This prop was made at the request of an author, Alice Graffs, who is writing a fantasy trilogy. Alice was having a hard time visualizing what she wanted some of her characters to look like, so she asked me to draw some mock-ups of their costume extensions. She then chose several of my sketches, and I turned those sketches into three-dimensional props. This horn and crown was designed for her character Laflia.

I decided to photograph this prop on two different models, so Alice could see how the horn and crown looked on people with different face shapes. She plans on sending them to her book designer when she is finished writing the trilogy. The models are Mia Roth and Shea Andrews.

In the trilogy, Laflia is an Earth fae, a mother to all, and an empath. Her character is an archetype of The Mother, which is a universal and idealized version of motherhood. The Mother is often depicted as a nurturing, selfless caretaker who provides for others, usually at a high cost to themselves. When creating the horns, I attempted to incorporate both the earth elements and the Mother archetype into my design.

I created multiple sketches of what Laflia might wear and carry. In the end, Alice loved the horns the best.

The horns were carved from EVA foam and adorned with faux flowers. The crown was made from malleable wire.

The fae horns were fairly difficult to create because I wanted them to look like wood, but I also wanted them to twist in irregular ways to mimic real horns. I began this process by shaping what I wanted the horns to look like out of tinfoil, creating a Saran wrap and tape mold of it, and then tracing that mold on sheets of EVA foam. I then cut the foam out, and adhered the pieces together using contact cement. After the horn base was finished, I used a wood burner to create the wood detailing. Afterward, I spray-painted the horns brown, attached the horns to a headband, and adorned it with floral accessories. I used a wire-wrapping technique to create the accompanying crown.