Hand-Carved Bejeweled Hair Stick

The Hair Stick: One of the most beautiful, intricate, and dazzling pieces of hair jewelry anyone could want!

The jewels, the carvings, the sleekness, the stunning-ness, used for thousands of years... I mean come on! Who wouldn't want their own?

Well... come with me on an adventure to make your own hand-carved, emerald green hair stick!

Dowel Rod (1/2 inch diameter or you can use a larger one)

Silver Chain (any length is fine)

Silver Screw Eyes

Beads:

-Gold Beads

-Dark Green Larger Beads

-Light Green Small Beads

Top "Gem" - Emerald Green/ Silver Beaded Gem

Bottom "Gem" - Crystal Shaped Gem

Flexible Beading Needles

Acrylic Paint for basecoat (Bella Rose Color Changing Metallic Aqua Blue-Gold Paint - Hobby Lobby)

Mod Podge - Glossy

Paint Brushes

Carving Set (I used these carving knives: Small Straight Gouge Chisel, Straight Edge Chisel, Fine Point Chisel, Beveled Edge Chisel, Small Beveled Edge Chisel)

Needle Nose Pliers

NOT SHOWN IN PHOTO:

Acrylic Paint for topcoat (choose any color you'd like, I chose a mix of dark green and turquoise):

-Folk Art Satin Thicket Bosquet (Walmart)

-Apple Barrel Matte Laguna (Walmart)

Sandpaper (I used 120 grit sandpaper I had lying around)

Multitool - Saw Blade

Chopstick

Ruler

Pencil

Get a piece of paper and a pencil. Sketch out your design. Remember it may not 100% look just like your drawing and that's ok! But try to get it as close as possible.

I started off with a very intricate design, but decided it would be too much and went with a more simple design based off of the one I drew.

Using your needle nose pliers break off 4 chain loops off of your main chain. You will only need the 4 looped chain, set aside the main chain for another day :)

Next, taking a beading needle thread the Emerald Gem through the bottom and the chain through the top loop. Using the hole at the top of the needle pull the rest of the needle through (creating a "slipknot". Wrap the remaining needle around the chain and gem as many times as you can. Make sure to "knot" the needle by going in and out of the wrapped needle. If you want less of a "knot" then use the pliers to cut off any excess. This makes a very nice, neat, and tight securing of the gem and chain.

Attach another beading needle to the bottom of the gem by creating a "slipknot" (simply threading the needle through the gems hole and the hole at the end of the needle and pulling the remaining needle through that).

Now we get to start the beading. Create any pattern you would like. I threaded a light green bead, then a gold bead, then another light green bead, and then a dark green bead. I continued this pattern until I had 3 dark green beads on my chain.

Make sure to leave at least a half an inch of the needle at the end. This half an inch of the needle you are going to wrap around a chopstick once so you have a loop. Then you are going to take the rest of the needle and wrap it around the area above the loop that is going into the bead. Then take the end and push it through the bead. This makes a tight loop where we will add the rest of the beads.

This is your top-piece.

Taking your Crystal gem, thread through the top of it with a beading needle. Make a "slipknot" like before.

Add your beads in the same pattern you did before. But make sure that the larger green bead is at the top.

This is your base-piece.

This part is a little complicated, I will try to explain it the best I can. I hope you can understand :)

Taking the base-piece needle with the crystal gem and beads, thread the needle through the loop you made at the base of the top-piece. Pull the needle all the way through so that your dark green bead is now touching the loop.

Thread the needle through the dark green bead, then continue threading it through the beads until you reach the crystal gem.

Pulling tightly on the needle, pull the loop into the dark green bead. This will pull and tighten all the beads onto the needle together, giving the beaded chain a nice clean look.

Now pull the rest of the needle through the crystal gem. You can add another needle as I did. Wrap the needle around the crystal gem as many times as you can weaving the needle in and out, finally twist the end into the top of this knot you have made.

Now you have made a very nice knot to end your beaded chain. :)

Using your saw blade attachment, or a saw. Cut your dowel rod. You want it to be a little over 7 inches long. This will allow your hair stick to be 7 inches after you finish carving.

