There was a discussion over at Halloween Forum recently regarding the best way to make snaky Medusa hair–apparently pipe cleaners wrapped around strands of hair don’t work so well–and user HalloweenEve posted the photo above, along with this explanation:

A few years later I found a better solution – I bought cheap plastic snakes at the $1 store (a few dozen in a pack), wire, a double banded headband, and a can of gold spray paint. I wired the snakes into a great little tiara and then sprayed the whole thing gold and I really loved how it turned out.

I gotta say, this looks pretty awesome. In addition to using it as part of a costume, it’s really nice enough to wear as a dramatic piece of jewelry.

Instead of wrapping the wire around the outside of the snakes, it could be inserted into them lengthwise. This would not only hide the wire, it would allow the snakes to be bent into interesting configurations. Adjusting some of them so that they were more horizontal and then arranging one’s hair over them so that their heads poked out would make them look more “natural.” The tiara itself could also be embellished with fake jewels or perhaps silk ivy leaves for a Greek-ier look.

The execution could hardly be cheaper or simpler, and the results are really great.