My Hairstick Collection

These are the first ones that I started out with. Plain, bought at a Loscon quite some time back, possibly 1994 or 1995. I didn't use them often for a long time. I bought three originally, and one snapped rather quickly, but these two have lasted for a long, long time. Lately, when I decided to start bunning my hair daily, I used these. They still haven't broken. They are much tougher plastic than the cheapie things you're likely to find at a Claire's.

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This might have been the next one. I'm not sure. A dragon of course, but without the curly tail of the classic Welsh dragon. It's not the best designed hairstick; the top is very heavy, and the stick itself is tapered like an almost perfect cone-shape from top to tip, which isn't optimal. I do however love it and wore it on the maes in August of 2005 when I traveled to Wales to attend the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. :-) Bought from Gryphon's Moon.

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I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy this one. Usually metal hairsticks are crappy, weak, and bend if you so much as look at them. I bid on this one at eBay thinking that it was worth the $10 or so to find out if it was any good. I was stunned when it arrived to find that it was heavy, firm, and extremely robust. It's actually prettier in reality than in the photo if you can believe it. It looks bent in the center, but it's not; it's a pretty, graceful curve. From a company called Byasa on eBay.

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The first of several from WoodbyC bought on eBay. This is a lovely one, strong and glassy -- also prettier than the photo on the eBay listing which made it look a little matte. There's a dichroic glass cabochon on the top that's really nice. A good length as well. I wear it enormouslyfrequently.

I love Cynthia's hairsticks. She sells quite a few on eBay and they're always nice. She's also very pleasant in e-mail, and ships quickly. I can recommend her strongly.

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Another eBay purchase, this time from Ron Quattro; these are 6" Starlites. They're very robust and basic, and these have replaced the plain black ones at the top as my dailywear hairsticks. I'd never used a fork before, because I wasn't sure how well they'd hold. They hold great, and I only use one at a time. Lightweight, too.

I would very much like to have a set of 4" Starlites that are slightly V-shaped to hold better. I should ask him about this ...

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I really liked this, but wasn't sure if it would be strong enough for me. The only plastic hairsticks I'd ever gotten (aside from the black ones up top) were cheapie ones from mall stores, and they would routinely snap in half on the second (or first) wearing. So I was skeptical that this thing would survive even being in the same room as my hair. I mailed the designer, Lalo Orna, and she said that her stuff was made of industrial resin as opposed to typical Goody-quality crappy plastic.

She also let me know that this stick, called "Babylon," was longer than most of her designs and would be best for long, thick hair. I love it so far, but it matches very little else that I wear, which is a shame. The tip could also stand to be a bit pointier, but a short stint with a nail file should solve that as it is resin plastic. Definitely check out Lalo Orna's things; she makes a loop-and-stick hairtoy that is too small for me but would work beautifully for most, and is one of the prettiest things I've seen.

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Another one from WoodbyC. I always liked this colorway of the green and dark blue, even though I think it would probably work better in blonde hair. I mailed Cynthia and asked her about a Nile hairstick, and she let me know that she had just put one up on her website, which I then snatched about 14 seconds later. :-) It's shorter than I'd like, but not bad. I'm happy with it.

I later gave it to a friend of mine over the 2005 winter holidays, but the family cat may have wandered off with it; either way, it got lost. I'd love to grab another Nile hairstick in 7" length, though.

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These come in pairs on the Maiden's Treasures website, but I only bought one since I like single hairsticks. In reality, the stick is just as beautiful as the photo, maybe more so. The packaging from MT was also really lovely, and it shipped very quickly. MT's hairsticks are excellent quality, a real cut above the standard "stick of wood with beads." Stunning stuff.

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Purchased from WoodJewelry.com. Lots of lovely stuff, more colorful wood laminates. This colorway is called "Rainbow," and it's lovely. It's a long stick, around 7", and it seems to have established itself as my new default when I'm not using a Quattro fork. It's got a slightly "flattened" profile which makes it slide in and hold really well.

