Wig a Ton

After some long and intensive hours of work, I finally completed my 2nd iteration.  Like before, let us start off with taking a peek at my sketch:

 

For my second wig, my inspiration was the description "macaroni" (as mentioned in previous entry) and its use in the 1700s to describe someone who dressed and acted outlandishly.   Pun intended, I decided to make a wig from macaroni and assorted dried pasta in an elaborate periwig style.

Ball and plastic martini glass; Bowl and stacked candle holders

As I learned from the 1st wig, the wig block is very important to ensure the correct "hair" placement and overall wig shape.  So I went out to find a ball the size of a head (my model's specifically) for the next wig but it did not work out.  For a helmet style wig foundation, a curve into the jaw is needed for the fit and the sphere shape does not allow that.  I did take a look at wig shops for a wig block but the creepy empty eyes of the head mannequins did not appeal (not to mention the cost).  So I did a little switch-a-roo and used the bowl for the second wig foundation and the ball for the knit cap based first wig.  

 The colour matches quite well even if I originally wanted the blue to contrast with the ocher yellow of the pasta.  The candle sticks used in the second wig stand echoed the fanciful feel I was going for as well.  They did not hold up to the weight of the wig in the end though even with heavy glue gun and tape enforcement.  But for a good 20 pounds, I was probably asking a little too much.

To start, I did a plastic bag mold of my model's head and constructed a newspaper base on top.  As I build the shape, I realized just how important the switch was; how the use of the bowl instead of the ball was a good decision.  When I was looking through the different foundation styles for wigs, I thought the helmet style is the most convenient and easy to do, you literally just need to make a mold.  So I wondered why the bother with elastic that can shift the positions of the hair.  But as I was working on this, it became evident that the helmet style neglects the nape and back of the head completely.  If I was actually sewing hair on, it will definitely not look natural because the hair can only start to sprout half-way up the head. Therefore working with the back for the base was very tricky. I could not curve towards the neck too much or else I can't remove it from the block but leaving it too straight will leave a space between the wig and wearer.

Here is the final product with pasta glued all over.  It took a ridiculous amount of time but bizarrely, I enjoyed it very much (even if I burnt my fingers about a billion times).  It felt good to see an idea come to life and it is very different in emotional accomplishment from my usual process through painting.  If you look closely, I used penne, farfalle, rotini, and of course macaroni shaped pastas. 

And here is the moment you being waiting for, the picture of my little model wearing the wig.  He was very excited about this though he complained of a neck injury afterwards...

A penne fell during the process, can you spot it?