Mystic Magic's Success, A Crown for Strictly Come Dancing
As many of our inner circle may know by now, from the beginning of this year we recruited a wonderful PR assistant Emma (who I'd be completely lost without) to help give us that extra nudge in the the right places to promote and spread the word of Mystic Magic. After crossing what seemed like a barren desert of dead ends and loose trails we finally found our oasis!
A steady stream of opportunities came trickling in like water down a mountain or doves gliding to nest on the side of the house antenna, one of which flew into our mailbox earlier last month.
Without a doubt the best to date opportunity we have ever received (and one of many more yet to come!), an email that had to be read twice and even then we still had to grab a second random person to check it out too.. Yep it was real.
Direct from the main costume designers of UK prime time weekend TV show 'Strictly Come Dancing'. They wanted us to create them an all exclusive Mystic Magic design inspired by the movie 'Snow White and The Huntsman', a replica of Queen Ravenna's dagger crown.
This was to be a star feature in the professionals fairytale dance routine for the opening to their Halloween special results show. And what an opening it was! Gave me spine tingling shivers!
The Process...
To start off with creating this elaborate design we first had to work out all the shapes and dimensions along with a list of materials to gather. These first steps are never that much of an easy task to accomplish but by far the best way to overcome what may seem like a huge mountain is to dive straight in (or catch the ski lift up!) . You can only progress through trial and error, that which I came to know all too well.
A Photo of my first 'fail' attempts. After taking advice to smothering the fixed structure in Polly Filla to be left overnight. Come morning it literally crumbled in my hands!!
It was 'supposed' to have dried strong and secure but instead was fragile as an ancient vase.
With less than a week to go now was the time for some arm waving panic.
Having to start from scratch again. As I gradually worked through each process I managed to catch a spare moment to take a few quick pics so that for one I could share them all with you in this blog post, and two to remind me that YES I did it! And now standing on the other side of the mountain it wasn't actually that big to begin with, more like a hill.
Those of you that know me well know that I have a bizarre tendency to make life difficult for myself, this time being a last minute decision to not only make the quoted crown but also using initiative to make a tiara version too!
As I was sitting down in a darkened room extremely late one night after finishing applying the last coats of filling I had an enlightened moment of thinking that no way is a crown going to stay on a dancer's head if she is to be tossed, flung and spun all over the place. A tiara with an elastic back attachment would be a more practical option...
This is what the crown looked like after I had given it a few spray coatings of primer preparing for the colouring and effects stage. The tiara version looked pretty much the same as this too. Kind of reminded me of the scene from the movie were Queen Ravenna emerged from her milky bath!
And here is what the crowns transformed into after the many layers of different metal spraying. The studio was all clouded in a mist of funky choking vapours. Advised not to try this inside! Always use spray paints outside or somewhere with lots and lots of ventilation plus a gas mask!!
After the many layers were completed all that was left to do is add the ageing details followed by a suitable sealing readying the designs for their cherry topping grand finale, the real crystals. In total between the two crowns we used 9 oval amethysts and 9 black oval onyx.
And here are the up close finished results...
Above is the actual chosen tiara design that was used on the Strictly Halloween special results show, and below is the full crown sister version which has safely returned home to us (Soon to be available for purchase).
All over the weekend think we was in an anxious anticipation awaiting to see the grand unveiling of the chosen design and what a theatrical display it truly was!
Never before have I seen something so beautiful that Mystic Magic can say we played a part in no matter how small. When we was given this life changing opportunity I had no idea just how much of a centre piece my crown would become!
I look through these photos and feel like I'm staring at a dream. Can this actually be happening!
For them few minutes of what the routine lasted for strictly has bang on manage to capture the true theatrical essence of what Mystic Magic is near all about. For the first time ever I can safely say I have seen the inside of my head on the outside, if that kind of makes any sense?!...
When watching with an overwhelming mix of emotional excitement on the night I didn't know whether to totally 'laugh out loud', scream with amazement or simply cry with happiness, it all came out in a crazy flurry of mish mash! But one thing was for sure I couldn't stop thinking about my beloved now departed Nana.
I remembered all them times we would as a family gather around the TV many a weekend to traditionally watch Strictly with all the happy warming moments shared between us, never much appreciated until its gone. I can only hope that she alongside my grandad was looking down from the stars also proudly watching as this achievement devoted to them.
Words can not describe how blessedly grateful I'm to have been given such an opportunity as this. I enjoyed every moment from beginning to end, countless late nights in all. And even then thanks to YouTube I can relish in this one cherished moment over and over again.. It will never get old.
For those of you who may have missed out, here's another chance to watch the full performance again,
Enjoy!!
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