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And another one from WoodbyC, although this one was purchased from eBay. I had initially lost the auction, but I distinctly recall taking pleasure in the fact that I had managed to force the chump who outbid me to pay $51 for the hairstick.

Turned out that apparently they hadn't banked on paying quite that much for it, so they reneged, and I won it in a second chance auction. I fell in love with the colors, and I just love Cynthia's stuff. Since my hair's grown, it's gotten a bit too short, which is really a shame. It is still useful for the Figure 8 bun, as described on my Styling page, but the Flexi-8's hold that style much more securely than sticks.

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From DressyTresses.com -- a bit femme for my tastes, but it's still just gorgeous. The red is extremely vivid and bright, and it holds up my entire bun despite being somewhat smaller than most of my default hairsticks. The seller was very patient with me as well, while I sorted out my Paypal issues before paying for the stick. Got it when I got back from the winter holidays with my family in 2005.

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From Ron Quattro via eBay -- a beautiful, beautiful sterling-and-hematite hairstick, 6". I'd bought it from him, and the first one he sent never arrived. Let him know, he sent another, which was damned decent of him. If the other one ever shows up, I can send it back to him.

Interestingly, this one was noticed the first time I wore it. I was walking back home from Boba Loca, and I heard three women behind me saying, "Oh, now that's the sort of thing I want, that stick in her hair ... " I turned around and let them know that it was eBay and Ron's work. Ron's does the most gorgeous stuff.

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Another from WoodJewelry.com. This is a plain roundish one -- the top is a bit thick for my tastes (it doesn't have the slimmer profile of the one above), but I anticipate it will work just fine. I was pleased when I received it to see that it matches my cat, actually. She's a tabby-and-white tricolor. Her stripes have red/black mottled spots on them, like a tabby-and-white who someone spattered bleach on. She sniffed it when I got home from the post office, and I noticed that it was the same color as she. :-)

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And yet another Ron Quattro, with a lab garnet on a silver ring and a steel pin. His stuff is just showstopping.

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Another from Dressy Tresses. I bought a purple shell set for a work conference in March 2006 and felt like buying a matching hairstick. I did see this once before, but didn't pounce quickly enough, sadly. I was delighted to see another one later on; the woman who runs the place is very nice and prompt as anything. This stick is also long enough for my hair and very robust; won't bend at all, which is very rare.

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Yet another eBay acquisition from WoodbyC. Called "Sedona" for the dark, dark, dark honey color of the wood. It's a perfect length and is in serious danger of becoming my default hairstick. The thing is prettier than the photo, but that's typical for WoodbyC's stuff. The gloss and the depth of color is amazing.

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Renfaire -- black snot and hairsticks! And lots of lovely hair sightings. I found the following three there this year (2006). This one was in a south Asian booth with lots of stuff from Nepal/Tibet/that area. I had no clue if it was a hairstick, but the second I saw it, I decided it would be.

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Another impromptu hairstick. This one's not suitable for full updos, though. Too short. But interesting nonetheless. It does imply that miniature swords are another possibility for fun and unique hairsticks.

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This was also a renfaire acquisition at a booth selling handmade brass objects, many of which were made as you watched. Fascinating. There were two other hairsticks there, thinner sticks. One had an oak leaf and acorn on top, the other a little kitty. This one was thicker and has what I initially thought was an eagle on it, but it does look a bit like a northwest coast Raven now that I think about it.

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Another eBay acquisition. Incredibly fast shipping, not as robust as the Byasa one, but not bad for the cheapness -- I got it for $10 in a second chance offer. It should work fine as long as I don't put too much stress on it.

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I'm delighted about this. This was made by a fellow named Ron Geraci (Siciliano) who lives nearby and works various street fairs and arts festivals in California. He makes mostly pens, but I was able to interest him in making hairsticks as well! He's going to look into making more out of more interesting woods (although these are wonderful, bocote and maple) and even bright acrylics. His website is Uncle Ronnie's Pens and Needles -- you'll find some hairsticks there.

