Like Tamatoa the crab in Disney’s “Moana,” who attaches treasures he forages from the ocean floor to his shell, Rebecca Owens-Goldhammer forages treasured items from thrift stores, discount retailers and even friends’ bauble collections for the theatrical headpieces she has designed and crafted since she retired from teaching.

For the Tamatoa headpiece she made for the Disney-licensed school musical production of “Moana Jr.,” she found round, textured placemats at Walmart, adorned them with used costume jewelry from her former chapter leader at PS 159 in Long Island City, Queens, and spraypainted a dollar-store backpack gold. For similarly Disney-licensed school musicals “The Lion King Jr.” and “The Little Mermaid Jr.,” she cut up tiny brooms she ordered online to make “Lion King” headpieces and used ping-pong balls for the eyes on 20 seagull headpieces for “The Little Mermaid Jr.”

“You have to be resourceful, and you have to have your eyes open at all times,” said Owens-Goldhammer, who taught junior high school English and communication arts, and then worked in elementary schools for 17 years in New York City public schools. She retired in 2011 from PS 159.

Before becoming an educator, Owens-Goldhammer worked in technical theater and stage management in New York and Santa Fe, New Mexico. She wanted to teach theater, but said concerns over layoffs during the 1980s prompted her to nix that option.

Retirement gave her the opportunity to return to her first love. She began contacting theater companies, performing arts academies and schools on Long Island to offer her services. “I always wanted to do this, so to be able to get back involved in it at this stage of my life is perfect for me,” she said.

It can take between eight and 12 hours to complete one headpiece, from coming up with the design to making the pattern to building it, Owens-Goldhammer said. One of her first jobs was creating 70 headpieces for “The Lion King Jr.” that were durable, not too heavy, and stable enough for children to wear while dancing. She mounted everything on visors and baseball caps, a method she continues to use. It took her nine months to create the collection, which she rents out a few times a year.

Owens-Goldhammer’s in-home studio is filled with paint and other art supplies, baseball caps, straw sun visors, mannequin heads, beads, crystals and her trusty glue gun.

“I’m not a sewer. I don’t like to sew,” she said. “I’m more like a maker — building and painting and cutting and designing.”

Owens-Goldhammer has designed and built theatrical props and headpieces throughout Long Island and Pennsylvania, including faux food and a giant tea set for “Alice in Wonderland.” These days, she splits her time between Long Island and South Carolina and makes headpieces only.

Doing this work ensures she has time for the creativity she craves in her life. “I’m not a person who goes and sits at the beach and socializes,” she said. “I’d rather be busy creating.”