anyone tried curling and dying a volks wig?

I'd say buy some of Katie Blair's wig dye. She said it would work on a Dollfie wig. I've got some in the mail... I'm getting red and charcoal... gonna experiment in darkening the underneath of a wig to give the illusion of high lights. :3

As for curling... I don't see why a boil perm wouldn't work. :> Boil perms work on anything from professional synthetics to cheap barbie knock offs. If you want it straighter, have someone pour almost boiling water over it while you comb it(this works moderately well, but make sure to wear gloves or something to protect your hands!). Then rinse in running cold water. If you want to curl it, use curlers then pour the almost boiling water over the top and then dip it in or run cold water over it. Some people also suggest putting it in the freezer till the water cools, but that seems like a doll icicle to me. XD

You might ask zoi no mike or zevchan since they do some really cool cosplay stuff. :3 Zoi was taking custom wig orders. :3

OT but, you can make a nice bob by putting the wig on a form(like a styrofoam ball on a stick) and then using toule(like the netting on a tutu?) and tying it around the wig's base. Then pour the nearly boiling water over it and rinse. Then just trim it. :3 it makes a great bob.

also: best way for just a little almost boiling water quick, zap a mug in the microwave for 2 minutes!

 

Wow, you know, I've never known what a boil perm is, and just never got around to asking! ^_^ Thanks much for the information. You at least managed to help one person with wig alterations, even if it wasn't Aimee. :grin:

 

I dunno, I've never used it. X3 But I've been dying to try... oops. no pun intended there. o_o; I finally had enough money to invest in some at any rate. :3 The sharpie method didn't work for me on one wig... but it worked great on Ghaleon's default. :/ It probably depends on the quality of wig. I have a feeling that the cheaper the wig(because this wig of GHaleon's is the only one that seems to be made of "cheap" hair, it's really frizzy and nasty) the better it will take the dye. :/ The only other thing I can think of is getting a real mohair wig in white and dying it with rit or koolaide like people do for blythes.

 

*nods* I think it depends on the synthetic fiber... I used to be very gung-ho and confident about the sharpie method until I had a bad experiance with my poor little 1/6 Aka... the sharpie did NOT like the catsilk. Thankfully it was salvageable and the remains of the sharpie on the vinyl now just make him look all blushed and cute.

So yes... try before you dye! Ahah. ^^; I think if you do a test strand, wait for it to dry, and then wipe it over with a warm, damp white cloth, you'll get a pretty good idea of how much the dye will bleed off.

Boil perms are fun. ^__^ You just have to be careful to wrap the ends of the hair very well, or they get damaged and frizzy. And get the right size of perm rods. Some people reccomend pipecleaners because they're so bendy, but I tried them and the hair got stuck in them horribly! XP I wouldn't use them again.
I'd reccommend buying some loose synthetic hair and experimenting a bit with it before trying it out on your doll wig, just to get a feel for how it works. ^^

 

Ive never dyed a wig before,

But i have used RIT DYE quite often to dye modacrylic and nylon synthetic furs, ( i think wigs are made of modacrylic, or possibly something similar).. the key to getting it to be permanant is to heat the dye to boiling or near boiling

The tricky part is if its too hot it will melt your fur (and im sure it would probably do something similar to a wig).... once in a while the extreme heat would cause the fur to knot up, aperaing to be melted but i was almost always to restraighten it with a hairdryer and a sparse comb.

after the fur was dyed i would soak it for a few days in cold water changing the water every few days to make sure i washed out any residual dye,.. but even after that certain colors like extreme vivid reds and oranges still liked to bleed..

heres an example of a fur dyejob i did,.. all of the fur feathers started out white



so it is possible to nicely dye synthetic fibers,.. just not sure on the exact specs for wigs ops:

good luck,.. id love to know how it turns out :grin:

 

OH yea and btw,.. If your wanting to use markers to add colored streaks ect on hair,..

Dont use sharpies...

Use fabric markers,..they dont bleed off of the hair the way other markers sutch as sharpies do,.. although because they contain some dissolved acrylic they will make the hair a lil stiff but usually i just wait for it to dry then i gently comb it out and the stiffness lessens :grin:

 

Thanks, Don! ^^ If I can manage to find some fabric markers, I'll -totally- give it a try. I really need to give my little boys their jrocker roots. ^^; I've never had problems with Sharpie on my cosplay wigs, but that's possibly because the wig fibers are coarser? Only guessing. ^^;;

And your critter is FANTASTIC. I love you and worship the ground you walk on. Want an apprentice? ^_~

I tried dying fur once with RIT... it didn't come out as vividly bright-screaming-fushia as I wanted, and the fur went kind of... shrivelly. ^^; But sharpie worked well on it! *laughs*

 

hehe thanks Zoi :grin:

That costume is awesome!! pvc is not an easy fabric to work with!

