NYE 2012/2013 Snake Headdress

I woke up feeling poorly on New Year's Eve morning. Everyone has been sick lately, but I knew I wasn't dealing with the flu that's been going around. What I didn't know was how long the blech was going to last, or whether I should commit to plans for the night. Turns out, I felt much better by early afternoon.

This meant I had to get serious about whether I was going to a party I'd been invited to...and if that meant I was going to make something special to wear. Isn't that 80% of the point of a New Year's Eve party? Besides, I figured making something would help motivate me to actually GO.

Based on something I'd seen online somewhere (don't ask me, I spend so much time looking at random pictures I could never retrace my steps), I decided a snaky headdress would be neat and...unrelated enough. So I dragged ass to the dollar store and got supplies.

A side note to that trip. As I was standing in line at the Dollar General, checking my email on my iPhone 5, I noticed the woman standing next to me, also checking her email on her iPhone 5. In line at the dollar store on my iPhone, next to a woman on her iPhone. Of the several ways of reacting to that situation, I decided to silently congratulate us both on our priorities.

So, basically, snakes, wire, plastic headband, chrome spray paint (which never ever EVER dries on soft plastic, so don't paint rubbery snakes and then set them on anything like, say, your flesh, while wearing a necklace made to match, as you will have a big silver paint print on your chest by the time you get to the party, even if that does wind up a pretty funny story).

I have to figure out what to do about that, actually, the never-drying situation.* I'm wondering if maybe I lightly dust them with talc, or even dry-brush some black or dark grey acrylic on them...and then I stop thinking about it because, seriously, how often am I going to wear this? I'll just store it pointing upward so the snakes don't fuse to anything.

When I arrived at the party, the general response was, "Cool, you made that, right? ... Nice blouse, you made that, too, right?" My reputation precedes me, dontcha know.

*The answer is primer. There probably isn't anything I can do about plastic I've already painted: the headdress is always going to be tacky. I did a test last night with a similar toy and a spray primer, which I then finished with the same Krylon chrome spray, and it turned out great. The reason I'm so devoted to finding a solution is because Krylon chrome spray paint is awesomely chromey. It just seems to never cure on plastic. Now I can chrome all the toys I want -- and that IS going to happen.

**I spoke too soon. While the initial drying phase worked out well, after the plastic/primer/Krylon piece had set for a few days, it also become unusably tacky. Quest continues.

By the way, here's something I've recently concluded. Posting whole how-tos on this site is pointless. They're time-consuming, and I don't think anyone actually looks for/reads them. I keep my own notes for techniques that I need to reference, so anyone with questions will just have to ask.