A Guest Tutorial by Françoise Weeks

Small fascinators are a fun alternative to the more traditional flower crowns.

Inspired by the piece of jewelry pictured below which was designed by Maria Elena Headpieces as a hairpiece, I tried different ways to create a base for a fascinator, emulating this idea. After experimenting with different types of wires to create the small crescents, I settled on using pipe cleaners for a few  reasons: they are super flexible, which makes it really easy to mold the fascinator perfectly to the head, they are soft to the touch and easy to manipulate and most importantly, it is a great gluing surface.

Since making the first one a couple of months ago,  I have made some changes to the way I originally made the base and wanted to share this simple and inexpensive way to design a floral fascinator. And of course, these fascinators can be made in any size and the pipe cleaners can be connected in any configuration.

 

Examples of small flowers, blossoms and textures to use:

• Small flowers: pansies, clematis, honeysuckle, columbine, muscari, hellebore, fritillaria meleagris, lavender, sweet peas, small cymbidium or phalaenopsis orchids (partially deconstructed)
• Blossoms: delphinium, eucomis (pineapple lily), allium, hyacinths, kangaroo paws, kalanchoe
• Textures: any kind of berries, sedum, small succulents, small seedpods, small dried mushrooms, acorns

For this design I used:

Supplies

• • 7 pipe cleaners
  • bullion wire (from Oasis or any other thin wire)
  • a bit of thin wire (aluminum wire from Oasis or 26 gauge wire or any thin wire you have on hand)
  • floral adhesive (from Oasis)
  • 4 hairpins

Botanicals

• • 8 stems of bird’s nest fern (I bought 4″ plants, the leaves were about 4-6″ long)
  • blossoms of eucomis and allium christophii
  • small clematis
  • pansies
  • kent oregano
  • blueberries
  • sedum
  • small pieces of coxcomb

How to make the base:

1. Make individual circles with 6 pipe cleaners, by twisting the 2 ends together

2. Fold each circle in half

3. Connect 2 half circles by twisting some bullion wire: then secure another half circle, connecting it in the center of the 2 connected half circles

4. Repeat 3

5. Cut the last of the pipe cleaners in thirds

6. Connect the 2 sets of 3 half circles with the short pipe cleaners by looping them through the folded pipe cleaners and then twisting them

7. Secure 4 small loops of the thin wire (to secure bobby pins on)

 

Decorate the base:

 Remember to use the cold glue sparingly!

1. Cover the pipe cleaners with foliage or petals.  I glued leaves of the bird’s nest fern on the pipe cleaner on the bottom right in the image below.
   • The other examples show the pipe cleaners wrapped with wisteria leaves (upper right), hydrangea blossoms (upper left) or calix of carnations (lower left) — any small  flexible leaf or petals will do the trick.

2. I chose to cover the base of this fascinator with bird’s nest fern.

3. The two leaves in the center are covered with deconstructed cockscomb, small clematis, blueberries, blossoms of allium christophii, and stamens of rhododendron. The 6 half circles are decorated with blossoms and buds of eucomis, allium christophii, blueberries, sedum, small pansies, kent oregano, and snippets of coxcomb.

Place the fascinator on the head and secure it with 4 bobby pins

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How to Keep a Fascinator Hydrated for Up to 5 Days

Two years ago I attended a workshop taught by the magical German designer Gregor Lersch. We learned how to create a hydration chamber for designs that had no water source.

I wish I would have known about this 24 years ago when I started my business. Instead of making corsages, boutonnieres and flower crowns in the middle of the night before the wedding, I could have made them on Tuesday. The method is so simple and it is a total game changer! It also allows me to use flowers that I never would have thought of using without a water source like sweet peas, pansies, lilac, honeysuckle and many more.

1.Cover the bottom of an air tight container with wet paper towels

2. After misting the fascinator with water, place it in the box and cover it with another layer of wet paper towels.

3. Seal the box. Put it in the cooler (or in a cool room). The moisture will hydrate the flowers perfectly and after 5 days they will still look impeccable.

This method comes in super handy for any design made without a water source. For large events, weddings or photo shoots that involve multiple designs, we can design up to 5 days before the event. 

Another option is to hydrate the flowers in the airtight box for at least 24 hours in the box and then make the design (for example if you make a wired cascading bouquet).

If you make larger designs like headpieces or dresses etc, you can use a large plastic bag to store your design in after covering it with the wet paper towels and then sealing it with a tight knot.

PS: Do keep in mind that if the event happens outdoors on a super hot day, it’s a good idea to use less fragile flowers and lots of textures like seedpods, succulents and sedums and highlight the designs with a few flowers. Remember that on any given day the temperature in the sun will be about 20 degrees hotter than in the shade.  So on an 85 degree day, the temperature will be 105 in the sun. No matter how well hydrated the flowers are, they will not do very well for several hours in that kind of heat. The bottom line is to use common sense!

A few more examples:

1. Fascinator with Phalaenopsis

The pipe cleaners are covered with the petals of the flowers and then are decorated with the throat of the orchid, blueberries, and snippets of grass; the 3 short pieces of pipe cleaners in the center are covered with an orchid.

2. Fascinator with Pansies (photos Ted Mishima)

The pipe cleaners are covered with the bird’s nest fern and are decorated with pansies, blueberries, blossoms of allium christofii, and rhipsalis.

3. Larger Fascinator

15 pipe cleaners were used (row 1 with 1 pipe cleaner – row 2: 2 …row 5 : 5 pipe cleaners). The pipe cleaners are covered with bird’s nest fern and decorated randomly with honeysuckle, digitalis, mini phalaenopsis, yarrow, dichlostemma, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, succulents, and sedum.

All images courtesy of Theresa Bear (except the pansy fascinator: Ted Mishima)

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UPDATE: Congratulations to Alicia at Plant Design Events, winner of Wedding Wearables by Francoise Weeks! Thanks for your generosity, Francoise!

GIVEAWAY + SPECIAL OFFER FOR BB READERS

1. Francoise is gifting her Wedding Wearables online course to one BB reader (retail value: $425)! To enter, simply leave a comment below before 11:59 pm PST on Friday, August 21, 2020. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and contacted by email. Giveaway open to ALL BB readers!
2.  Francoise is also offering a very generous discount on her Wedding Wearables online course for BB readers who don’t win the giveaway – or who can’t wait to get the course and want to buy it now! Click Here to get 60% off Wedding Wearables (use code BB2020, if prompted). That’s a savings of $255! Offer ends 11:59 pm PST on Saturday, August 22, 2020.

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If you enjoyed this tutorial, you may also like our Pin Frog tutorial with Alyssa Lytle of Color Theory Design Co. Click Here to check it out!