Beautiful Disaster

I forgot how much I missed this. If you’re a creative type, you know what I mean. It starts with an idea, a vision if you will...and if you’re lucky, it ends with a product. That’s the difficulty with our type. It’s not usually the idea part that’s the struggle. In fact, the ideas are abundant and ever flowing! It’s actually bringing it to life that takes motivation.

It had been awhile since I had tapped into that part of myself...but the yearning was there. Creatives need to create, it’s not a switch you can simply turn off. But in all honesty, the heaviness associated with the pandemic wasn’t something that inspired me. I missed all the “normal’ things in my life...like taking kids to actual, physical school, and baseball practice and dance classes.

With everyone home all the time (including my husband using our bedroom as his home office), I literally had no space to myself. And lord knows that creatives also need space to create. We are not known for our neatness or timeliness...it’s more of a beautiful disaster, if you know what I mean. The process is not pretty, but the final result is usually rather impressive. No one needs to know how I actually got there, right?

When our life started to resume some semblance of normalcy, I knew I had run out of excuses and the voice in my head was too loud to ignore. The costume designer at my girls’ dance studio had resigned her position, and I knew that she was also responsible for choosing hair accessories to go with the costumes. Just so happens that I know someone who has designed and sold hair accessories in the past. Someone who might be able to help. Needless to say, the voice in my head won...and I spoke it out loud to the dance company director. “Any chance you might need help with hair???”

My first commission was for a jazz number titled “Too Darn Hot”. The director sent me a photo of the short, black dress with an intricate pattern of shimmering rose gold sequins. She asked if I could pull that color into a hair piece. I was up for the challenge. The search ensued for rose gold appliques...and what an extensive and exhausting search it was! It was extremely difficult not only to find that color, but also to find 28 of them!

My online search culminated in the discovery of a fabric that I hoped would be the right size and shade. After seeing one of the costumes in person, I decided the color was more of a “dusty rose”, and the appliques on this fabric seemed near perfect. No reason why I couldn’t cut them out myself, right? The color looked ideal, but I was choosing from pictures online, so there was no way to know for sure. I ordered it and prayed it was a match!

In the meantime, I also secured all the other items I needed. I found some shabby chic, black fabric roses and foolproof glue. I knew that to cut out all of those appliques and roses...not just any scissors would do. Some research led me to the exact pair I knew I needed.

Cue Fiskars Micro-Tip Scissors (No. 5)...which according to my Google search and their website, “...are the perfect choice for making tight cuts, quick snips or cutting intricate details on fabric -- essential for anyone who cuts fabric. A lightweight double-loop handle provides excellent control.” Perfect! I added them to my perpetual Target cart (necessary since the pandemic) and picked them up the next day.

It was like Christmas getting packages in the mail every day, as all of the needed materials continued to arrive. The company director loved the hair pieces so much, she asked me to do more and more. Each time she asked, I envisioned and created something completely original, based on the genre of dance, the costume, and the music.

For “Storm”, an intense contemporary dance with dark green velvet dresses, there were black satin rosettes with emerald jewel centers. For “All Shook Up”, a fun jazz number with the youngest dancers, there were bright yellow chiffon flowers, layered on black marabou feathers with rhinestone button accents. I made the most stunning rhinestone clips using crystal appliques with royal blue ribbon behind for Jubilee, a ballet number on pointe. And finally, I created headbands using gold metallic trim adorned with multicolored jewels -- red, orange, pink, green, blue and clear for the genie costumes the girls were wearing in “One Jump”, an Aladdin themed musical theater piece.

By the end, it was for 5 different dances, and 79 hair accessories in total. This process equated to lots of late nights of cutting, sewing and gluing. No wonder I was exhausted! But it was so worth it! I loved seeing how it all came together. I could not have guessed that my biggest struggle would come from making the final piece...the most significant piece of them all...the one for my daughter, Ella’s solo.