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More from Maiden's Treasures only this time a pair instead of a single. I love complementary colors, and these were so beautiful they stopped me in my tracks. I just fell in love with them!

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Another Ron Quattro, called a "shillelagh stick," thus proving that I chose best when going with Welsh instead of Irish, because I haven't got the faintest how they manage to get "shill-AY-lee" out of "shillelagh." Stunning, stunning stick, though. I'm still somewhat disbelieving that I actually won this thing. It's so beautiful that I seriously expected to be outbid at the last minute.

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Another Ron Quattro -- a kanzashi, which is apparently a general term used in Japan to refer to hair decorations. This particular one is called a kogai and is used to create styles where the hair is wrapped around the stick. Many such things pull apart in the center so that the wearer can slip them into an existing complex style. Some older ones can go for many hundreds of dollars among collectors, and others -- made for royalty -- are in museums and made of intricately hand-carved jade and amber with gold and coral accents.

This kogai is fussier than most things I've used, and it probably won't be a daily wear sort of thing, as I need to make two long braids in order to use it which is time-consuming for me. But it is lovely, as are all of his things. He has many other kogai available for purchase, so be sure to check out his eBay store.

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And yet another Ron Quattro, a fantop hairstick. Slightly flatter in profile -- actually, the stick part is extremely similar to the plain black sticks up at the top that I got at a Loscon in profile. Slightly oval cross-section, holds extremely well, the perfect length for a Figure 8 bun. Absolutely gorgeous.

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In terms of turned and handmade wooden wear, Graydog is pretty much at the acme of evolution. In a hundred years time, people will be showing up at Antiques Roadshow ("Live from the planet Jupiter!") with this guy's items, and finding out that they are worth fortunes. His crochet hooks are boggling, and his hairsticks are more hotly pursued than diamonds, and more keenly admired as well. I never in my life imagined winning one, or even seeing one go for less than $200. I am still blown away.

This pin is made of African ebony, with the top part made of banksia pod, a hard mottled seed pod from Australia. In the voids of the pod, he places crushed materials for many of his hairsticks and crochet hooks; sometimes coral, mother of pearl, lapis, and in this example turquoise. Stunning.

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Delightful! My first Monk the Monk hairstick, called "Blue Star." The dyed maple burl is fairly light, and the ebony is just light enough that you can see the grain under a good light. The blue star sapphire at the top is a laboratory created gem, absolutely lovely.

It's also a very thick, hefty hairstick, much more substantial than most of the others I have. It's really just wonderful, and I have to keep an eye on MTM's things now.

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I cannot be happier with this hairstick, as I designed it. I drew the original design in Illustrator and sent the result to a metalsmith named Bill Dawson, a brilliant designer and metalworker who made a ring for me that I also designed, wear every day, and love.

Fast forward to the next idea I had, which was a silver hairstick with a little landscape on it, outlined and colored so that the result would appear somewhat cloisonne. The landscape was meant to evoke a Welsh poem by the very famous poet Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans) called "Atgof," or "Reminiscence."

Dim ond lleuad borffor,
ar fin y mynydd llwm.
A swn hen afon Prysor
yn canu yn y cwm.

(Only a purple moon
at the tip of a bare mountain.
And the sound of the old river Prysor
singing in the valley.)

I loved the colors and images evoked by the vowels and the words themselves, and asked him to create a hairstick with that landscape on it, and the words of the poem struck into the stick. I asked him not to enamel it; when I asked him to create the Welsh ring, I requested a red enamelled dragon head and was informed by him that red enamelling doesn't work well with silver. He recommended making the dragon head without enamel and that I might use red nail polish. It worked so well (and was rather fun to do) that I specified that he leave out the color on this hairstick so that I could do the same.

Unfortunately for the poem, he was unable to find a die set small enough and was unwilling to engrave or cut the letters into the stick given that the stick had to remain strong, and both engraving and cutting involve the removal of metal. As a result, he cut the name of the poem and the poet into the back side of the oval, which you can see on View 1. (In retrospect, thank dawg he couldn't cut the poem, because I neglected to include a consonant mutation. Eek!)

