Fan Bun

“What God is like to Him I serve?
What Saviour like to mine?
O never let me from Thee swerve,
For truly I am Thine.

“My thankful mouth shall speak Thy praise,
My tongue shall talk of Thee;
On high my heart O do Thou raise
For what Thou’st done for me.”

– Anne Bradstreet

Today’s tutorial is for the Fan bun/updo.  Recently, this has been my go-to hair style for days when I want something a little nicer than a basic french twist but don’t have a lot of time.  It’s a soft, easy look that will work on all hair types.

A Double Bun Variation

Thanks to my brother for taking the picture!

John 1:6-7

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light,
that all men through him might believe.”

May we, like John the Baptist, reflect the light of Christ to the world.

This is a variation of the Double Bun style that I did a while back.  It was pretty easy and took about five minutes. The only thing I changed from that tutorial was that, instead of  shell buns, I made folded twists and coiled them into the two buns.  The flowers are attached to two separate clips, and here’s how I made my hair flowers.

Ta-da!  Have a Fabulous Friday!!!

p.s. More pictures of the dress on my sewing website here.

Double Bun Updo: Both Video and Picture Intructions

John 12:3

“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.”

Have you given that which cost you most and that which is most precious to you for the glory of Christ?

Finally a new tutorial!! I call this one the double-bun Edwardian-inspired updo. This style is super easy– In the video, I did it in three minutes. If your hair turns into Dr. Seuss-type squiggles when you wash it like mine, here’s a great way to use that texture to your advantage. And yes, this is my hair’s natural, freshly-washed texture.

For those looking for a messy bun for super long hair, here’s what I use. Soft, puffy, and romantic–everything a good updo should be. If my hair curls more than it did today, I like to pull some little bits out around my ears and neck. Also, if your hair gives you headaches when it’s up, splitting the weight like this is very comfortable.

Wow, I talked way too fast during the intro! Sorry about that. In fact, the intro in general isn’t that great. ( I really didn’t want to do another take.)  For this video, we’re back in ye olde bathroom. I’ve figured out an angle were I can kind of see what I’m doing in the mirror. Yay!

For pictures-and-text instructions, click on the link. –>

Beauty and the Beast

Today’s tutorials are inspired by the lovely Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” for the Belle fashion event being hosted by Hannah at spacious-soul.livejournal.com. Trying to copy a hairstyle from a cartoon was hard! What I ended up with works for my hair length, but you might need to modify it slightly for your hair type and length. I did a version of both Belle’s everyday ponytail which you can see in the image above and her ball style which you can see below.

My First Video Tutorial

Hi ladies! Here is my first attempt at a video tutorial, a video version of the flower bun. This is more of a test run than anything; I really wanted to play with my new camera.

I know it’s not perfect, but hey, neither am I. It was really hard to do this style totally blind like that!!

What do you think? Should I stick with pictures and text? And this is totally random, but do I sound like you thought I would?

1860s Ball Style

Psalm 100:3

³Know ye that the LORD, He is God; it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.
We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Galatians 3:3

³Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

I’ve chosen two verses for today, and both speak about humility and tie into the verses in my previous post.  The verse in Psalms talks about how we came into this world.  There was nothing we could do about it; God chose to create us and give us our family.  Galatians 3 tells us that there was nothing we could do to earn Heaven; we can’t even do good works in our own strength.  God has given us our abilities and brings people into our lives.  Everything we are, have, or have done is by the grace (gift) of God.

*Drumroll, please!!* Today’s tutorial is for my humdinger, show-stopper, super-authentic, how-did-she-do-that 1860s ball style. This is for all my readers who re-enact the Victorian era, specifically the 1860s, and even more precisely the American Civil War. I’ve had this one in progress for forever, even before I started my blog (and pre-tripod and pre-paint). I use almost every technique I’ve shown you on this blog, but it’s actually pretty easy. I’ve included lots of links to the basic techniques. The pictures aren’t the greatest, but I hope the instructions make up for them. Enjoy!

Figure Eight Bun

Jeremiah 9:23-24

²³Thus saith the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches.
²⁴But let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth Me,
that I am the LORD who exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth;
for in these things I delight,” saith the LORD.

This is a pretty basic style, the figure-eight bun. Even though it is simple, I keep coming back to it for an everyday style. This also works really well for wearing hats. There are many tutorials for this style, but this is the way I do it; I’m sure someone else has come up with this method before. One caution, however: this ‘do eats pins! You’ll need at least moderately long hair for this to work, but if you have shorter hair, it will work as a half-up.

Sarah’s Request: Kate Beckinsale’s “Emma”

Hi everybody!

Today’s post is from a request from Sarah.

I wonder if you can figure out a way to do this style. I can only find one image of it, so it may be hard! I am filming a regency movie and am also the director, hair dresser, etc. So, I need some regency hair styles!! Can you help?? Thanks so much!

Here is the image.

Sarah was even so good as to reply to herself with a possible solution. 

As I was thinking this over on my request. Do you think it would be possible to do this style like this:

Curl your hair, either in rollers or rags (for a curlier affect), or do pin curls. Then, do an upside down flip through, and maybe pin hair up slightly (so the hair falls down from a higher height on head.)

As I see it, there are about 3 different ways to do this style depending on how long your hair is.  All these start with pre-curled hair, so if you have naturally curly hair, you have it made in the shade!

Option 1. What Sarah came up with would work on shorter hair.  You could also do a regular flip through and then bobby pin the curls up. I’m pretty sure that is what is what the hairdresser for the movie did.

Option 2. Start with curly hair and make a faux-short ponytail.  I did that a while back for a different tutorial.  Here’s how it turned out.

Option 3. Start with curly hair again.  Make a bun and pin it so that the ends stick out the top and pin the curls over the bun. That would kind of look like the beginning of my Romola Garai Emma style.

I hope that helps!

I know it has been forever since I posted.  I’ll spare you the obligatory sob story, but real life has been very busy in both good and not-so-good ways.  Hopefully, things should get back to normal in a few weeks.

For those with Short Hair

I’ve received a lot of requests for styles for short hair. While I’m willing to help you all out, I specifically started this site as a blog for long hair tutorials because all the styles I could find online were for shorter hair that didn’t work for me.

I’ve tried to do some short-hair tutorials, but my shorter-hair friends and family aren’t available for tutorials pictures that often.  And I’m just better with long hair because that’s what I have and can play with whenever I want.  ; )

In answer to some of your questions, I have never donated my hair, and it’s always been long. Well, as far back as I can remember. For proof, here’s a picture of me when I was nine years old. (Because I’m the only redhead in my family, and neither of my parents have red hair either, they didn’t want to cut it. My blond sister, on the other hand, grew up with Shirley Temple ringlets.)

Celtic Knot Bun

Psalm 24:7-10

⁷Lift up your heads, O ye gates! And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
⁸Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
⁹Lift up your heads, O ye gates! Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
¹⁰Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah

Magnificent Monday, ladies!  As we enter the week celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in payment for our sins, remember how much it cost Him so that we could be forgiven and reconciled.

Ok, now I’m really back!  The mouse for my computer completely died, but a new one has been installed.  I’ve also finished up some major sewing projects while I’ve been away.  Details to come on my other blog.  Today’s tutorial was originally planned for St. Patrick’s Day and is kind of a variation on my last tutorial. This is a great bun for super long hair, but if your hair is shorter, it still works as a half-up.