Please note – This is not a tutorial! – All the pieces are random, this is just a guide and mostly everything I make is unique due to the nature of finding random items and assembling them to work as one.

As per the title to this piece, I worked out what I wanted to do first, to know how to put it together, by having the bat appear as if it rammed itself through the crown as a statement piece with ‘full throttle’ speed.

Firstly, once I had all the elements I wanted to make this with, I positioned all how I thought they’d be. Some of the items arrived organically along the way re threads and the shopping bags due to the pattern for a more edgy look.

I dismantled the crown taking off a lot of the beading and ribbon with jewellery pliers (I have no photos of the original crown in it’s full glory (to show). Also cutting it at the back so it could rest well on top of the person’s to be head.

I painted the crown with a black Gesso paint, then used various Art Alchemy Wax Matte Finish coloured waxes to refine the look, like Sage Leaves, Aged Brass and Old White, amongst others.

The plastic bat’s head was inserted through, plus using the pliers to make the space snug fit. I drilled holes on either side of the bat’s wings to attach to the crown area.

I then sewed the necklace under the crown area and also sewed a vintage fabric necklace cut in two onto the sides of the crown to give it more texture and complete the look.

I then inserted the tribal jewellery piece  through the cane frame, so the frame will rest at the top and back of the person wearing this.

I then cut up two shopping bags for the side areas to help cover up the necklace thick thread, and also to the back. Which is a longer panel of this netted fabric, for the dark aesthetic look.

I painted the vintage red flowers all red to match the existing colour, so the little flowers and stem areas match, then added fabric panels from off cuts of a skirt to make the back area to hide the jewellery clamps etc of the tribal necklace like on the side panels feeding through.

Then I used some back tulle to add to the cane area by roughly sewing thread through the areas to keep it in place, and for this rustic look.

Along the way, I kept trying it on to ensure all the elements were sitting wear they should be.

To use this for photography purposes, and to add more detail, I added long lace ribbon on both sides so the person wearing it can pull it out on either side.