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

Love this thread! Good tutorial - as so many others on wigs - but I guess the Dollshe boys do the trick too. So many beautiful wigs - love those dreadlocks I saw.

 

0.0!!! this is amazing.
i'm so used to using a needle to hair dolls thought that wigs would be the same. this is so cool!!!
only downsize is i have to wait till i have the doll before i can make a wig for my new (in the mail) doll

 

Anyone have advice for updos? I need to make a wig with a fancy style to go with a renaissance gown.

 

thessalyrose, from what I've seen in various tutorials, you want to be sure that you cover the inside lining around the cap with a good layer of hair. That way, whatever updo you choose to make, there won't be any wig cap showing.

From the images I looked up for "renaissance hair updos", it looks like a lot of braid-action going on, with some upswept curls.

The best thing could possibly be to look up human hairstyle guides for the style you want, and try to determine how you would build the wig from there. If you show us a picture here, I'm sure we could help you determine a hair-laying-direction, or at least a starting point.


I just bought myself a new combing tool yesterday, to aid in my processing of some teeswater locks. I've soaked the locks in warm water, dawn dish soap, and conditioner, and they are pressed and drying today.
I'll comb them out, to get rid of the extreme veggie matter they contained (lol seriously there was a lot more than I was expecting). If anyone is interested, I can take a comparison picture of how they look now, and how they look after I've combed them all out.
This comb has 3 sizes of tines(?), and is really sturdy and thick. Picked it up from Sally's Beauty Supply for $1.20.

 

That comb looks like a good find. I comb my Teeswater out with a pet's wire brush. I got it with a metal comb in a pound shop (ie cheap). It takes quite some force to comb out wool, but the wire brush made it that much easier.

This is how it arrives, lightly washed (I did two more washes, as there was still a lot of lanolin and VM in it).



This is separating it into locks.



This is the locks brushed out.



This is then in a wig, after tea dying to even out the colour (I have posted this before, somewhere, but have it again).



And this is the same wig after combing out gently with an afro comb.



The natural history of a wig!

I really enjoyed working with wool. It is easier to handle than either mohair or suri. Post progress pics of your wool processing. It is so very satisfying to turn a pile of fluff into sleek locks.

 

I'll add a quick tip for combing(at least for raw/unprocessed aka stuff tough to comb), I came across a VERY useful tool called a pin frog. It is meant for floral arrangements but works very well to brush out fibers with minimal waste. The pins are sharp metal so they rake through clumps without tugging on the whole bunch. It's similar to a blending hackle, basically, just a clump of nails instead of a row. I got mine at a Joann craft store but I think Michael's has it too.

 

*deep breaths* I've been following this thread for a while now, and I only just got the courage to order some fibers so I can start my own. I'm kind of terrified XD but excited. Thank you everyone who has contributed to this, it's an amazing resource.

 

Maus, thank you so much for those pictures!
My supply came in the separated locks, but were a little frizzier in some parts.

Is it better to brush out each individual lock, versus a few at a time?

The tea dye looks very nice on the locks as well. ?

Alrighty, I will take some pictures then!
Here are a couple that I've taken already.

locks as they arrived
Soaking in a bath

edit:
Vividstar, thank you so much for that! I've seen those around, but was curious what it was for.

VampireAngel13, nice to see you here! Glad you joined us~ hehe
What kind of fibers did you choose?

 

You got some very civilised locks there! I had no idea how the wool would be, as this was my first go at raw fibres, and it was a hell of a shock to get that hug pile of chaos. That looks a whole lot less daunting.

Yes, the tea dying worked well. The locks had some dark ends and some yellow patches (hm, nice), neither of which would come off, even with a peroxide bath, which is why I tried tea dying them.

This was only supposed to be a practice wig, but it actually turned out to be my favourites. I might get some more Teeswater or Wensleydale and dye it to make my Bernard a proper wig. His awful lamb pelt one is straggly and keeps falling off.

Vividstar, that sounds rather like my pet wire brush, all of which are versions of a carding brush http://closeknitblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/img_9645.jpg?w=700&h=. All those wire "teeth" do speed up the work. Your biceps will still know about it the next morning, but it is a lot easier than using a comb.