Her song was titled, “La Vie”, which in French means “Life”. It was light and melodious...the type of song that makes you feel as if you are floating on clouds. The dance fit my daughter perfectly, a lyrical piece that showed her grace and long lines beautifully. After considerable debate, she chose a costume that was a short, velvet dress adorned with lace on the bodice. The color was a gorgeous shade of green called Juniper.

She also chose some delicate opal earrings, which are my birthstone. I thought they were perfect, and that an opal applique to match it would be exactly the right choice for her hair. After another extensive online search, I finally found the one I wanted. I was running out of time though, and was unsure if it would make it. I ordered it anyway and crossed my fingers.

Two days before the competition, I was tracking the package and made the sad realization that it would be too late. Scrambling, I took the costume with me to a local craft store. To be honest, I wasn’t hopeful that I would find anything that would work, but I at least had to try. I didn’t want to have my own daughter be disappointed that I couldn’t come through for her. As it turns out, the eleventh hour is also when I do my very best work.

What happened next can only be described as the stars aligning exactly as they should. I have no idea how on earth this happened, but I walked straight into the store and found a spool of velvet ribbon the exact same juniper color as Ella’s costume. I was absolutely stunned and delighted at the same time! Now if I could find an accent piece that would not only compliment the dress, but give her the “wow” factor...this was the real challenge!

I wandered up and down the aisles of the buttons, findings, and the like...even the jewelry aisle. I’m not talking once or twice, more like three times trying different parts and pieces, but nothing was just right. I kept hoping that something would magically appear…

I was about to give up...but decided to take one final stroll through the jewelry section. I scanned the shelves slowly...and just then my eyes caught a glimpse of a random package that was overturned. I reached down and picked it up, turning it over to see a glistening pendant, whose Austrian crystal stones were a glorious, light shade of iridescent green mixed with sparkling, clear rhinestones.

You probably won’t believe me when I tell you this part, but there was a red sticker that said “hidden gems” on the card that the pendant was attached to! (I literally cannot make this up!) While it was intended to be part of a necklace, I visualized a different way to use it. By adding additional Swarovski crystals to the pendant, no one would be able to tell what it was actually for. I found what I thought would be the right size rhinestones and happily skipped to the checkout line. (Okay, so maybe I didn’t actually skip, but you get the idea!)

In true “me” fashion, I stayed up late that night bringing this beautiful piece to life. First, using my special Fiskars scissors to meticulously cut the green velvet ribbon. Then securely gluing it to the French barrette clip. It was a delicate task in terms of the placement. I had to attach the rhinestones precisely to the pendant, to cover the loops that were intended to be used to string onto a necklace. I had actually misjudged the size of stones that I needed, but thankfully, I had another stash I was able to go right to...and lo and behold, I had the ideal size!

The final step was affixing the pendant to the clip, which required some serious focus so that it was directly centered. The glue required for such tasks is very potent indeed! But also one hundred percent necessary! (One positive side effect of the pandemic...plenty of masks around to help with this!) I used additional clips to hold it in place as it dried.

The next morning, I had just enough time to embellish the clip with four additional Swarovski crystals (two on each side of the pendant) to intensify the sparkle factor. The final result was absolutely exquisite! I felt such a sense of accomplishment seeing my creation come to fruition.

Minutes before she performed on stage for the first time in two years, I placed it carefully in my daughter’s hair. My feelings at that moment were indescribable. It brought tears of joy to my eyes thinking how much I had missed being a part of the dance world during the pandemic, and seeing my daughter do what she loves and excels at.

As the talented dancers in our company performed on the stage that weekend, it was such a delight to see my creations on stage. To know that I had a small part to play in making their beautiful costumes come to life, in a time when the world had been on pause for so long. The process may have been messy...but the happiness I felt when I was creating...that felt so right. It’s a part of me that I cannot abandon, at least not for long. I cannot wait for the opportunity to do it again!