How To Make A Rapunzel Crown/Tiara!

The really cool thing about the crown/tiara is that it can be made almost entirely from materials found at your local craft store.  The only thing I had to find online were those large tear shaped crystals.  And guess what?!  I'll give you the link directly to the site so you don't even have to hunt them down.

To begin! The list of materials you will need:

Craft foam (the sheets you find a craft stores that can come in many different colors.  They run about $.99 a sheet. I went with white.)
Mod Podge
Gold acrylic paint
Those little foam brushes (again, very cheap) to apply said mod podge and gold paint
Craft/jewelry wire (the thickest gauge you can find)
X-acto knife
Cutting board
Hot glue
Poster board (you can probably use paper, but I need something more sturdy)
Lots and lots of bling (clear crystals, red/pink crystals, a few blue crystals, and some faux pearls)

Step #1

Make your stencil!  Using the movie as a reference, draw out how you want the crown to look (this is where you use the poster board). Use your large crystals to trace the holes that will hold them. You want them to fit snugly. Keep in mind, you'll end up cutting the crown out a few times, so it's important that it is consistent.  I made the stencil as only half a crown, since you can just flip it over and voila! A symmetrical crown. Your x-acto knife will be your best friend in this project.  There just no way to do this easily without one.

Side note - At this point figure out the large you want the diameter of your crown to be and cut the stencil accordingly.

Step #2

Use said stencil to trace and cut out two crowns out of craft foam.  I ended up needing to use three, but my large crystals were a bit too large and heavy, so it caused the crown to sag a bit.  Buying smaller crystals should fix that problem.

Step #3

Hot glue is definitely the best thing to use here as it will not come detached unless you actually rip the foam.  I, unfortunately, do not have a picture of step #3.  It somehow got deleted, so bear with me.

Use your craft wire to reinforce one of the crowns you just cut out, especially around the area that will be holding the large crystals and the thin part that will be sitting on your head.  Unfortunately, I bought wire that was too thin, so I twisted pieces together to give it more strength.  Use the hot glue to attach the wire to the crown.

When you feel your crown in sufficiently reinforced, glue the second crown cut-out to the first, making sure it conceals the wire you just attached. You don't wan that wire showing. Hot glue the ends of the crown together to make a proper crown and gently form it into a circle.  You may need bend it a bit here and there to get the wire to the desired shape.

Step #4

Mod podge the hell out of the crown! If you do not put enough mod podge on the crown, the gold paint will not look good as the foam will absorb it.  I ended up using 5 or 6 layers of mod podge.  Do your best to get it into all the nooks and crannies of the crown.  The mod podge will also add some rigidity to your crown while also remaining flexible.

(You can actually see a little bit of wire here in the back where I messed up)

After you are done using mod podge and the crown is dry, you can GENTLY use some super fine sand paper to smooth it out a little bit.

Step #5

You've got the Midas touch! So shiny... You may need two layers of paint. Just let it dry then touch it up.

Step #6

Now for the best part. Bring on the bling!  I glued on all the small crystals and pearls using the mod podge.  It worked well and dried flat and clear.  I used super glue for the large crystals. I put the crystals in place and glued around the edge.  I ended up needing to scrape up some excess, but it worked well.

(Partially bling'ed)

And finished!

You may be asking yourself, "Hey, she said she'd let me know where to buy the tear-shaped crystals!"

Hold your horses, you can find them here:

http://www.chandelierparts.com/valueprismsandchandelierparts.aspx

The crystals are actually chandelier replacement parts!  I used one 3" prism and two 2 1/2" prisms.  If I did this again, I would definitely get smaller prisms as they were just a little too big.  It would be nice if my crown was a bit more delicate looking.  They also made the crown a tad front heavy.

If anything was unclear, I would be more than happy to clarify.

Also, please feel free to share this, but if you post it elsewhere, I just ask you place a link back to here.

Thanks for looking!