Beansprout, I brushed them out two or three locks at a time. When they are done, you can damp them down and they fall back into locks again, from the frizz the brush turned them into (see the unbrushed version of the wig, where the fibre is in distinct locks).

 

Yeah, I actually got a pair of slicker brushes to brush out some fiber for another project(i guess I'm not the only one who thought of a cheat out of a $80 pair of carding brushes! Haha). The pin frog is made with sturdy nails though, not like the metal wires in pet brushes. I would say the pin frog would be step one for detangling/taming and the brushes would be step two for smoothing. Depending on the fiber it might not need step one though, like Beansproutmomo's look pretty tame already. Sometimes the fiber can get matted after washing though and the pin frog would be good for that too(like a picker). We have to be kind of creative, as wig makers, since our goal is to keep the locks together, nice and straight, whereas most of the tools are used to separate and fluff the fibers. The struggle is real!

 

Maus, thanks! Yeah, this batch isn't too much of a pile, but it does have some frizz for sure.

Good thinking then on the tea, it really evened them out.
I love both of those fiber types. What color would you dye them?

Maybe I'll move up to a wire comb next then. We'll see if these locks fight me too much. hehe
Thanks for the brushing tips! I'll go ahead with that.

Vividstar, yes I know the plight! When I looked up various processing tutorials, they were mostly for spinning, which was not what I needed. XD

 

Beansproutmomo Thanks for the welcome! I got some mohair off of etsy (kinda on impulse^^') in a natural/whitish color. I figure it will be good for a first attempt. Or first couple attempts. I hope I got enough for two tries, it was all that was available. I may dye some as practice - my goal is to have the "real" wigs dyed two and three colors, so I'll need to figure out what dyes work best. I've done a koolaid dye before and it was great, so I'll try that first...assuming they have the colors I need in koolaid (I've never actually drank it lol so I have no idea!), I might need real hair dye for the black parts. *wants to dye everything just because*

 

VampireAngel13, of course. ^_^
Hopefully it's enough for a couple attempts. I like dying fibers, since you can be so creative with it. I prefer using RIT dye (mainly because there are SO many colors), but Acid dyes and henna work as well. I've never tried dying with koolaid, but I know it can be done.

For having multiple colors in a wig, I think you would just need to section out fibers to dye in the different colors. Maybe just be sure to dye more than you think you will need of each color?

 

I have a question ! For a sd's wigs (8/9 or 9/10 inch), I need to 1 ounce that's right ?
(I'm not sure and it's for a commission).

 

It depends on the fibre and the wig style. Suri is heavy and you would need more than that for a long, SD wig. Wool is light, and a little goes a long way. What are you making.

 

It's for a Pullip, but a thing really really simple, with a lengh about maybe 5inch.

 

This is still a bit of work in progress, but I think my first attempt is coming in nicely.

 

Mirrin- Lovely work! Such a cool style too

I just bought some 11-12 inch long brown alpaca fiber to make a Rapunzel-esque wig for my newest girl. This is gonna be a challenge!

 

Wow love the results of these! Really practical explanation too at the beginning, thanks for sharing!

 

Mirrin I love that wig!! it has such a cool style and really neat highlights, and your boy is gorgeous too! what is he?

 

Thanks, guys!

He's a Spiritdoll Celtis, raewhitewolf! Thanks. It was the natural style of alpaca hair I got for him. I thought they'd make interesting highlights.

 

Cool! I'm scuttling off to have a look at celtis's now^^

 

Okay, so, I have a couple of wigs in progress now. I made the wig caps with pantyhose and Aileen's fabric fusion glue, and they are amazing! They weigh practically nothing, they fit perfectly, and they're flexible but always pop back into shape. I will definitely be using that combo from now on.

My first wig is made from some beautiful hand-dyed fiber I picked up at a knitting show, but unfortunately it's nylon, and it's not great for making wigs. It doesn't drape at all, and it doesn't fall into locks after you comb it. It's very shiny and beautiful, but a little frizzy. I think I will dress the wig in braids or something so the drape doesn't matter so much.

But! I have a question. I cut a slit in the wig so I could add the last layer of hair by pushing the end through the slit and gluing it to the underside, creating a part with no glue showing. The problem is, now I'm not sure how to close the slit. Do you glue it shut? Should I add something under the slit to glue the two sides to? Should I try to stitch it with a needle and thread?

