Elsa from Frozen has a glittering cape. I’ve seen cosplayers use a few different techniques to replicate it, including glitter and rhinestones. Yaexrae took an approach I haven’t see before though: she’s using terrazzo. The glass chips are often used in flooring and counters, and you can buy bags of glass chips in different sizes and colors. Yaexrae went with sizes 0 and 00 in crystal clear, and she says the 00 size is about the size of rough sand. The pieces aren’t sharp, and when you attach them to fabric, they do look like Elsa’s cape (pictured below).
Yaexrae experimented and figured out how to glue the chips to mesh fabric:
Lay mesh fabric down on waxed paper
Brush Jewel-It glue over area to be glued
Pull fabric off of waxed paper (most of the glue will be left behind) and mount the edges on free-standing frame so the center won’t lie on anything while it’s drying
Brush on some more Jewel-It but don’t allow the holes in the mesh to get filled in by the glue
Sprinkle glass chips on top of fabric
Using two small pieces of waxed paper to keep glue from getting on your hands, sandwich the fabric between your hands and gently press the glass chips down into the fabric
Let dry, do not remove from frame
When glue is dry enough to hold glass chips on the fabric when the frame is turned upside down, spray the back of the fabric with E6000 adhesive spray
Let dry and give it another coat of E6000 spray in about an hour
Take off frame when dry
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Where did she get the glass chips?? I have been looking and can’t find them anywhere.
They’re from American Specialty Glass – it’s linked in the post. 🙂