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Fake Braces as Costume
Nothing could be more enjoyable than creating your costume – especially if you are interested in adding nice details to your fake braces costume. A fake braces costume can be detailed with butterfly earring backs.
(Warning: Take note that there are some risks in wearing fake braces. Fake braces can cause mouth sores, which may be a reaction to any metal-containing lead. Prolonged use can also harm the integrity of the teeth themselves. KIDS SHOULD NOT WEAR FAKE BRACES)
Making the Fake Braces at home
There are two ways to create fake braces for costumes. The first one requires just wire and some earring backs. The second method requires a vampire’s teeth, and the vampire teeth will be used to cap two teeth to ensure that the braces stay on.
Method 1:
For the first type of fake braces, follow these steps:
- Cut a length of craft wire that is sufficient for about six teeth, plus a little allowance on both ends so you can curve the craft wire later.
- Use glue to attach the earring backs to the wire. Make sure that you align the earring backs to each of the teeth. In the absence of a sufficient number of earring backs, you can use small strips of aluminum. Fold the aluminum strips into thin squares and then compress them before attaching them to the craft wire.
- When you are done gluing the earring backs or the aluminum squares, let everything dry nicely first. The earring backs should be firm and they shouldn’t be moving around when you touch them. This is important because if the earring backs or aluminum squares are not attached well, they can come loose in your mouth when you wear the fake braces, and there’s a risk of swallowing the foreign matter.
- When all of the posts have dried, it’s time to work on each end of the craft wire. Bend each end so you can push the loops up your teeth, to secure the fake braces in your mouth.To ensure that your mouth will not be cut by the craft wire, you can use some sandpaper to make the ends as smooth as you can. Smooth ends will not cut your mouth, and you can safely hook the braces to your teeth.
Method 2:
For the second type of fake braces, simply follow these steps:
- For this project, you will need a pair of high-quality vampire teeth (make sure that you grab the shortest ones unless your costume is a vampire costume, to begin with), the thinnest craft wire you can get, butterfly earring backs, some orthodontic wax, a small square of sandpaper, and a pair of pliers or a wire cutter.
- Using the sandpaper, file down the vampire’s teeth to make sure that the vampire’s teeth take on a nice, rounded finish. Filing down the teeth will also make it easier for you to attach the wire later on.Just make sure that you do not file down the teeth so much that it doesn’t look real anymore. Aim to resize the vampire teeth so they would be more or less the average size of teeth in kids/adults.
- Cut two pieces of craft wire (gauge 26 if possible) and begin attaching the wires to the butterfly earring backs. Begin from the left, twist and lock on each earring back, until you reach the final earring back. Do the same for the second wire, starting from the right. Create a secure twist for each of the earring backs.
- Be sure to eyeball the alignment of each of the earring backs, so that they are aligned with each of your teeth.
- When you are done securing all the earring backs, it’s time to attach the craft wires to the vampire’s teeth. Align both ends of the fake braces to the vampire’s teeth and apply the orthodontic wax. Take off the braces with the vampire’s teeth this time and apply a sufficient quantity to make sure that either end of the vampire’s teeth will adhere properly to the craft wires.
- Let the orthodontic wax set and you are ready to use your costume fake braces.
Adding Variety to the Braces
If you want fake braces that pack a punch, you can use alternative materials.
Since you are creating a part of a costume, there is no need to make the braces ultra-realistic. You can make them more colorful than usual, as long as the design makes sense and your costume is enhanced by the fake braces.
For example, did you know that you could also make fake braces with some craft wire and beads? There are so many kinds of beads, from seed beads to Czech glass beads and you can use a variety of beads to create stunning fake braces. It’s like designing any other kind of jewelry with beadwork.
The best thing about using beads is you can slip in the craft wire into the drill holes of the beads and then use glue to keep them in place. We encourage those who like doing DIY projects to practice as much creativity as they can when working with these materials because there are no limits when creating items like costume braces or fake braces.
If you don’t like craft wire, you can also use other bead threads (like the ones made of cotton) to make your braces.
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