Tutorial Crafting Your Own Custom Angora Wig ~ ( A Tutorial )

Could you please tell me the weight of all the hair you ended up using for your Ju wig? I'm trying to plan a wig for my RS Rong at a similar length.

 

thessalyrose, that sounds like fun!
Hmm human hair should work ok, as long as the hair is a "natural" type like mohair.
I haven't tried it, but I do have some Atomic Pink SpecialFX dye I could try out to see if it works.
I HAVE seen other people do this, and color them in little foil things, like they do for people, before they made the wig. I also usually dye the hair before I start the wig.

Totally up to you though! I think as long as the wig is waterproof, it should be ok. Just be sure to rinse the heck out of it after, to make the the headcap won't stain.

Also, I just bought some leave-in conditioner spray in a travel size from a Beauty Supply shop, and it's been working WONDERS on my frizzy/dry teeswater locks. I suggest trying that out. It was pretty cheap for a tiny bottle, and I don't use that much at a time.

BlueIria, Oh gosh, not sure of the weight! Sorry!
I'm just using a standard Tibetan Lambskin pelt, but snipping the hair off the leather and gluing it down. I'm using 2 colors for this one, but the pelts were different lengths.
This shop on etsy has some great pelts, if you like this fiber. It has a slight wavy curl to it~
https://www.etsy.com/shop/FUNwithTROLLDOLLS

 

I would use caution when conditioning mohair,if you condition it first and then dye it the dye may not take to the hair very well as the conditioner can act as a barrier that the dye can't penetrate very well.

Also mohair can be fairly porous so it can really suck the dye up,maybe purchase a little bit more dye than you think you a going to need,just to be on the safe side

 

Thanks for the tutorial. Your wigs turned out so nice!

 

Thanks for the advice, everyone. The brown wig is made from hair I'm clipping off a pelt (it's a failed wig someone else made and gave to me) which is why I decided to dye it after making the wig. Also, I'm impatient and started cutting and gluing wefts before I decided to dye it.

Good point about the conditioner, Dollydaydream. I was wondering if that might be the case. And, Beansproutmomo, I already have a big bottle of leave-in conditioner, which I occasionally use on my own hair, and I know it works on mohair. I used about half of it on a mohair (or what we used to call "tibetan lamb") wig I got for cheap because it was completely tangled and matted.

Yesterday I almost got up the nerve to ask a friend if she colors her hair, because it was exactly the color I want for this wig. I didn't in the end, though.

On a different subject, I've been finishing up a black wig that I wanted to trim really short. It's my first suri alpaca wig, and I just have to say, that stuff is so luxurious!!! It's as soft and fine as my fourteen-month-old son's hair. It feels wonderful! The down side is that it tends to get static-y and fly away when I'm cutting it short. Next time I may try wetting it down a little before I cut the locks.

Check out these wigs on Etsy! Does anyone know if this Amadiz person is here on DoA? They say they have a stretchy wig cap, but do you really think the short-haired ones (like this one) are wefted, not glued? How would you make a wig with glued locks that still has a stretchy wig cap?

 

Latex, or Pattex 100%. Both work nicely for gluing wigs and remain stretchy.

 

On the human hair dye, I would warn against using semi-permanents, like Special Effects, as they transfer easily (voice of experience there). They are therefore likely to colour your doll. I can't get it out of white pillowcases, but I don't know how easily it would wash off resin. Probably more easily than from cotton, but still. I would be cautious.

And the hair colour that seems to be almost impossible to achieve with human hair dye is auburn. I ordered a custom colour from someone who is used to dying mohair and wool. She used human hair dye. First picture looked great, then she gave it a second conditioner bath. Came in salmon pink. Then I had a go at it, also with human hair dye. Looked great after a preliminary rinse, but it was still bleeding colour, so I gave it a couple more rinses. Salmon pink. I have now done it with henna. Same sort of thing. If you give it a quick rinse, looks great. Then you rinse a bit more, to make sure there is no colour transfer from loose dye, and it almost all comes off. I ended up doing three iterations of henna dying and that just about did it. But, yes. Probably better to use acid dyes if you want orange hair.

 

Maus, thanks, I think I'll skip that effort then. XD

 

Just curious was the henna a pre-packaged hair dye or did you go the acid, henna and heat route?

 

I did the lemon juice, pure henna, wait, plaster it on, wait some more (overnight on top of the fridge, in fact). So, all proper and above board, and yet it was still an insipid strawberry blonde after the first go. One thing I have learned, though is, if you iron it on a moderate heat once it is all dyed and rinsed, it dulls the colour down slightly, which is what I wanted. I supposed one could do a similar job with a tea bath, but I was after the novelty value at that stage. So, unless someone has had a good, strong result from one hennaing, I am inclined to attribute it to the intrinsic difficulty of dying over white fibres.

