Sunday 1 June 2014

Wiggling Wig Block and the Frist Attempt

Here is the long awaited first attempt!  Let me take you through the whole process one discovery at a time:


This is my original sketch for the wig with some swatches of the colour theme.  I was planning to have the denser part to be yarn with pieces of ribbon coming through.  It did not turn out quite like that exactly.


I bought some yarn and ribbons from the dollar store (best place ever!) and used my TUMS bottle as length reference.  It has a nice curve on the lid that holds the yarn in so I was able to make small mountains of "hair" tassels at warp speed.

The knit hat caused me a moment of dilemma.  As the warm weather extinguished these winter headgear from most stores, I found the blue one in Ardene's for $10.  A little more expensive than I would like, but, the cashier said that they were having a 5 for $10 dollars sale so technically I can but it for $2.  There wasn't anything I really wanted there though, but I ended up choosing 2 nail polishes and 2 bracelets that I don't think I would ever use nor needed at all.  Thinking about it now, the price is exactly the same - witness once again the mighty grasp of consumerism.

Wig block or hat rack?


 To make wigs, one need a wig block, or something to hold the foundation in shape (especially when working with an elastic type wig cap).  Though there are cheap ones one can order online, due to the time constrain, I decided to make my own.  I went around testing bowls to find the best fit and stuck it on a paper towel holder.  Add some duck tape and woila!  It is a bit more flexible in angles which caused a little bit of hassle but over all workable.

On to the wig construction.

I started with sewing on tassels of ribbons thinking of adding the yarn on top and the ribbons will show through.  Many of the wig tutorials showed the real wig makers attaching hair along the nape and building up to the crown but the DIY ones attached it just along the crown.  I thought I can add the ribbons to the crown and attatch the yarn in the traditional way.  But that did not work.  Partly it was because of the wig block as it is only a half sphere and the other was due to the way the hair is attached.  Once the ribbons were attached down the crown, the yarn couldn't be attached long the nape without having a weird cross-way.  In the end I sewed a fringe halfway across the front and the rest along the crown on top of the row of ribbons.  It reminds me of the way the Ancient Egyptian women wore their wigs on top of their natural hair, a duel texture feel.  I am a pretty fast worker so the over all process took me around 5 hours or so.


Final look from three angles


 For the next iteration, a more secure wig block is a must.  I am looking forward to working with the helmet style foundation, theoretically, it should be a little easier to manage. 


Big round of applause for my little brother who was happy to be my little model.  It looks better on than I expected, but that could just be that smiling face ;)

2 comments:

  1. Awesome wig Cherry! Surprised that your brother let you use him as a model haha. What inspired you to choose those colours? They compliment each other really well! It might be interesting to go into the history behind the colour of wigs (artificial versus real hair). Were there any chemical processes? The wig style you're going for reminds me of the 70s and the 90s. Really funky! Are you planning to experiment with other materials for your other iterations? It'd be interesting to experiment with thing strands of string or thread?

    Let me know how it goes!

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  2. Hi Cherry,

    when i look at your brother with this amazing wig, as you said It reminds me of the way the Ancient Egyptian man...haha. well done!

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