Sunday 22 January 2012

Creating Hatpins - A Tutorial

Be warned - this tutorial comes with a health warning – making hatpins is a seriously addictive habit!  This is a beginner tutorial, but once you’ve got started, there are hundreds of beautiful beads and charms – you need never make the same hatpin twice.


To start, gather your materials – I’m using pearl teardrop 2.5” pins, a selection of 6mm & 4mm glass pearl beads and some 4mm glass bicone beads.  I will also need some clear glue (or dries clear glue), a toothpick, an eggcup, a small piece of waxed paper and a non-stick worksheet.
Before you start gluing, it can be useful to thread up your hatpins with your chosen beads to make sure you are happy with what the end result will look like.  Use a variety of bead colours and types. 
Start by squeezing a small amount of glue onto the wax paper (I use old glue dot carrier paper).  Using a toothpick, pick up a tiny amount of glue and dab it onto the bottom of the pearl-head on the pin.


Thread on your first bead and push up into the glue.  If you’ve applied too much glue, just wipe away any excess with your thumb nail. Carry on repeating this process with each of the beads. 

When you have finished, rest your hat pins upside down to dry in an eggcup.  If there is any chance that someone could accidently prick themselves with the drying pins, make sure you put silicon earring stoppers on the sharp ends.
After 30mins your pins will be dry and ready to use. Sit back and admire your lovely hatpins! When adding your hatpins onto a project, if the sharp end of the pin is exposed, use silicon earring stoppers on the points or a small, crystal bead glued in place.

To see these hat pins in situ, take a peek at my 'Glorious Dress Card' post.

For more advanced (but still not difficult) Hat Pins, take a peek at my tutorial Decorative Hat Pins - Next Steps and don't forget to watch my 
video demonstration on Creating Hatpins on my Youtube channel here. 

I do hope that this was useful, and I’d love to read your comments.
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14 comments:

  1. Great tutorial, Dips! I'm starting to get the hat pin bug too :-)

    Beth. xxx

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  2. Excellent tutorial and very clearly written Dips - even I can understand it! Beautiful hat pins too.
    Granny Penny

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  3. Great tutorial and very clear thanks Dips x

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  4. Great tutorial Dips, very well written and completely understandable.

    Pam

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  5. Wonderful tutorial Dips, cant wait for more and as soon as Ive posted the comment Im becoming a follower xxx

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  6. What a great tutorial. Clear and great photos. Thank you Dips.

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  7. wow how very lovely and what a great idea ... thank you for explaining it to us ... it was a very clear tutorial and I cant wait to have a go happy crafting and love sandy xx

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  8. After inserting my beaded hat pins into my project, I glue a clear seed bead on the sharp point of the hat pin so that no one gets stuck by the pin point!

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  9. Great idea, thank you for the tip!

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  10. Love this idea! Thank you for the tutorial.

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  11. Great idea thanks a lot.
    Ann

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  12. Fab tutorial, thanks for sharing. Maddy x

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  13. Where do you source your teardrop 2.5" pins?? Would love to make some but don't have the necessary pins.

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  14. Brilliant tutorial Dips, I will certainly be trying this.

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I love to read your feedback, thank you for taking the time to comment.

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