The colors show up better in person: an opalescent moon, dark purple and green mountains, a pearly black sky, and a mixed turquoise and dark blue river. I am beyond thrilled with it, and am already planning the next hair ornament, a hairstick/comb combination.

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From an eBay seller named Jason Carter -- a little disorienting since I recall an actor of that name who was once in a rather popular science-fiction type television show. Lovely head of hair, fittingly.

The stick is ebony, the top mallee burl, and the disc a golden-poppy colored acrylic. It's just lovely. Not surprising that the creator also makes tops and drop spindles, given the shape!

Purchased March 2008.

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Amazing, gorgeous thing. Nice and long (over 7") and robust, so it can hold up a lot of hair, especially in a pinless braided bun. From eBay seller amadlife. Pleasant, good communicator. Check out his other auctions!

Purchased March 2008.

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And another gorgeous piece of work by Amadlife -- tulipwood this time, one of my faces for the rich fuschia-like color, with one simple captive ring. Wonderful!

Purchased April 2008.

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Ron Quattro, and magnificent as usual. Fork wood is Brazilian ipe, "acrylic ivory" for the top, and black walnut strips. The inset is dyed paua shell and silver. I just can't get enough of this man's work. Gorgeous, heirloom-quality as usual. Works as well for a pinless braided bun (see styles page) as for a Gibraltar bun.

Purchased April 2008.

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Now, you see, things like this are why I consider that I've sold my soul to Ron Quattro. It's just that way. I'd been looking at this thing for months and put off buying it for no reason at all, and I finally just gave in and grabbed the damned thing. His description online was: "eastern rockmaple, emerald swirl acrylic, and alternative ivory and walnut accent bands." What this description fails to say is that it is gorgeous and far prettier than even the photo.

Once again, Ron Quattro hits it out of the park. Purchased in early July 2008.

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This was bought at the same time as the previous one, and may become a gift for a friend. I'm not sure yet. Since learning that I can do a pinless braided bun (bottom of the Styling page) with a hairfork, I've become more generous toward them, and Ron Quattro has of course become the beneficiary of this new interest of mine.

He describe it as "made with black cherry. The StoneTop crown design is done in ebonite, with rosewood accent bands." It's gorgeous and beautifully made as are all his things. I had originally thought that "ebonite" was simply a trade name for corian, but apparently ebonite is indeed its own material and is used for, among other things, bowling balls. Neat!

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Marvelous, gorgeous thing -- from Castle Mountain Designs. This shipped promptly, and was wonderfully and attractively packaged. I can't recommend their stuff enough. Beautiful, beautiful piece of work.

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Another design by me and fabricated by Bill Dawson! View 1 shows the sketch I made on my legal pad at work, and View 2 shows what resulted when I got home that night and opened Illustrator. Views 3 and 4 show the comb and hairstick combination, View 5 the comb alone, and View 6 shows the comb in use; the hairstick is used to hold up the bun, and slides behind the comb to anchor it and keep it from "backing out." I find that it works best when I wear a rather high bun, not a typical nape bun but one further up on my head. If I wear a nape bun, the tines tend to poke a bit at the back of my neck and the pressure causes the comb to "back out."

This was fabricated by the same wonderful metalsmith, Bill Dawson, who did my "Atgof" hairstick above. He's just so very good and such a great person to work with when designing. The comb and hairstick are made of brass, and the red stones are garnet cabochons that I bought online. I just couldn't be happier!

And of course, now that I know these things can be fabricated reliably, the ideas are coming fast and thick. Not bad, but potentially expensive or time-consuming whenever I force myself to take the time to learn proper jewelry-making and metalworking.

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Another magnificent Monk the Monk. According to the eBay description: this hair stick was created out of "Indigo Royalwood Dymondwood with a top of blue-dyed Box Elder Burl and finished off with a free turning ring of Royal Pearl acrylic inlaid with pieces of Mother of Pearl in a mosaic style."

