Elizabethan Masquerade Party Centerpiece

My favorite scene in the movie Labyrinth is the elegant Elizabethan Masquerade Ball.  I so love the mysterious opulence of the Elizabethan era.

My daughter Jennifer and I have created centerpieces for just one such occasion and on a shoestring. 

 Terracotta flower pots from Walmart $1.59 each, 40lb Sacrete/Quickcrete $2.99 Lowes, Branches

/free from my trees, Spray Paint four cans from Lowes  .99 cents each, 2 lg containers of glitter Walmart $2.29 each, Elmer's clear glue $1.69, black feather raven $1.00 from the Dollar Tree. Black tulle, was purchased online, however
A.C. Moore $4.72 for 25 yards six inches wide or Michaels would have this.


Mix Sakrete per directions with water, we wedged some Styrofoam broken apart from packaging we had on hand to hold in place, or have someone help you to hold the branch centered in the pot while you pour the Sakrete into the pot.  The weight of the Sakrete kept the branch in place.

Allow to dry overnight. In the morning take them outside to spray paint as in the photo.  I used black and white, however you may make them whatever color you want.  You may pay more for other colors of spray paint.

By late afternoon they were dry, and I brought them in to begin the glittering.  Glittering is optional, but it adds some elegant glitz to the finished piece.  Glittering was the most tedious of the tasks.  I painted each branch with Elmers clear glue, and sprinkled the glitter on them, also mixed some glitter with glue and painted them too.  There is spray paint that has glitter in it, and that may be easier, but I am not sure if the affect will be the same. Allow them to dry overnight.

I took black tulle and made bows as if I were making Pew Bows for a wedding and added them to the base of the tree, on top of the pot.  I also painted some mini pumpkins with glue and sprinkled them with gold glitter and added one to the top of pot tucked into the bow on several of the centerpieces.  These pieces were for a Halloween Elzabethan Masquerade Party(Which turned out to be my 60th Birthday Party-Surprise).


Here are directions for Tuille Bows.

The first one has the raven on it, the others without raven.

"The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!" Lady Macbeth   William Shakespeare