head. The inside of the diadem is lined with a thin layer of foam covered 100% jersey fabric.
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Comments: 11

BAKAusagi150 [2013-05-30 00:31:15 +0000 UTC]

why is it important to put a couple coats of red spray paint before using the gold?

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MorganCrone In reply to BAKAusagi150 [2013-05-30 01:32:19 +0000 UTC]

If you want bright gold paint to look like a rich gold and not a chintzy Halloween prop you need to use red under it, the colour of the base coat does show though all paints. If you want a deep bronze gold then use a dark brown or a maroon base, if you want a yellow gold use a forest green base and if you want stark gold gold than use black. And in all cases metallic paints should ALWAYS be applied over a base colour or you'll end up using like 10 coats.

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emm-gee [2013-03-25 00:55:25 +0000 UTC]

the issue i'm having with mine is that i don't know how to get it to stay on
i noticed you said yours attaches under the wig, does the hair not cover the sides?

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MorganCrone In reply to emm-gee [2013-03-25 16:59:06 +0000 UTC]

Nope, it doesn't cover anything. You can see the photos of the woman it was made for here [link]

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emm-gee In reply to MorganCrone [2013-03-25 20:43:59 +0000 UTC]

oh, nice
thank you! i'll have to try that
ps your work is beautiful

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Clopette-Jolly [2012-07-21 16:20:08 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for posting this very helpful!

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MorganCrone In reply to Clopette-Jolly [2012-07-23 17:36:02 +0000 UTC]

Glad it could be of some use!

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BurningHeartagram [2012-06-27 21:02:36 +0000 UTC]

This is absolutely amazing. Would you ever consider letting people commission you for this?

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MorganCrone In reply to BurningHeartagram [2012-06-29 22:31:49 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!
I do take commissions for this and pretty much everything you see on my DA account. The info for the headdress can be found here [link]
I am currently working on a Sigyn headdress based on an original design.

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Lilith1985 [2012-06-23 01:14:59 +0000 UTC]

Awesome!

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MorganCrone In reply to Lilith1985 [2012-06-25 18:46:02 +0000 UTC]

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