Saturday 3 January 2015

Making waves

I have actually been doing a fair bit of ventilation recently, but not on the most recent re-front of the reddish-blonde wig.  That has been put on hold while I've been working on a commission for someone in the UK who wanted a version of the previous blonde wig I made (the one I'm wearing in the photo with the sunglasses.)

Since this new one will be almost identical to the previous one, I won't bother posting photos.

However, you may remember that my ultimate goal is to cut the original blonde wig down to a short men's style.  I still haven't plucked up the courage to do that, but I have been messing about with the style a bit in the meantime.

Since the receded hairline of the wig is very obviously masculine rather than feminine, I thought I would add some nice manly waves.  In my mind was the image of a mediaeval knight or a Norse god, muscles rippling and long, golden tresses blowing in the wind.

Well... my original effort was a bit more Sex and the City than Game of Thrones, but after a bit of fiddling I think I got it more-or-less to where I wanted it.

Here are a few photos that show the finished wig, at first unstyled, then at the various stages it went through.  I have added a shot at the end to show the hairline, which I think turned out quite well.

If I feel brave enough this weekend, I might try an intermediate haircut, just to shorten the hair to a medium length before progressing to the final cut.  Next stop, Kurt Cobain...








11 comments:

  1. Wow, amazing! If you don't mind me asking- what kind of density are you using in your wigs? And how much do you drop it down for the hairlines? ( I too work in the '8 holes out of 10' type method) Thanks! Keep up the good work!

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    1. Thank you! That's exactly what this is - I knotted 4 holes out of every 5 which equals 80%. For the hairline I just reduced the last half an inch or so by eye, more or less. I knotted diagonally towards the hairline, dropping (approximately) from 4 hairs to 3, then 2 then 1 (if that makes sense...?)

      For the main density, I found that 80% seemed like way too much hair! This was synthetic hair, so I just folded the hair in half to knot it, thereby basically doubling the appearance of the overall density. I think it would have looked better if I had knotted with shorter returns, so that the density at the scalp was the same, but it thinned out more towards the ends of the hair.

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    2. Thank you so much! So when you drop down the hairs from 4 to 1, does the spacing go up or are you just leaving one empty hole before knotting the next hairs? I'm afraid the 'diagonally towards the hairline' bit does confuses me slightly, I struggle to imagine these things in my head, but you expect it when your as blonde as me!

      If you weren't going to trim it down, I would suggest lightly taking thinning scissors to he ends and mid lengths to weaved out sections, gives a natural lived in look to a wig, without the look of those fly away returns some people try to sell with the thick hair lines! Although not ideal for theater wigs, can be difficult to put in the rollers without end papers day in day out when you go mad with the shears! Good luck with the cut!

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    3. Sorry, it's not easy to describe - nothing to do with your blondness...! :P

      When I drop from 4 hairs to 1, I generally just leave one empty hole between each section. Then once that is all done I will go back and knot a few random hairs right in front with more space in between. However, I try not to be too rigid in my 'sections', but just try to keep the idea of lowering the density as I go.

      My idea of 'diagonal towards the hairline' is also pretty loose, I just find that the patterns are less obvious if they run at a diagonal, rather than parallel or perpendicular to the hairline. The 'diagonal' will change depending on which side of the hairline you are knotting, and again nothing is set in stone. I just find it easier to work with some sort of method, rather than just randomly knotting hairs and hoping that it works.

      I will probably use thinning shears for the intermediate (Kurt Cobain) cut, as I don't want the ends to be too blunt. If it was real hair, I would probably use a razor to cut/thin it, but the synthetic hair seems to dull the razor in seconds!

      Thanks for the luck, I will need it...! :P

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  2. Density, ah, even with experience it's still tricky. A method helps for sure rather than total random knotting. I have not settled on a 'method' yet. I do use a lot of going by the eye and feel, but I want to develop a more formal method for light, med, and heavy.
    And please don't cut the ends, not just for the scissors sake but when you lose that tapering especially on synthetic hair it looks wiggy. That's a rock star wig, don't cut it! Signed, Another Wigmaker.

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    1. Too late, I have already started the cut!

      But yes, density has so many variables - thickness of the actual hair shaft, hair texture, length of returns, bleached/unbleached knots, synthetic or human hair... all have a dramatic effect on the final appearance of density!

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  3. I love this.
    One question though. What is that brown strip where you pin the lace to the canvas head? Stocking strips? Something like that. Please, tell me what is the purpose of these strips and where can I buy them? Instead of those strips, I use tape with a low tack. I use them, but I am not even sure what they do lol I just see alot of ventilators using them.

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    1. It's just called blocking tape, although in this case I have just used satin ribbon from my local dollar store! Traditionally it is a cotton twill tape, available from any wig-making supply, but more reasonably from eBay or even your local fabric shop. If you google 'twill tape' you will see what I mean.

      The purpose is just to help protect the delicate lace while you're working on it, any time the wig is pinned to the canvas block. If you search 'blocking a wig' on YouTube, you will see a couple of videos that show the traditional way to do it.

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  5. Great work! On the Photo of you wearing it, how much below the hairline lace did you leave? an inch or two or is it cut at the hairline itself? because it's virtually invisible. Also, what grade of lace did you use? I found your blog from 2013 on the lace. well done.

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    1. Thanks! The lace was still about two inches below the hairline. This was the Hugo Royer 2905, which sadly is no longer available because Royer has closed! However, the 20 denier lace from Banbury Postiche seems very similar.

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