Locket Hair Pins

January 15th, 2009 @ 1:04 pm by Mrs. Lollipop

My hair has grown very long and I wear it in a bun most of the time. I almost never have my hair down when I leave the house and certainly not while I eat. So I always have hair loops or hairpins at hand to keep it out of my way.

I wore my hair the same way when I was a tour guide in DC. A ponytail would be a mess after just one walking tour, but a cinnamon bun on the back of my head would stay perfect for an entire shift.

I keep losing my hairpins so I make more every few months. I usually use 3 inch jumbo bobby pins and add something pretty. I’ve shown something similar before on this blog with the set of hair accessories that I made for my wedding reception.

I put together this set to look a little old-timey so that they will coordinate with the vintage-style dresses that I usually wear when it’s not winter. The round things are tiny, 1 centimeter in diameter lockets; they are real, functioning ones that you can keep a picture inside. Mine will carry pictures of my grandmothers, I even know what pictures I’m going to use, but I’ll need to borrow them from my mom, scan and shrink them.

The construction for this project is pretty easy and will take you about 10 minutes with luck. Just take a length of wire, I usually start with one about 8 inches long, and wind it first around the leaf piece, securing it in place. Next, twist a length of wire to form the stem locket ’flower’. To keep the locket in place, wind the wire around a second time. I usually do a pretty messy job, but through a little experimenting you’ll probably do a lot better.

The locket and metal leaves came from one of my favorite online craft supply shops, the Canadian papier valise. There is a lot of stuff to wade through, but there are a lot of curiosities that I’ve never seen anywhere else. You’ll have to pay in Canadian dollars, but the rates are much better now than when I did my purchasing a year ago.