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Wig Building
Jan. 1st, 2017 09:26 pmIf anyone knows how to embed images from Dropbox into DW, please let me know!
For the first time ever I am attempting to make a wig for a costume. I've done small pieces, like a bun or a fall, but never a wig before.
I'm making a version of this gown, which you can see basically where I am with it here. I started it for CoCo2016 but will finish for CoCo2017. So rather than half assing it, I want fashion plate 1876 hair. Between 1876 and 1878 could get HUGE as the bustle deflated, especially in French fashion plates. These ladies (interesting how one is in a bustle and one is not) have 18C height hair, and of course are French. Sticking a chigon on the back of my head will not be enough.
I've got my friend Kendra's book on 18C hair but bustle is a bit different. The hair is high with a tiara (my tiara is about 4 inches tall) but set back. After research and some consulting (Thank you Kendra) I've decided to use a wiglet with rats to build up the height.
I am lucky that I am an easy hair match (4 or a 6) and that my local hair shop, which caters to an African American clientele, caries most of their stock in 4 along with darker shades. Sooo much easier to shop for hair in person! I picked up a medium length wiglet, some rats (bun holders actually) and some weave hair.
In playing around with the rats and wiglet, I discovered it was very easy to make 1960's bouffant wig. Shape the rats, put them under the wiglet, sew a new bottom on, and you've got a giant bouffant. Part of me soooo wanted to keep this wig like this.
So I've finished shaping the rats. They are waaaaay narrower than I thought they'd be. It is really hard to get the shape right, much harder than I'd imagined. The spider is just a little joke for myself. I've used a bit of loose braiding hair (from another project) to fill out the gaps and fluff up the front, the covered the entire thing with a hair net.
I've curled the front of the wig (using boiling water poured over the curlers) and removed a number of rows of hair so I can sew the rat on. I will sew back on a row or two to cover the rat, but wanted a good base I could stick hair pins in easily. I tried mounting it under the wig, but discovered I couldn't get things stable on my head. Styling was also more difficult as there as simply more hair on the rat, and not oriented in ways that were easy to deal with.
I'm rather glad the fashion plate is so darn indistinct in the picture. You can't tell what is going on with her hair really. I am going to do tight curls and loops, maybe a bit of frizz, along with some fat curls. What ever looks good.
For the first time ever I am attempting to make a wig for a costume. I've done small pieces, like a bun or a fall, but never a wig before.
I'm making a version of this gown, which you can see basically where I am with it here. I started it for CoCo2016 but will finish for CoCo2017. So rather than half assing it, I want fashion plate 1876 hair. Between 1876 and 1878 could get HUGE as the bustle deflated, especially in French fashion plates. These ladies (interesting how one is in a bustle and one is not) have 18C height hair, and of course are French. Sticking a chigon on the back of my head will not be enough.
I've got my friend Kendra's book on 18C hair but bustle is a bit different. The hair is high with a tiara (my tiara is about 4 inches tall) but set back. After research and some consulting (Thank you Kendra) I've decided to use a wiglet with rats to build up the height.
I am lucky that I am an easy hair match (4 or a 6) and that my local hair shop, which caters to an African American clientele, caries most of their stock in 4 along with darker shades. Sooo much easier to shop for hair in person! I picked up a medium length wiglet, some rats (bun holders actually) and some weave hair.
In playing around with the rats and wiglet, I discovered it was very easy to make 1960's bouffant wig. Shape the rats, put them under the wiglet, sew a new bottom on, and you've got a giant bouffant. Part of me soooo wanted to keep this wig like this.
So I've finished shaping the rats. They are waaaaay narrower than I thought they'd be. It is really hard to get the shape right, much harder than I'd imagined. The spider is just a little joke for myself. I've used a bit of loose braiding hair (from another project) to fill out the gaps and fluff up the front, the covered the entire thing with a hair net.
I've curled the front of the wig (using boiling water poured over the curlers) and removed a number of rows of hair so I can sew the rat on. I will sew back on a row or two to cover the rat, but wanted a good base I could stick hair pins in easily. I tried mounting it under the wig, but discovered I couldn't get things stable on my head. Styling was also more difficult as there as simply more hair on the rat, and not oriented in ways that were easy to deal with.
I'm rather glad the fashion plate is so darn indistinct in the picture. You can't tell what is going on with her hair really. I am going to do tight curls and loops, maybe a bit of frizz, along with some fat curls. What ever looks good.