Using your straight edge chisel, start carving the point. Make sure to start the point a few inches from where you want the point.

Carve away from you, having the indented part of the chisel against the wood. To start carving simply push the chisel down and away from you, then continuing this motion push up slightly. This makes very nice and easy carved strokes. Keep doing this until you have a point.

You may use any other chisels to help create the point, I mostly used the straight edge chisel. Don't make the point too sharp, or too round. This is to be the thinnest part of your hair stick. Mine ended up being 1cm thick, and the point is roughly 0.5 cm.

Once you have a point, turn the stick around and start carving. Thinning out the wood, it should end up being 1cm thick and going up to 1 1./4cm. Do this all the way to the end.

Continuing using the straight edge chisel, start carving the end of your hair stick. Carve until you have at least 1 1/4 cm wide of a diameter.

Using a pencil stencil your design on the end of the hair stick. Remember, it's ok if the design doesn't turn out 100% like your stencil or drawing.

Now taking your small straight gouge chisel, chisel around your design. Then, using your beveled edge chisel and small beveled edge chisel, start chiseling the inside of your design. I found that the easiest way to do this was to make vertical lines in your design, and then carve away from you. This makes the wood carve out easier.

Don't worry if it looks rough, you will carve the design out once more to get a nice beautiful detailed design.

Using your 120 grit sandpaper, start sanding down your hair stick. To sand into the design, cut a small piece and fold it in half and sand in small motions. You want to make sure that your hair stick is sanded very nicely and that it is very smooth.

Using your base coat paint (I used a metallic light blue) and a medium sized paint brush, coat your entire hair stick in 2 coats of paint (drying in between coats).

To dry the paint faster I used a hair dryer, this is completely optional. I also found that placing the hair stick on a cup allowed me to let it dry without it rolling all over.

Once your paint is dry, take your fine point chisel and start re-chiseling your design. To do this take the chisel and make an outline of your design, then chisel two vertical lines down the middle(as seen in first photo). Then using the tip of the chisel, push up. This helps you get the design very detailed. Continue this around your whole design.

I added some very beautiful vines to the design.

Once you are done chiseling out your design, sand it (by folding a small piece in half and using small motions).

Time to make your top coat, remember this is the one you will mostly see when the hair stick is finished.

For my top coat I mixed together my base coat (light blue), dark green, and laguna/turquoise green. Mix it together with a medium paint brush. Now, coat your hair stick in 2 coats. Drying it fully in between (I used a hair dryer).

Once it is fully dry, use your sandpaper and sand down the top coat and base coat to bring the colors alive. It makes a beautiful design where you can see the wood, base coat, and top coat. This is completely optional.

Using your dark green paint, and the tip of a chopstick (or a fine paint brush, I didn't have one. But the chopstick worked beautifully) start painting your design. Make sure to get in all the carved creases. Do this until you have a very dark green color. It took me about 3-4 coats. Make sure to dry in between the coats. And once you are finished, it must be fully dry before sealing.

Take your mod podge and a medium paint brush and start coating your hair stick. You want to let your hair stick completely dry in between coats, otherwise it will get sticky and start peeling. Coat at least 2 times, making sure to get into the design.

This allows the paint to be sealed, the wood to be sealed (no splinters), and your design to just be beautiful (and sealed). It also allows your hair stick to go into your hair smoothly without having any problems.

*This is a very crucial step. You don't want to be wearing your hair stick and the paint starts coming off.*

The time has come to finally put your hair piece altogether!!

You'll need to gather your carved hair stick, the beaded chain, screw eyes, and the pliers.

Start by opening your screw eye. I did this by entering the pliers into the eye and pushing down on the screw.

Next, place the top of the chain into the screw eye. Then clamp the eye shut.

Screw in the eye (connected to the beaded chain) into the top of the hair stick. This is really easy, just push down and turn. I also used my pliers for a firmer grip to tighten the screw eye into the hair stick.

VOILA! You're done!

You've just carved your very own hair stick! And doesn't it look BEAUTIFUL!?

I hope you love it as much as I do!

Don't forget to explore new hair styles! A French Twist is super easy and very classy, while a bun is just simple and beautiful! Wear your hair stick with CONFIDENCE!