The other wig I'm working on is my first suri alpaca wig and I'm loving the fibers! I wish my own hair was like this stuff. My question with this wig is, I want the wig to be curlier than the fiber is naturally. Should I curl the fiber first, or try to do it after I make the wig? And should I use any kind of styling product on it to hold the curls? I know I can use human styling products, but I don't curl my own hair very often so I'm totally ignorant as to which products I should use. Or, can I just get it wet, curl it on curlers, and expect it to keep its curl?

There are pictures on my blog, but they're huge so I don't want to post them here. And also they're ugly. Someday I'll have time to take pictures while the sun is still up. Probably after my son goes to college.

 

For the slit, I glued a strip of pantyhose to the inside, holding it shut. That worked just fine.

For the curls: I'm planning the same thing (once Newmoor Barn re-stocks their dark brown Suri) and Hasel made this nifty tutorial that I'm going to give a shot.

 

Taking another whack at wigmaking for my new doll.

But this time I'm trying to dye the mohair myself.

But I figure I can't go that wrong when the characters hair color is darkest brown. ......maybe...

 

Does anyone have any reccommendations as to where one can buy suri fibers? I have no problem finding mohair but for some reason suri that isn't already spun is next to impossible for me. ^^;;;

 

There's a lot of it on Etsy. Just watch the fiber length and the amount of washing it's been through, as there's a wide variety.

 

This was your first try?! But they look phenomenal! You have the gift. But seriously speaking did you style the angora to be that wavy or was it like that from the moment it dried?

 

Has anyone made a wig without brushing out the locks? I have some dyed suri and the colour is stunning. However, when it is brushed out, the gradations of colour look less stunning. It also straightens out from its current, wavy state (it must have been dried in a tangled heap, so the waves dried in). So, it would be a whole lot easier just to sort the locks and stick them straight on, without further processing. However, my concerns is that, without being able to comb the wig out or otherwise style it once it is done, the locks will eventually become tatty-looking, perhaps even matted.

Anyone got any experience of handling a wig in locks, particularly suri? How does it bear up?

 

Madam, if it was dyed it was probably washed beforehand so you should be ok for dirt... I know someone who makes wigs straight from lock state and they look great. Suri can take any shape, really. If you wet it and curl it around something and let it dry it will stay curled, etc. Try taking your combed piece and wetting it down to a solid lock again and see if that helps the look of the dye. If it does, then you know it's just a matter of light refraction or whatever. That happened to me with some rainbow yarn actually, looked really good all wrapped together but when I combed it out to make hair it just diffused the color and it wasn't as vibrant. Wetting the strands back together should concentrate the color again.

Suri is so silky too that I can't imagine it matting, and you should be able to touch it with your fingers without too much disturbance. It's like human hair, you can wet it and restyle it however you want!

If you have tumblr, kliencrew is the person I mentioned who does lock wigs.. though I think she did it that way because she didn't know she was supposed to comb it or even wash it for that matter! Her wigs still look great though and I'm sure if you asked her about maintenance etc she'd respond. Nice gal.

Hope that helped!

 

Enki , thank you so much for the tutorial!
The technique and materials are quite new for me, but I'll try to make a couple of wigs someday for sure! The result is worth it!

 

Thanks for taking the time to write that.

Now, the problem with combing out dyed locks is that the dye does not penetrate to the core of the lock so, when you brush it out, you are revealing the undyed (usually white) core. This makes the colour appear paler. So, to keep the colour vivid, I should keep the locks as locks and not brush them out. However, I need to know what that would look like after having been played with for a while. You are right, suri doesn't felt at all easily and probably shouldn't mat easily either. However, I need to know whether it gets to look untidy and gnarly after a while, as that I would like to avoid. With brushed through fibres, you can spritz them and comb them out if they are looking messy. You can't do that with locks.

 

Oooh that's quite unfortunate. ): I would consider that a faulty dye job, unless that was the intended result of the dye-er(though I doubt it as I have witnessed locks of suri resist water at the core of a lock while washing and dying - it usually just needs some coaxing to get the air out from inbetween the fibers though). I'm not sure how to handle that. :/ I imagine you would take the same care precautions as you do with curled wigs? No brushing, just really careful positioning, etc. There's certainly threads about that here you could get some tips from. Good luck!