 

This is a sculpture of mine so it's OT but the red hair is henna'd mohair, only one application....



I use henna a lot on mohair to get reds and auburns and I've never had trouble with it washing out to a salmon colour??
I don't condition the fibre beforehand as it interferes with dyeing, and I just wet the wool, paint on the henna paste both sides of each lock, and then leave it overnight before I rinse out.
I have done this with both hard water in town and rain water when I lived on the farm and I've never had any issues.

 

So bizarre. My mohair was all cleaned, no conditioner, henna mixed and applied properly (I have used it plenty of times on human hair) and still poo. It looked like that after the first rinse, but colour was still coming off it, so I rinsed until the water ran clear. That made it strawberry blonde or light ginger. Being a permanent dye, that shouldn't have removed the colour. The salmon pink is when the other person and I dyed with human permanent hair dye. Absolutely no idea what is making the difference.

This is three lots of henna and an iron. I might also have done a tea bath. I seemed to be doing everything to it. Most odd.

 

what a great tutorial. I may have to try this/

 

I made wigs since a year now. Thisis the last I've done. I'm pretty satisfied ! ^^

​

 

these tutorials are so good. Thanks guys.
I just bought some fibre alpaca but it on the skin, the seller was recommending to cut direct from the skin to create the weft.
What do you think?

 

Love all the recent wigs in here!

Here is my finished Teeswater wig:

Teeswater Wig by beansproutmomo, on Flickr


I also tried something new for the part on this wig, so I made a little tutorial on how I did it.
The full explanation can be seen here.

[MENTION=68704]dodie[/MENTION], I would cut if off the pelt, unless you plan to sew a wig together using a pattern.

 

Ok. Will do. Your wig looks really good and natural

 

Thank you for the tutorial!
Very useful!
I think I should try it

 

Hi,
I have tried my first wig with lamb wool. It was going ok up to the point I decided to have a fringe..... I cut the fringe and all went all wrong.
Am I right in saying fringe are really hard to make with wool??
Any tips anyone? I could not find a tutorial for that. Thanks

 

[MENTION=68704]dodie[/MENTION] what went wrong? You may have to style the wool with water or some hair product.

 

Hum, I cut the fringe and it got very puffy.. I think it did not put the wool in the right direction for the fringe. I should post a pic on here

 

Wool is both light and stiff which means that, if you get rid of its weight, it sticks up. The only way I have managed to get a decent wool fringe is to keep it short and stick it on under the front hairline, so that it is lying flat on the forehead. Tricky. But, we try, we learn.

 

I see, I will try again definitely. I managed to pin down the puffy fringe on one side. Not the look I wanted but it looks ok. It seems I cannot insert pictures from my phone to show you.

 

You could also try a spray-on leave-in conditioner. I use it on my wool/mohair wigs to weigh down the fibers a bit, and reform any locks that got frizzy.

This is how I tackled bangs on one of my more recent wigs:
https://flic.kr/p/rk8wHF

 

That fringe looks great, Beansproutmomo. I would be interested to see how that works with wool. I like wool. It is the easiest fibre to handle, but I have real problems with its stiffness and frizziness. You have to choose a style that needs that.

 

Thank you!

I used that leave in conditioner on the white wig I posted earlier on this page. Before I did, it was a frizzy hot mess. (it was made of combed/washed teeswater wool)
Wool is a fantastic material, and comes in so many varieties. In previous wig attempts, I had only really used the lock as it came, without combing all out. Since my client wanted to be able to brush and style the wig, I went ahead and combed them all out. It was tedious, and very frizzy, but the conditioner help a lot. The end result was super soft, and very easy to work with.

 

everyone here is so creative and imaginative! I love all the different styles!
I really want to go for a cute piecy undercut look and as I was reading through this thread and looking at all the different things people were trying I got to thinking, what if I used a combination of natural fibers and faux fur. I think maybe I could try to.. shave?? parts of the fur??? Has anyone ever tried doing any sort of buzzcut on faux fur before? If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I don't think I'd be able to get the pieces short enough by just doing natural fibers alone and I don't want a completely shaved look either, I want a gradient, that's why I thought maybe trying to shave faux fur might work.

 

Toodles, check this out. It doesn't go quite short enough for a real buzzcut, but it might be helpful?

