Easy Hair Sticks
Hair sticks are simple to make and look so nice when they are finished. If you have long hair you know how nice it feels to put it up when the weather is warm, and if you have short hair these could be a nice gift for a friend. They're so much fun to make that they may just have you thinking about growing your hair out!
Start by cutting two six inch pieces off of the dowel and sharpen one end of each with the pencil sharpener. Now, pop in a good movie and settle down with your two sticks and a piece of fine grit sand paper. Sand the sticks so that they are as smooth as possible and then sand them a little bit more. Have patience. Don't push hard with the sandpaper, it's the repetitive rubbing that does the work, not the pressure. Also sand the pointed tip so that it's no longer sharp.
You need to pick beads with fairly large holes so that the nail can pass through them. Hammer a nail about a half inch into the center of the flat end of each stick and pull it out again. Arrange the beads on the nails leaving at least ½" of the nail showing at the bottom. Squirt a bit of glue into the nail hole you made in the stick and push the nail (with beads) down into the hole. If you need to you can tap it lightly with the hammer to set it in all the way. Let the glue dry.
Paint your sticks with thin, even coats of paint. It's better to build up the layers than to paint one thick layer. You want it to be as smooth as possible so use long brush strokes and patience in between coats. An easy way to let the sticks dry is to place them upside down in one of the valleys of an upside-down egg crate (fig A). Mine stood straight up without any special coaxing.
Fig A.
When you are satisfied with your painting job and the paint is completely dry, you should paint on several layers of varnish. As with the painting, paint thin coats and let each layer dry thoroughly before you paint the next. Without the varnish the paint will chip and peel quite quickly with use of your hair sticks. The varnish creates a slick surface so that they slide easily through the hair and it also creates a strong finish that will resist wear and tear better than paint alone. I use four coats of varnish on my sticks.
After they are completely dry you are ready to create all kinds of fabulous up-dos! If you are unfamiliar with hair sticks and how to style with them you can find lots of websites with good information, here is one that I recommend: http://www.hairboutique.com/TIPS/tip612.htm