Hard cap wigs for small heads

This tutorial focuses on the trials of making wigs for tiny heads, although it has branched out over time. It is the result of my usual over-research and includes information from many sources, including the lovely people who have contributed to this thread. My thanks to everyone.

The reason for making wigs for the small dolls in particular is that it is almost impossible to find a commercial wig that looks decent on this scale. Because of the thickness of the fibres and the way the commercial wig caps are made, they look bulky and unrealistic. This is OK for wild styles, but doesn't suit something more slick. The disadvantage of hard cap wigs is that, unlike our dolls, they aren't designed for play. They can be gently brushed and styled, but you need to treat them with respect.

Examples on a Raccoon Doll Lucy, who has a 6" head. On the left, a Monique wig, so the finest kanekalon available. Even with being so small it had to be levered on, being damped down and slathered in conditioner, it looks thick, shiny and bulky. Also, not short enough. On the right, a hard cap wig made from cheap mohair crepe. It looks to scale and I could get exactly the style I wanted.



Convinced? Read on.

Materials

Fibres

There are many different types of fibre available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. To be useful in wig making, the fibres need to be long, shiny, soft and heavy.

The length of a fibre is called its "staple length". When buying, make sure the listing states the staple length and that it is what you need for your wig. The most efficient way to buy is generally to seek out fibre that is as long as the wig you want to make, plus an extra few centimetres This will give you some slack to trim off or band up, if you are washing or dying it.

The fibre also needs to be in scale with your doll. Human hair is an average of 100 microns so 1:3 hair needs to be 30 microns or so and 1:5 hair needs to be about 20 microns.

Use a cheap fibre to make your first few wigs, as they will be awful and you don't want to spend money on it. Synthetic or plant fibres are cheap and a good place to start.

For a heads in the region of 5-6", you will need half an ounce/15 grams of medium weight fibre for a long wig. For heads in the region of 8-9, one ounce/30 grams should be enough. If you are starting out, buy a little more than you need, to accommodate for any mistakes and false starts.

Synthetic fibres

Synthetic hair is cheaper than natural fibres. It also has the advantage that hair designed for dolls can (should!) be scaled to dolls. Some fibres can be styled with heat and will retain the style. The disadvantages of synthetic fibre is that it is not as resilient or versatile as natural fibres and will never fully replicate the appearance or texture of natural hair.

The three, main types of synthetic hair are kanekalon and saran and viscose.

• Kanekalon/Monofibre: Once heat styled, kanekalon will keep its shape, providing it is not washed in hot water. However, it tends to tangle and mat. It can be bought in human or doll versions, which are finer. Dollyhair.com claim to be the only supplier of doll grade kanekalon. Standard version is cheap, but the Dollyhair version is as expensive as some animal fibres.

• Saran: This is unrealistically shiny, but is heavy and hangs well. It is what is used on modern Barbies. It is can withstand low heat for short periods but doesn't hold a style well.

Other types of synthetic hair are Lyocell (brand name Tencel), which is fine and shiny but breaks easily, polypropelene and nylon. These last two are below saran in quality (nylon being the lowest) and tend to be coarse, over-shiny and not very convincing

Animal fibres

Animal fibres are the ultimate in hair realism. They have the feel and appearance of natural hair because, well, they are. They will usually mat less than synthetic fibres, but can break more easily. They can be styled with human hair styling tools, but will loose the style if wet, reverting to their natural curl, or lack of it.

Animal fibres can be bought in natural or dyed colours, or you can dye your own with acid dye or permanent human hair colourant. The most usual fibres are the ones sold in locks, so clipped off the animal and kept in its natural curls. It is also sold as roving, which is when the fibres have been combed together. These resemble large balls of cotton wool. They are less useful for wig making as the natural lock formation, which gives the wig a more realistic look, have been combed out. Fibres can also be bought raw, which is pretty much straight off the beast. It is a cheap way to get fibre, but it takes time and effort to process (see the tutorials section for information on this).

• Mohair: The most commonly used natural fibre for wigs. It is the fleece of the angora goat. It can be wavy or ringlet crazy curly. It is shiny and strong but light, so can bouff out. Staple length ranges from 4 to 12 inches. First clip/kid is the softest but generally shortest fibre and is well scaled to small dolls, at 20-29 microns.
  
  The life cycle of a mohair wig, from raw locks to finished wig.
  
  

• Alpaca: This is the hair from the a distant cousin of the camel. Suri alapca is fine, straight and slippery and Huacaya alpaca is crimpy and woolly. Suri is the one most often used for wig-making. It is available in a range of natural shades, from white to blonde to browns and auburns. It works well for sleek, straight long styles, but is generally too fine for short wigs.