I have a shopping question. I'm planning to replace the wig the doll in my avatar is wearing, so I need something dark brown and curly / wavy ... my favorite supplier Newmoor Barn doesn't carry mohair that's anywhere long enough for the style I need, their mohair is an average of 6 inches long and I'd need 9in / 30cm. I know Angora Mohtique's is longer, but I'd like to have some choice (I'd prefer something a bit less crimpy, but if I can't find it, I'll go with theirs). Have you guys ever bought mohair that long, and where?

 

Jany, if you have a search around on etsy there are sellers there with long and extra long mohair. It can be up to 12" long. If you are prepared to process and dye it yourself, the choice is even greater. Most seem to be in the States and you will need to check postage costs (some charge a fortune) and weigh up the chances of the package being caught in customs.

An example listing of raw white mohair, 9" long.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/217397745/long-white-mohair-prize-winning-locks?ref=related-1

 

Thanks, I'll check that out for sure!

 

I don't know if you have used this seller in France. They don't state staple length, but they seem to process the mohair themselves, so might be worth asking them if they can source you some long fibres. Not the cheapest, but it is dyed and processed.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Loutrais-Mohair/BROWNS-/_i.html?_fsub=1992439013&_sid=649651913&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

 

I haven't, thank you for the heads-up! France would be very convenient. They mention staple length in some of the descriptions, it seems to average around 8 inches which might actually work ... I'm leaning towards this or the Mohtique right now, I'm not quite comfortable with processing my own mohair just yet

 

Wow, Great tutorial! I have a doll who needs a wig i can't find anywhere, i guess i can make it on my own now!

 

Mohtique is SO expensive. I can understand the cost as processing takes hours, literally, but I couldn't justify that sort of expenditure, particularly if it turned out not to be a keeper.

 

Fair point. But it does come in the colour I need, and if I factor in multiple tries getting the colour and everything just right, I might as well go for the safe-ish option ... if I go for the longer mohair and mess up somehow, it might even be salvageable for a second try.
Then again, it is on the crimpy side of the Force ...

It's the dyeing part I'm nervous about. Getting the dye all the way into each lock, and for the whole length (especially if I don't have that much wiggle room lengthwise).
I guess I'd be a bit more relaxed about the whole thing if this wig wasn't for my first ever doll who is as close to grail as it gets given the fact she was released as basic later. She's been in that ratty old plastic fiber wig since day 1 while everyone else has got their proper wig(s), and I just want that thing out.

 

Something you could do is make wefts first and dye the locks like you would extensions. Then you could extend the glue down and cut off the uncolored part. That would make sure the dye gets all the way through, anyway.

 

I have recently spent a trillion hours washing and combing some raw alpaca and I'm scared of messing it all up. I want my dolls wig to have two buns on top of her head, but I'm not completely sure what the follicle directions should be used. Should I just glue the pieces on in a normal fashion and style it later?

 

Your tutorial is useful and it's really easy to understand. Thank you very much!

 

I am planning a "horns" wig and have decided to stick the body of the hair on from hairline to the place where the horns would be, band it into bunches, glue them and trim them to clumps, then make the horns (in your case, buns) separately and attach them to the banded clumps of main hair.

With respect to direction of hair, you should always stick with the cut end of the fibre at the scalp, with the "curl" end at the ends, if that makes sense. However, when making the separate buns/horns, that won't matter, as they are not hanging down.

 

Thank you MadamMauMau! That gives me more of an idea for sure.

 

So, anyone else have issues with animal hair wigs and their pets? I got a beautiful mohair wig for my Mikhaila and my cat has attacked it twice!!!

 

I haven't had any problems with my three cats. I have Angora, alpaca, some sheepy stuff, they don't bother any of it. Maybe spray your wig with some kind of human hair product to not make it smell, if it does? Like a shine spray or something that's not too heavy or changes the texture.

 

My cat likes to investigate when I'm working on wigs... I guess the fiber smells interesting to him. But normally I keep all my supplies packed up in a plastic baggy unless I'm actually using it at the moment, and it seems to work fine. I'm with Vividstar, though! Your kitty probably smells the scent of the animal the fiber came from. If you don't want to spray the wig, maybe air it out outside? Worst case scenario, you can give it a gentle wash to try to get the rest of the smell off of it.

If that doesn't work, your cat probably thinks it's a toy? Then all you can do is try to keep it out of reach. xD

 

How creative *-* I might have to try this out sometime!

