On the first day, We got instructions on how to build this project. Foam, wonderflex, and whatever means allowed us to get as close as possible to the finished project. The first step was to get the circumference of our heads, then on brown paper block out a rectangle that was three inches tall and for me personally was around twenty-five and seven eights long. then once that was traced out, I cut it out and placed slits every inch and a half. this allowed me to find the correct curve that matched the designer’s desired design. I then measured out a quarter of an inch and tried to see if that set the crown at the correct angle from the head, it was a bit too far. So I took the advice from a classmate, Lucifer, and took the space down to an eighth of an inch. It then allowed for the correct angle away from the head, making it closer to the intended design.
I then went home and took sheets of black foam and used the template I had made in class to cut out pieces that allowed for the proper shape. I ended up using pins to help me hold the paper to the foam. It amused me a bit because it felt a bit like cheating. Once I had the pieces cut out, I used hot glue to stick them all together. I had been worried while gluing because it didn’t seem to hold at first, but luckily for me, it did. I wanted to keep the crown smooth looking, so I layered hot glue to smooth out the edges. I waited until it cooled enough to smooth out the glue, creating a nice flush look. while the glue cooled, I took a screenshot of the design and zoomed in on the spires. I then traced the outline of the spire, giving me a template to trace onto the paper and then cut out of foam. I was able to make four copies of the spire, insuring a uniform look. Once the glue was cooled on the crown I had my younger sister put it on so I could check to see if the angle and size seemed fitting, it did.
The next step was to put wonderflex onto the foam. I had missed class due to an illness so I had to find an alternative way of putting the wonderflex onto the foam so I wasn’t behind in class. So I double-checked with instructions on how to apply it and found that if I got water hot enough I could do the same thing as if I had done with a heat gun. In all honesty, I burned my fingers a bit and it is far less effective than using a heat gun. It took way more time than it probably should have. I also put the crown into the freezer between adding sections of wonderflex in order to speed up the process as it was quite late at night when I did this. Unfortunately for me I only had grabbed enough wonderflex to do the base of the crown, so the next day in class I used a heat gun to apply wonderflex to my spires. Then I went home with some felt, hot glued that to the back of the spires, and then I marked out where each spire should sit, and then hot glued the spires to the base of the crown. Once that was done I began adding texture to the crown. when that was done I took sculpticoat and ensured to put a decent layer of that on everything, but making sure to not put too much to lose the textures given by the trim.
The next day I painted the base coat with matt black paint. once that was dry I began layering on different gold paints, antique gold, 24-carat gold paint, and brilliant gold paint. the three golds created an interesting look. making it feel aged but also still very pretty and regal. Once that was dried I put on a thick glossy top coat of paint to give the crown a bit of extra shine. In the end, I feel like I did as best I could. If I could do anything differently I would have gotten thinner sheets of foam, with how thick the foam is as well as the weight of the wonderflex it is a bit heavy with everything added together. But in the end, I am proud of the work I did because I gave it my all and learned how to work with wonderflex in different ways.