 

That is just what happens when you dye locks. The dye won't penetrate to the tightly bunched core. Same as when you band them with an elastic band. The dye won't penetrate to the area where the band was. Like tie dye. It is not faulty, just the way dye works. The only way to avoid it is to comb the locks out before dying, but I didn't dye these myself.

Yes, it would have to be a wig that doesn't get touched. However, I know the friend I am making it for likes stroking their doll's wig, so perhaps I am just going to have to comb out a lose a bit of the impact of the dye. Ah well.

 

This is an awesome tutorial. I want to try this now. I've been curious about how to start a wig cap for such a project. And now I know! Thanks so much for sharing

 

Really really good thread. Until now I just worked with Mohair, but now I am really curious for Alpaca.

 

Thank you so much for this tutorial! ♥ I successfully (well okay, there's still a tiny bald spot left on the crown, but that'll be fixed) made a feather wig using these instructions. It turned out really nice! It was really messy though, and I could've picked a better place for the wig-making, I did it in bed. And the feathers kept flying all over. XD Also I ruined two of my brushes because I forgot to wash them from the glue... Oops. But seriously thank you, my angel boy now has a perfect wig!
I'll definitely do one wig out of angora for my other boy in the future.

 

Anybody know how much relatively long/longish Suri alpaca I'd need for an 8.5 cm head? I have about an oz coming my way, but I'm nervous I won't have enough. I'm going for alpaca for my first try. Stupid I know, but using better materials tends to make me work better. Going to be using bookbinding PVA for the glue, I think...

 

Great Tutorial ! I cant wait to see everybody's attempts xD

 

And ounce should be okay if you're not going for hair longer than the shoulders-ish.




I'm doing yet another fingerwave wig because I'm a glutton for punishment.

I tried to dye mohair myself to save money, but I was an idiot and dumped all the mohair in without tying it into manageable chunks and tangled all of it while stirring it in RIT dye. So then I spend several hours combing out clumps of mohair. Also I learned I hate dyeing so I guess I will end up paying someone to dye it for me. haha.

Ended up mixing it with the fibers I had left over from my Sherlock wig so he's got a mix of almost black brown and shinier brown.

Also experimenting with different gels. I have some mohair gel aimed for reborn dolls, it has a decent hold and brushes out of their mohair without making a snowflake mess of old gel, but the hold doesn't last as long as I'd like. And it's kind of expensive and needs to be ordered from the UK... My previous fingerwave has come all loose and now Niccolo has laid down hairdo https://flic.kr/p/pDTJWX

Tried some tresemme gel which had a stronger hold, but it does the gross gel flake thing so a proper cleaning would be necessary if I need to redo it.

x_x still not perfectly sure what is best to stick my doll's hair down in fingerwaves for as long as possible is.

Also I was a twit and didn't put down enough plastic wrap to protect his head and the fabric tac stuck through the plastic wrap and chunks of the acrylic paint on Nick's forehead came off. ;_;

20141230_202902 by Kaxen6, on Flickr

 

Enki, I will have to try E600 for the parts next time. That sounds much better. Love your curly wig!

zekarmisama, oh no! Sorry about your tangled hair, and paint loss. :<
I'm not sure either about which would be best for holding fingerwaves. :/ Maybe I can ask my friend who's a hair stylist. She may know of a good product to try.
Nick's wig does look really nice on him though~


Here are a couple of wigs I finally finished for a friend. They were made specifically for her DZ Moon and RS Yao:
Finished wigs by beansproutmomo, on Flickr

 

Beansproutmomo I like the green wig. I love green on dolls but so far I've never gotten any of my dolls to like copious amounts of green.

I'm tempted to make a "Gibson Girl" wig for Nick. Ugh, I love the fluffy volume of mohair wigs, but then I always slick it down haha.

Since nothing at home worked, I grabbed two things that mention finger waves in their description off Amazon to experiment with.