 

I'm having some problems with the wig I just made... I'm not sure if it's because it doesn't fit quite snugly enough, or if it got warped a bit while I was gluing wefts, but it tends to slide back on his head now that I've tried putting it on him without the plastic wrap in place. It sits fine if I get it in the right position, but it doesn't stay there once I start moving him around. Any suggestions on how to give it a little "grip" to the head? Obviously it fits too tight and doesn't have enough give for a silicon cap to be of any use. Maybe a hot glue ring? Would Elmer's/Aleene's tacky glue stay elastic enough to grip the cap if I put a ring of dots on his head?

 

I had the same problem with one of my longer wigs. I use fabritac and I usually put a rim on glue on the inside for grip and sometimes some more lines here and there. I've discovered it can grab on to msc/sealant and take that off though. It doesn't bother me since I do my own faceups and the wig covers it anyway. You could try the balloon cap method, or maybe just put some glue near the crown where it doesn't touch the faceup. You do kind of have to pry it off if you put glue on the inside but other than sticking to msc I haven't had any other damage like discoloration or anything. I haven't tried aleene's tacky glue, but if it works the same then it should be fine.

 

I think it's just another kind of PVA glue... so it wouldn't be quite permanent like FabriTac. I'll have to do some experimenting and see what happens. Thanks for all the suggestions! I didn't even think about the balloon cap method. ^^

Edit: Tried the balloon cap before messing with glue, and it did the trick! Thanks so much

 

wow you made it look so easy, this is much harder than it looks like! I got hair everywhere! :'D I'm using an old cosplay wig, lower quality, and I'm making it for a tiny doll, short hair, so I'm having a lot of problems to get the hair to lay flat! still the tut is super good and I hope I'll get good results when I'm done

 

very cool tutorial! love the photos and the final product looks fantastic! Did you make your wig cap or buy it? What would you suggest?
thanks!

 

This is a great tutorial - I don't think I could have managed without it!!

I've been working on a wig for one of my dolls - almost finished...though I had a couple set-backs. Sorta. I ended up spending more time dying than I originally thought I would - but seriously the greens I ended up with are worth the lost days.

Then there is the wig cap. I have only made one other hard wig cap, and then never actually made it into a wig, so I have zero experience. I figure I didn't allow enough dry time between each layer of hair (and I might have used too much glue? eheheheheh), the cap became glue again, and separated from the hair-glue layer. I had to cut most of it out - it's not even dry yet and it's been sitting all day. I plan on re-gluing some fabric back inside when I'm finished but I have at least one more day to go first.

Other than that it's gone great! I'm dying to finish it, waiting for glue to dry is like death.

 

[MENTION=26466]VampireAngel13[/MENTION] do you think a blow dryer set on low would help speed things up or would that damage it?

 

lol probably my dryer - which I believe is older than I am - would! I don't really want to take a dryer to it, it's got to keep it's shape and I'm messing it up enough as it is! Seriously, it was perfect...then I attached like two more strands. Now i have to add more to hide what I messed up!! It'll never end.

 

Thanks for this tutorial!

 

Ugh it's driving me crazy.
Like a problem I have with a lot of my wigs is that the sideburns of the wig cap curl out or otherwise end up not quite flush against the head. Help? Tips?



>_> his side burns are like sticking straight off his head.

 

It's really tricky to get the sideburns to lie flat, and I think it's easier on some dolls than it is on others (weird head shapes, maybe?). I find it helps to put a rubber band over the ears and hook it under the nose, though. Just put the glue over the top of the rubber band and let it dry completely (I let it dry overnight). Then remove the rubber band and do another layer of glue and let it dry overnight.

I thought I had a good picture of the rubber band thing, but I can't seem to find one on my blog. :\ Dang. I know there's another thread around here that shows it. The two layers of glue makes it a lot sturdier, though, so it isn't as likely to warp and stick out like that.

Even so, I had to do 2 separate hard caps for the current wig project because of the darn sideburns.

 

Thank you so much for the great tutorial!!
I tried

Seonu /Soul Zenith Onulharu by hiro, on Flickr

 

great!! that's really useful, I will try this asap

 

Thank you so so so so much! You have no idea how much your tutorial helped me, I'll definitely go and try it myself since I'm currently having some problems finding the perfect wig. Seriously, I'm super motivated rn haha
@hiro_c your wig looks beautiful

 

fantasteic, thank you!

I use angoragoat raw(unwashed) fleece for hand-spinning. not for doll hair.
I bought it at a wool shop in Tokyo.
850yen/100g
PA246393 by hiro, on Flickr

 

@hiro_c How much would you say did you use for the wig? (Estimated of course ^^
Did you notice any difference in using this angora for wig making or does it work just as well as wool that is 'specifically for doll hair'?