After figuring out proportions I was happy with—using manila folders for my tests—I cut out my pieces from a lowly milk carton. It took a little bit of fiddling, but I managed to fit them all on one gallon-sized jug. Next, I used spray adhesive to cover both sides with scraps of my dress fabric.

I took an easy way out on the beading. Michaels carries a product called Liquid Beadz, beads in a clear glue-like stuff that you spread on with a palette knife. Not quite as simple as it sounds, but a lot less potential for making messes everywhere. I beaded the middle portion of each section first, then outlined it with pearl fabric paint. The main pieces were beaded on the outer edge, too. The wing pieces were outlined in silver, everything else in the pearl. In hindsight, I should have done all of the outlines first, then filled them with beads.

While the paint was still wet on the wings and the inner pieces, I added the pearls and the silver bead cups. (The decoration on the centers of the main pieces and the upside-down heart bits is just a bead cup with a pearl in the center.) Although the beaded pieces had the semi-transparent qualities of the original headdress, it was too monotone (ie, plain), so I filled in the unbeaded areas with a mix of pearl and gold fabric paint.

The backside of each piece was outlined with silver, to help keep the fabric from fraying around the edges, and also to make it look nicer from the back. I outlined the two center pieces with gold sequin leaves to make the flames effect.

Actually assembling the pieces together took a bit more work than beading and painting did. First piece attached to my headband base was the main part of the wing. After that, the upsidedown heart underneath the arch, and then the wings. Plenty of mini-clamps and clothespins to hold everything together. Once the glue dried, I outlned the seam where the wings meet the back of the main piece to make it look finished.