Suri can be very fine. When it is, it attracts static, tangles and breaks easily when brushed. I read some very sound advice on how to minimise this. Opt for fibres in the range of 7-8" and no more. Longer than this and there has been more time for the growing hair to attract damage. Avoid yearling fibres as they are fine and also potentially weakened by the stress of weaning. Also, avoid fibre from animals that have been used to show, as the brushing they have regularly had can stress and weaken the fibres. Strength and feel seems to vary with the colour of the suri. Chose thicker fibres for dark colours (26 microns and up) and finer fibres for light colours (20-28 microns).​

• 
  

• Wool: Wool is the hair of a sheep (no surprises there). It tends to be crimpy (frizzy) and light, so can bouff out as much as mohair. However, it isn't as soft and silky as mohair. It can also felt if placed in hot water and fiddled about with too much, so treat it with care. However, it is an easy fibre to handle as it isn't slippery and tends not to float about the room as much as the others. It is also pretty cheap. A good starter fibre.

Wool is available as cut locks and on the pelt. The wool sold on the pelt is usually called "Tibetan lamb". This is wool with long, ringletted fibres, mainly from China. Given that it doesn't seem to come from one type of sheep, it is difficult to say anything definitive about it. It can be coarse and frizzy or fine and soft. The better sellers will grade their pelts in terms of quality. "Premium" is the word you are looking for and this usually denotes the pelt of a young animal. However, this tends to be over-used and is no real guarantee of quality. Also, buying it on the pelt means that an animal died to produce it, which might trouble some. You also need to cut the wool off the pelt to use it on a hard cap wig.​

Incidentally, there is no such thing as "Tibetan lamb mohair". That would require a sheep/goat hybrid. Unless someone is performing some devious genetic experiments, the thing doesn't exist. If it is on the skin and is called "Tibetan", it is almost certainly sheep's wool and not goat's mohair.

Another option is to use cut wool. Most wool is too short or coarse for realistic wigs. However, Gotland, Masham, Teeswater and Wensleydale are long wools in the region of 28-36 microns. Get first clip/lamb's wool for the finest fibres. It arrives in long, ringletted dreadlocks that you can use as is or comb out.

The evolution of a Teeswater wig, from lightly washed locks, to sorted locks, to brushed locks to a tea-dyed wig.
​

Raw silk fibre has also been tried. It is long, but is too fine light and fragile, so fluffs out and snaps

Plant fibres

Plant fibres arrive in "tops". These are long sausages of fibre that need to be pulled out and sorted into locks before it is used for wigging. They are generally much cheaper than animal or synthetic fibres and easy to handle. They are therefore a useful starter fibre.

Bamboo fibre can be bought in its usual white state or as Black Diamond, which is carbonised fibre of a dark, gunmetal grey colour. The staple length of bamboo is modest, at about 12-13cm (5 inches). It is dull and has poor drape. This leads to a sort of "faux fur wig" look. It is probably best suited to spiky, cartoony styles. However, it is very easy to handle and cut and made perhaps the easiest short wig I have ever attempted.

Ramie is slightly longer than bamboo and is more lustrous. It also has slightly better drape. It looks rather like stiff suri alpaca and would make a decent, cheap, vegan alternative.

Viscose/Rayon is a semi-synthetic fibres, made from processed wood fibre. It is easily found in doll wig supply shops and is pretty cheap.

 

Wig cap

I like to use a light to medium weight fabric with some stretch. You can use cheesecloth, jersey, gauze or nylon tights, anything that will easily conform to the shape of the head without too many bunches. Avoid fabrics with a lot of lycra as the elastic pull is too strong and the cap will have a tendency to want to curl in on itself when it's taken off the head. Some people also use cloth wipes and cut darts to get it to fit to the head.

In terms of colour, I generally choose a fabric that matches the colour of the hair. This is so that any bald patches blend in. Others choose fabric that matches the colour of the head they are wigging. It's your choice.

If your fabric is fine, such as tights, you will need multiple layers of it to give the wig cap enough body. I use the thick, underpants part of the tights plus one or two layers of the thinner leg part.

Glues

For the wig cap, choose a glue that is strong, smooth, somewhat flexible and at least water resistant, if not waterproof. Crafting PVA ("tacky" glue) is a fair choice here, but most are not water resistant. Acrylic glaze medium is water resistant, but is not as strong as PVA, so it works best with fabrics with body, like jersey. Mod Podge (dilute PVA and varnish) has been tried, but wig caps made with this tend to be weak and shrink when left off the head to dry, possibly due to the high water content. Other people have found that liquid latex makes a strong, flexible and waterproof cap and can also be used to stick the fibres. Fabric glue can make a strong, waterproof wig cap, but it tends to be lumpy. My current favourite is woodworking PVA designed for outdoor applications. It has a low water content so is strong and can stand a light dousing with water, but not submersion.

For the fibres, you need a glue that is water resistant, strong, somewhat flexible and dries clear, so it doesn't show on your wig. Glue with a fine nib is also a good idea, for precision application, although some glues can be painted on with a paintbrush. I also like a glue that is quick drying (10-15 minute drying time). This is so that I don't need to wait between gluing rows and can get a good gluing rhythm going.