For the longest time ive wanted to make a coat thats plack pvc and hot pink leopardprint, now im inspired! :grin:

Next time your dyed fur goes all shriveled, try the hot hairdrier method to straighten it back out,..it really works even on fur that looks destroyed..,just put the hairdryer on high close to the fur (about 4 or 5 inches away and leave it there untill the fur just magicaly goes straight,.its actually kinda cool to watch, and then comb it while its still hot) although it does take forever if you have more than a few feet of it to do ops:

 

All I can think of is, "It's so stimulating being your HAT!" X3 That looks awesome.

Hmmm... I may try doing the boiling hot on synth fur. I have a bunch of really great white that I got from Yela. :>

 

Please let me know how the wig dying works out. I got a great wig from Elaine, but it is a little to light for my Keizo and I want to try dying it black. However, she warned against it saying that the dye might come off on his head.

Good luck!
Kelly

 

That was the first thing to come to my head too! *LOL* It's like a lovechild between the bird hat and a Firey!


As for the boil perms, I'm definately going to try that when I get my doll. A character of mine has straight hair until it gets to the bottom where it curls out, and I've been trying to figure out if I'd be able to get a wig like that. Well, I can just make one then! XD

 

Aimee, please be wary of RIT dye! My friend sandy of puchimadam tells me that it is very unstable, even after many washes. I asked her if it would even be okay to RIT dye a momoko, and she recommended against it. I would say there is a very large chance of the wig staining after you dye it, even after many, many washes. I had been considering the katie bair dyes as well, but I was also wondering about the stability of those dyes... *sigh* I *really* want a dusty rose colored wig, damnit!

 

gotta love labyrinth!... :grin: hehe

 

It is my childhood combined into an hour and a half. XD

I'm a Henson Fiend, as well as Brian Froud's designs, so naturally I'm gonna love it! ^_^

I definately have to show your little friend to my boyfriend. You might have a rabid fan really soon! haha!

 

I do alot of customizing of Barbie/Tyler fashion type dolls and have had alot of success using Rit Dye. I have never dyed a wig however, so can't guarantee if the fiber will respond the same.


Oneof the keys to using Rit is to keep the piece in constant motion. Then rinse it throughly, check the hair after it has dried somewhat, both for color depth as well as damage. If hair is undamaged, and you want a richer shade, do it again. By layering the color and using constant motion, you should be able to get a pretty consistent quality of color.

For boil perms, use either pipe cleaners, or straws. I make aset of "velcro" straw rollers that enable you to not have to use perm end papers ( a HUGE PITA). To make "rollers" use E6000 glue, and use the "rough" ede of the velcro. Coat the straw with glue, smak the velcro (rough side up) to the straw, and tie it on with string or rubber band it, then let dry overnight. Then, you can remove the string/bands and cut the rollers to size. Roll hair using setting gell and secure with a bobby pin

These make setting for a boil perm SO easy.

ONLY use the E6000. I have experimented with others and none of them hold up to the boiling water, and worse, thrash the hair.

Once hair is rolled, boil at least 4 cups of water in the microwave, and either submerge the head.hair/wig into it for about 90 seconds, or pour it over the hair slowly, being sure to saturate it well. Then lastly, plunge the hair/head/wig into ice water (literally use ice cubes), this will keep the hair from frizzing.

I have done ALOT of this on doll hair so hope I have explained it right.

 

Mana's pink wig started of as a blond volks wig (standard sister13 Sara wig)

I ironed it under a wet towel, then braided it, boiled it, ironed the fringe and then colored it with Warhammer fleshwash colors (yush I used to paint those damn miniature figures) The fleshwash color is a transparent very liquid color, but sets just as well as normal acrylics. I used a toothbrush to color it with, did it three times, then submerged the wig in a fabricsoftner/water mix to prevent to stiff fibres.

The wig is soft and poofy, abd this won't be the last time I color wigs.

Hope it helps.. if you want better explanation... PM me

 

I cut and dyed a W-1 with RIT ages ago. You'll have more success with lighter colors...Volks white fiber doesn't absorb dark color well.

The only pictures I've got online with it contain nudity, so be warned.

Boobie Alert

I also dyed Dollfie Plus wigs (RIT) a long time ago and tried darker colors. Like I said, didn't have much success...the wigs didn't absorb much more than a pastel version of what I was trying to dye AND the darker colors do fade over time. Stick with lighter colors and you should be fine though.

Oh, and remember that the headcap will be dyed too, so be extra sure you rinse it out thoroughly or you'll dye your doll's head.

 

Bumping this topic back up!

I'm planning on dying a DOD white wig light pink using RIT dyes and the hot water method.. But the wig is curly, so I'm not sure how they will react to the hot water. Will they keep their shape, as long as I don't brush them?

 

Hot water will pull out the curl. Your best bet is to do your coloring, then re-set the hair using a boil perm method.

Most of these wigs are synthetic (which translates toi being plastic fiber), so they don't respond like human hair.

I would color, and then re boil perm.

here is an example for you.

This wig was long and had tight ringlets. I wanted a shoulder length soft pageboy.

I straitened the wig by dipping it in boiling water, then I cut it on Alyse. Then I rolled it in big hunks on the velcro rollers, and resubmerged it into boiling water, and finished it in ice water. Oila, a soft pageboy.