Jewelry Dress Form

For some time now, I've wanted something that would help me perfect my necklace-making.   I've yelled, "I can't believe that just happened!" so many times that my kids and husband roll their eyes at my now-ironic statement.  I guess I should believe it because half the time I hold up a strung design to my neck and chest (trying to figure out how long I want it), one half of the wire slips out of my grasp and beads cascade all over the floor.  I even tried using Bead Buddies to keep the ends secure and it still spilled all over the place!!!  Hopeless?  Nope!

Jenny II:  My sister-in-law's form.

In the absence of a mannequin, I decided to make my own necklace form.  Luckily, my sister-in-law just moved up and happens to have similar dimensions!  After watching a Youtube on how to make a dress form, off I went to her place with a bunch of duct tape, an old shirt, and my enthusiasm.  An hour later I was cutting the form off her and sealing it up.

Using the dress form to see how my chameleon charms hang.

Here's what I learned:

1.  Pinning up hair isn't good enough.  Spray water, detangler, or better yet, hairspray.  Baby hairs love duct tape.  OUCH!

2.  Cut the duct tape into smaller pieces for around the neck.  That much curve is hard to handle.  I even cut it in half length-wise.

3.   For bumps, use a curling iron.  Just run it hot over the tape (preferably with a thin cotton tee between the iron & tape). Of course, wait until you get it off the model's body first.

4.  Because you've used many layers of duct tape, now the form is going to be larger than the actual model.  I now need to cut it apart again and reduce the size.