Make Your Own Golden Crown Photography Prop

An Inspiring Golden Dress

Last year I bought a beautiful golden dress from Dollcake.  Dollcake which  is an amazing Australian company who make boutique dresses for children. The dress arrived and I was extremely excited it was absolutely beautiful. It has beautiful tulle swirls and a lovely golden bodice.  The best part is the sleeves that are beaded with pearl drops hanging over the shoulders.  

My beautiful model Addie

I had a model in mind to wear the dress and that was Addie who I’ve known since she was a little baby. She is the same age as my daughter Maia and her mum and I went to the same Plunket coffee group.  I could imagine Addie in the dress thought she needed a golden headdress to match.

The Perfect Materials

I went to the local craft shop not expecting to find anything that would be perfect. I walked up to the ribbon section and instantly saw the ribbon that I needed. It was a wire ribbon in beautiful shiny gold that perfectly matched the dress, so I bought a couple of metres of this. I then saw some golden rope which perfectly matched the ribbon. At this stage I thought, “this will make a good head dress for Addie.”

I went up to the counter and had to wait in a bit of a queue. As I was waiting I saw a beautiful golden Christmas decoration sitting on a table next to me. I picked it up and thought this this is perfect and match perfectly with the ribbon and the rope I already had.  It had gold leaves on it and looked very Greek or Roman.

The lady next to me said, “I am buying one of those as well.” We had a real laugh about it as it was very funny. It was the last Christmas decoration in that style that they had in the shop. I went home and laid out my headband and my hot glue gun and my three materials. I started by gluing the rope to the yellow headband which I had recycled.

Making the Crown

Then I glued on a piece of stiff cardboard along the top of the headband and spray painted it in gold spray paint which I had lying around.  I then took my golden ribbon and made a twirly flower which I sewed and also glued to the cardboard. I continued the ribbon in ruffles over the gold cardboard until it was all covered. Then I added the Christmas decoration at the back and pushed the leaves down flat so it didn’t stand up too high.

When my kids came home from school they were amazed at what I had made.

Using the crown in the photoshoot

I thought it would look good but when I put it on Addie a few days later, with the dress, it looked amazing. I was super proud of myself. Her mum was very impressed as well. The whole shoot with Addie was in the same dress. We started off with some ferns and no headdress and then added the headdress and got Addie to pose more. The final few photos are the best of the whole shoot. She was working her shoulder and gazing in a fierce model style.  She fully embraced the outfit in the character of a grand royal golden princess. It was one of my favourite shoots of last year I have to say, and the golden headdress was the key piece that made it amazing.

Try it Yourself.

I challenge you all to try making a golden crown yourself.  It’s very easy!  Here is Addie’s final pose during the shoot.  She completely nailed it!!

If you would like a shoot and are in the Christchurch area please let me know on my questionnaire!