It's far more beautiful than the photo as usual, and another example of why MtM's work is drawing increasing amounts of notice and money.

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Purchased from a shop called Heart's Delight in Ventura. The comb, surprisingly, stays in place nicely although the pick is a bit short. Still, they are both lovely.

Purchased January 2009.

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This one was purchased from 60th Street Productions, which sells forks -- 2, 3, and 4 tines -- in a variety of lengths and an amazing array of dymondwood colors and natural hardwoods as well. This one is robust, smooth as silk, and has a beautiful, graceful curve to it as well. It came in a cute little polartek slipcover, too. The people who run the store were delightful, friendly, and very much value customer service as they communicated promptly and clearly. I plan on being a repeat customer!

Purchased January 2009.

Views 2 and 3 show two other forks purchased late April 2009 from the same seller, each a half-inch shorter than the Indigo one. The colors are called Crimson and Jade. (These pictures are from the store's website, and aren't the actual forks that I bought; hence, the Jade fork is a style that I don't actually have. The Indigo and Crimson forks are accurately-shaped.))

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This is getting ridiculous -- I should just sign my paycheck over to Ron Quattro. Description from the sale: "This single stick features a 13mm faceted azure quartz bead, with a faceted opaline crystal set in silver above. Sterling silver accents complete this unique design." Titanium stick, 5".

Purchased January 2009.

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Monk the Monk is rapidly passing Graydog as the art hairstick woodworker of choice -- I'm glad he's still the best-kept secret on eBay, but I also expect him to not remain that way for long. This thing is beyond stunning, one of the best I've ever seen on eBay by anyone. Olivewood with ebony and banksia pod, with turquoise chips in the voids of the pod. I am absolutely beyond thrilled with this, and cold stunned that it went for as low a price as it did.

Purchased January 2009.

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Another from A Mad Life on eBay. Long, black dymondwood, with a beautiful dark purple glass flower that reminds me of a hibiscus, hence the name. Great for post-wash pinless braided buns since it's also very long.

Purchased April-ish 2009.

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A new seller for me, since I finally went to Etsy.com and searched for hairsticks. I'm a little lukewarm toward this one since it was comparatively expensive, but it's also very interesting. The seller's description is the following:

"It is made from Gonçalo Alves, and measures 6 1/4" long by 7/8" wide. In the top I have set a peridot Austrian crystal which has wonderful sparkle. Under the crystal I have carved an interesting pattern through the wood into the amber core of the stick which glows in sunlight. The Goncalo Alves has wonderful rich golden colors with chocolate stripes."

"Gonçalo Alves ranges in color from light to reddish brown to deep mahogany red-brown with a striking figure created by beautiful, bold, brown to nearly black irregular markings or striping. The texture is fine to medium and uniform, with a fine grain, varying from straight to interlocked and wavy. The wood's color deepens with exposure and age and the wood has a natural luster."

It's a bit short for me, but will work (I think) for a pinless braided bun and possibly for a fig-8. I'm still mulling whether it was worth the money, but I'll definitely keep an eye on Brandywine Woodworking at Etsy.com since I do like the idea of hollowing out parts of the wood and placing other materials inside. Purchased late April 2009.

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Ah, Ron Quattro again. Although this isn't from eBay but from his Etsy shop. Corian Stonetop, as he called it. The color of the acrylic swirl that caps it reminded me of fizzy root beer, hence my name for it. His description: "This fork is made with corian in the 'bone' color, and the crown is done in segments of bronze pearl acrylic. Overall length is 5-3/4", and functional or working length is 4.5"."

As are all of Ron's things, it's a gorgeous piece of work, and I'm beyond delighted with it. It's short for me, but it works well even to hold up a pinless braided bun as described at the very bottom of my Styles page, so I'm thrilled with it. And of course, it's waterproof although I wouldn't dunk it. The picture makes it look a bit scratched, but it's smooth as glass.

Purchased June 2009.

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