{How to Guide} Vintage Jelly Moulds and How to Turn out a Jelly!!

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I bet you've all wanted perfect Jellys like the ones above haven't you? No problem! You just need to pop to the antique market/ car boot sale / Granny's house and pick up  one of those darling glass moulds you've spied right? 


You'll probably leave it til the day before the party too yes? Make a packet up and turn it out onto your plate just before the guests arrive perfect housewife style! Umm no. 

I bought a lovely fluted jelly mould on my last trip to Devon and couldn't wait to use it! I knew they were tricky so i did a bit of research and greased the glass inside with veg oil before filling with jelly. It didn't work. In fact it didn't work so badly that the centre of the jelly plopped out whilst the outside clung to the edges still *grr* Take two , and a lot of research later I came up with the ultimate guide to turning out Jelly from a glass mould...


1. Wet the mould before pouring the jelly in, (swirling some water around the mould then emptying out should be enough)


2. mixing the jelly at 1 and 1/2 tablets to a pint of water instead of 1 tablet per pint. 


3. When you want to turn out the jelly dip the mould into boiling water for 20 seconds first. 


4. you might need to run a knife around the rim to release the top edge! 


5. Don't forget to wet the plate you are turning it out onto so you can adjust it to centre positon!! 


Hope that helps you achieve your perfect vintage jellies, if not and you still want that mould in your life...Give up - and get one of these lovelies....

Candles

Lights

{Tutorial} How to make a Hair Rat for Faux Bangs / Rolled Fringe

I'm always on the lookout for a good vintage hairstyle, and the faux fringe is one I've dabbled with in the past a couple of times Previously, I've use a shop bought dughnut sliced open to create the rat , but the colour doesnt go with my new hair and truth be told its a bit on the chunky side. 

'I know' I thought this morning, 'It can't be that hard -I'll make my own!'  And do you know what? 

It wasn't! 

You too can make your own Hair-Rat with this tutorial

Hair -Rat Tutorial

You will need :~

* Old pair of tights

* Scissors

* Neeedle and thread or Sewing Machine

*Cotton Wool, Wadding or a big ball of your own hair (saved from your brushes)

1.First select your tights, normal everyday tights or stockings,  in a colour that matches your hair closest.  This is a great way to recycle those holey ones!! Mine were 'Barely Black', good for darker hair,  for blondes choose 'Natural' shades.

2.Cut a section from you tights approx 7" long.

3.Starting 1" from the one end, sew a seam along one shorter edge and after 1 1.2" turn and sew along the length of the tight. 

4.Cut away excess tight material and turn tight inside out.

5. Fill the tube (leaving 1" gap at open end) with your filling and manipulate until stuffing is even along the length, and tube is  'sausage shape'.

6. Sew up open end so you have 1" flat piece of tight between seam and end of tight material. These extra pieces of flat material will enable you to pin the roll into your hair.

7. If you are using a sewing machine selecting a stitch where the needle sews to one side of the foot will help get a good result. I selected option 5 (see below)

You should now have a homemade Hair-Rat!!!!

Roll your fringe around the Rat and finish with a pretty flower!!!

 

If you need a hand rolling a fringe  you can check out these videos...

Fleur rolls a faux fringe ...

{Beginners Guide & Tutorial} Half Moon Manicures

Dita von Teese and her Half Moon Manicure

A very vintage way of manicuring your nails, the half moon manicure where to the nail is painted but the half moon (and or tip) area is left bare, Popular in the 1920s, 30s and 40s the half moon manicure  is also making a resurgence these days among many vintage loving gals.

Now I know your thinking whats the point, your busy right? Can hardly get together a normal lick of polish let alone spend ages doing a tricky half moon manicure!! Well relax, this really is easy......

and will look fantastic!

Half Moon Manicure Tutorial

You will need
Base & Top coat
Nail polish
Hole re-enforcing stickers


How to do it...

1.First cut / file your nails into you preferred shape - I like to keep mine  fairly short but rounded.

2.Remove any old polish

3.Apply a base coat of polish, I use clear polish , but you can certainely mix it up and go for another coloured polish! Let it dry.

4. Apply re-enforcer stickers to the base of the nails to create a mask for the half moon shape - make sure they are central on each nail!

5. paint your nails with main colour varnish, painting slightly over each sticker. Let dry.

I've used 'Rapid Ruby' for this tutorial.

6. Carefully remove stickers, if your careful use can place them on other hands nails!!!

7. If required, apply a top coat all over the nails.

Go out, be beautiful!!!

Where things may have gone wrong.....

Placement of stickers - be brave you need to cover quite a deep bit of your nail to get this looking right. The top of the hole should be in line with the base of your nail, no less.

Varnish coming off with the sticker - two culprits here, you may have put on too much varnish or may not have let the varnish dry thoroughly. If its taking off  the base coat, then stick the re-enforcer to something else first before applying to your nail and the stickiness will hopefully be reduced.

Varnish creeping under sticker - make sure the sticker is firmly stuck down with no gaps. paint nails from base to tip direction



Hope you like it!