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Friday, June 25, 2010

Every Girl Should Have One!

Back when women had to have curls every day of the week, they also had to have a bonnet type hair dryer. In the 60s they were sold by the thousands and everybody loved them. The convenience of a beauty salon in your own home.

Tessie announced this morning, after seeing a few of the hatbox hair dryers on the net, that she must have one of her own. That silly hand held thing was just not adequate for the job.

"If I am going to do the 60s right, I need the new and wonderful electrical things that make life easier!" she said.

I had to do a lot of improvising for this one. I found some photos on Google and went to work.

For the outer shell, I started looking at bottle caps, but couldn't find one the right size to do the job. Then I spotted one of those kits to make covered buttons. The top should be curved at the edges. The bottom had to be made to fit the top. I used the largest size.

I grabbed one of those ever present cardboard dividers from the 12 packs of cat food. Then I cut a circle the same size as the button form and a long piece to fit around 3/8" high. I glued those together by butting the bottom edge of the strip against the circle and overlapping it about 1/4" at the back. I clamped that and let it dry.

Then I stretched blue suede over the top of the form and eased in the edges to make a smooth cover. It takes a bit of maneuvering, but it can be done.

I cut a round piece and a strip for the bottom and glued it on. I trimmed it even with the edges.

Then I used a white leather glove to line the interior of both the top and bottom.

I cut a short piece of leather and glued it in place for the handle. Then I glued strips of silver paper around the edges of both the top and bottom.

All of the machines had some kind of motor set in the middle of the case with a vent on the top. I did this part with three round, stacked Woodsies. I covered and stretched the white leather over those and trimmed of the excess at the bottom edge.

I glued that into the center bottom of the case. Then I put an odd metal piece for the vent and four beads for the knobs.

All of these dryers seem to have about the same kind of hose. They were flexible and kind of pleated around a coiled wire. I did that with four pieces cut out of a thin bendable straw. I pulled them out before cutting. After cutting it is almost impossible. Then I cut one end flush with the pleats and the other end about a quarter inch away from the pleats. I squished the plain end and stuffed it into the pleated end of the next piece with some glue inside the pleated tube.

I glued some silver paper around each end of the hose. This lays in a circle around the motor in the bottom.

The bonnet is simply a 3" yo yo. Anybody that does quilting will be familiar with this. You cut out the circle and turn in the edges about an eighth of an inch. Baste it with short stitches around the edge. Pull up on the thread until it is a little poof.

The last step was cutting a tiny hole in the center for the connector. That is also a piece of the straw covered with silver paper just glued in place.

Tessie is waiting impatiently whilst I type. She wants her hair done...."NOW!"

I guess I will have to humor her....I know that within 24 hours she will be bored with the whole thing and back to her normal frizzy hair do.

I will try to catch a few photos of her in her puce curlers. No promises though.

She is yelling again. I have to go play hair dresser.

See you tomorrow.

15 comments:

FabShabbyRoses said...

OMG Casey! This is awesome! You did a wonderful job with this. Brings a smile to my face and a little chuckle. Humm I wonder if I could do this!!! I think I must try! You're amazing!
Carolyn

Caseymini said...

Carolyn, I am sure that you could do it. If you don't like that style do a Google search of "retro hair dryers". That's what I did. I tried bing first and got very little. Google had way more.

Merry Jingle said...

It looks fab! I just can't wait to see it on Tessie's head :D

Lataina said...

Ok, How FANTASTIC is this? I was expecting to see Tessie in curlers today, but instead you do one better. I can't get over how cute, fun and original of an idea this is. LOVE IT!!!

Iris =)

Anonymous said...

Oh I LOVE this. I had a dryer just like that only my hood was cream coloured. Boy you brought back memories. You get such wonderful ideas and I love that you show how you do them.
Bbut tell Tessie to be careful as they can get quite hot.

Crafts From The Stash said...

Casey you have made some really wonderful minis over the years and this is one of them. Its so clever.

Debie xxxxx

Caseymini said...

Thanks for all of the nice comments. I was trying to think of something that I hadn't seen before in mini. That's how my mind works when I can't sleep in the middle of the night.LOL

rosanna said...

Casey,you are a alien coming from a Wonder planet!!! How can you have such gorgeous ideas? I love everything you do. Thank you very much as usual. Rosanna

Kathi said...

Very creative! I love it! You continue to amaze me!

Norma Bennett said...

That's so great Casey!! I love it :)

Chris P's Minis and More said...

Casey this is adorable !! Good job very realist too!

Susan@minicrochetmad said...

This is just the cutest thing! No wonder Tessie keeps you around :)

Tabitha Corsica said...

What a blast from the past! Wow! I had one of these... But my mother had one with the domed lid that elevated up and was the hard-shell hood. You had to set it on a table with a chair pulle dup backwards to it. Memories....

Well done, as always. I noticed there has been a mad influx of wild and original minis that past week... How wonderful is that!?

Tabs

Katie said...

....tell Tessie, I said she's one spoiled Witch!! LOL

It's amazing Casey!!

Deni said...

Oh I used to have one of those hairdryers!
that is fabulous Casey! thank you for the tutorial!