I regret buying Dax Marcel Curling Wax. It's so oily. It has a strong hold and a good shine, but ugh, it's so oily... I probably should have read the ingredients better because it's like petroleum and parraffin. Also I can't figure out why they purposely make it bright red because it looks like I spilled kool-aid everywhere when I wiped it off my fingers. It sticks very strong to mohair so undoing anything would require a bit of washing. Like I've been blotting oil off of the little test bit last night and after drying overnight and it's still very oily. I dunno, maybe I should have tried applying more heat since they suggest using it before a curling iron. I style my dolls' fingerwaves with a mix of air-drying, a little blow drying (since it usually blows everything out of place it's only marginally faster than air drying because I need to hold the blow dryer far away......... can you use a heat gun on a low setting to set doll hair??), a bajillion bobby pins, and swearing.

So far the one I like best is Eco Styler Professional Protein Styling Gel. It holds the mohair very strong and isn't flaky or glue-y or sticky once it's dry. The mohair looks back to normal after a few strokes of my comb. It's way cheaper than what I used before too. $5 for 473ml with Amazon Prime free shipping compared to the Ragdoll Fairy Mohair Style gel which is like $8 for 50ml before shipping from the UK. 50ml is only enough to do up like three to five heavily styled 8"-9" wigs from what I figure. The eco styler gel is a dark brown tea color and smells like any other gel. I came to dislike the baby powder smell of the ragdoll fairy gel because after a while my brain was like "have you ever realized you only smell baby powder after a baby has made a poopie or when your parents are trying to stop ants?" ((for some reason baby powder freaks out ants)).

But now to test for longevity which will take a little longer.

 

zekarmisama, thank you!
Thanks for all the great info too!

 

THANKS for excellent tuts/info and for sharing images of wigs and dolls! very inspirational and motivating as I'm planning on my 1st bona fide customization!

 

This was an amazing tutorial, thank you for putting this up, I always made my wig caps to thick. You made it look so realistic at the crown! I can't wait to try it out for my girls!!

 

Awesome tutotial!
Going to make my first wig and I need a lil advice guys - how to glue the parting accurate and right (don't wanna glue to be seen)?

 

Enki, thank you so much!

Delic, what kind of part are you looking to make?

 

[MENTION=60737]Beansproutmomo[/MENTION] top of the head (can't remember the right word for it, sorry).

 

[MENTION=66283]Delic[/MENTION], Ahh ok!
Hmm I think the trick is to work in a spiral around the crown. This post by Enki here on the 2nd page covers this.

 

It looks so real and soft! like its really growing out of his head cap haha. Great tutorial!!!

 

[MENTION=60737]Beansproutmomo[/MENTION], thanks a lot!

 

Thank you so much for this amazing tutorial. I can not wait wo try it on my own

Any idea where I can get cheap washed and combed alpaca hair if i do not mind the colour? I do not like to try my first attempt with beautiful dyed and pricey hairs >_<

 

Lythtis, I'm not sure about cheap for combed and washed, but you can find cheap raw alpaca and try processing it yourself. That's a great way to save money, and make some starter-wigs.


I worked on a couple of wigs yesterday, so I thought I'd show some progress.


Conditioned this wig, so it's no longer a poof-ball! XD

Here is another I'm starting for my Resinsoul Ju, and her long ears. It's rather hard to work around them, so I had to improvise. It's also my first time trying bangs, so I took some process steps, in case it could help anyone else.
(link to bigger picture)

 

This is an excellent thread. Thank you everyone for sharing your ideas and experiences! Subscribing ....

 

Thought I'd pop back in here to show a new split-part I'm going to try.
Instead of just a single slit, since I have bangs on this wig, I thought I could try an "H" style split.


&#x27;H&#x27; wig split-progress by beansproutmomo, on Flickr

 

I have a question, guys. I'm working on a new wig using some mohair a friend generously gave me. This mohair is super dried out and I don't really care for the color, so I think I'm going to make the wig with waterproof fabric glue and then dye it afterwards. It's kind of a cool, purpley brown, and I'd much rather have a warmer chestnut brown. It just occurred to me that human hair dye would be a relatively cheap option, and I'd feel like I had more control over what color it would come out. Have any of you dyed mohair with human hair dye? Do I need to know anything special? I used to color my own hair all the time, so I feel comfortable using the dye. I will have to condition the mohair first, though, as it's very dried out and dull.

I'm trying to learn how to make short wigs for boys, and so far my wigs haven't been very successful. I guess I just have to keep trying.

 

I dye mohair withhair dye all the time no problems.