I use fabric glue. It dries quickly, so I need to work fast and on a small patch at a time. It also strings. Putting vaseline onto the nozzle helps in this, allegedly. Some people swear by polyurethane glue to stick fibres. It is water resistant, but is more expensive and has a shorter shelf life compared to the other glues. PVA can again be used for the fibres. However, as it is slow drying, you will need to wait a day between rows or risk the fibres sticking together in one ungodly mess. However, you can take your time to lay down the glue and stick the fibres in it, which might suit your wigging style better than the quick-and-stick fabric glue.

Tools

• Cling film (sarn wrap in the US(?)). Some glues can eat through PVC-based cling film, so better to use one that isn't.
  
• Plastic bag to protect the doll
• Rubber and/or silicone bands for securing your fabric to the head
• Fibres (see above)
• Fabric for the wig cap (see above)
• Glue for the wig cap (see above)
• Glue for the fibres (see above)
• Small container for holding glue
• Flat, soft paintbrush for painting glue onto the wig cap
• Small, sharp scissors for cutting the wig cap and hair. Sewing or manicure scissors are good
• Small spray bottle of water for damping down the hair
• Pencil for marking your wig cap
• Something to press the hair into the glue. I use the side of a pencil, but a sculpting tool works well.
• Kitchen paper to wipe hands and tools on
• Acetone or nail varnish remover and a cotton bud, to clean up glue patches
• A waterprooof table covering.

1. Make the wig cap

Cover the doll’s head in cling film. Use a large enough piece that it can be secured around the neck with sellotape. Cover the head as smoothly as possible, without big bunches and creases in the area that is to be covered with hair. It is also a good idea to cover your doll, in case of glue splashes. I cut a hole in the bottom of a plastic bag, pull it down over the head, then tape the hole shut around the doll’s neck. It is not dignified, but it is effective.



Cut your fabric to size, making it big enough to cover the head and shoulders. As a rough guide, take a measurement from shoulder to shoulder, over the top of your doll’s head. You need a square of fabric roughly that size. If using multiple layers of fine fabrics, cut two or three pieces the same size and place them on top of each other, to use as one piece.



Place the fabric on the head, draw if down neatly around the neck and secure with an elastic band at the neck. Don’t pull it down too hard as this will stretch the fabric on the top of the head and potentially thin and weaken it. Now use a second, small rubber band and put it around the neck. Pull it out at the front, put a twist in it at the front neck, pull it up and back, hooking it over the ears, then forwards and down, parking it under the nose. This is to keep the fabric close to the scalp round the ears.



Now gently pull and adjust the fabric to minimse creases and bunches in areas where they might show. This generally entails pulling excess fabric round to the front of the neck, where it will get cut off. You will always get some gathering at the nape of the neck. If the wig is to be long, it won’t show. However, try and avoid it at the front hairline.



Get your glue and small container. Use an egg cup, milk bottle cap or, if you are horrifically middle class (or Italian), an espresso cup. Decant some of your wig cap glue into it.



Using a medium sized, flat paintbrush, paint the fabric with glue, really saturating the fabric with a thick, even layer.



Gently brush out any blobs to get it as flat as possible. Cover the whole scalp, going well over the hairline.



Give the glue a few hours to completely dry, ideally overnight.

If your glue wasn't even, or if you used a thin fabric (or if you are a perfectionist, as I am) give your wig cap another, generous but smooth layer of glue. You can remove the rubber band to do this, as the wig cap should be firm enough to keep its shape without it, and the areas under the rubber band won't be covered with glue. Leave to dry overnight.

If you haven't already, carefully peel off the rubber band. Using your pencil, draw on a hairline. You will probably need to tweak this, so leave more than you would and adjust once you have got rid of the bulk of the excess and can see more clearly what you are doing. Some glues shrink the wig cap, so leaving a slightly lower hairline than needed can also leave you a margin for that. You can make your hairline realistic (use reference pictures to see how men's and women's hairlines look) or just do a simple, curved line around the face. The advantage of the realistic hairline is that it is, well, realistic. This might matter if you are doing a short style. The disadvantage is that it is not as stable as a simple hairline and the side bits can have a tendency to pull away from the face.

Carefully peel the fabric from the head, from back to front, making sure you don't pull the wig cap out of shape as you do this. Gently ease the cap into the shape it is supposed to be (it will be pretty flexible), turn upside down and leave overnight, to dry out the inside. Not doing this can lead to your cap distorting as you work with it. Letting the inside dry out will tend to make your wig cap more rigid, which can make it more difficult to get back on the head. But it will go back on.

Trim along your pencil line carefully with scissors.

Put the cap back on the head and make any final adjustments to the hairline. Trim it.

If you need to, you can then draw guidelines onto the wig cap to help you when you apply the hair. Some people like to put in marks to remind them of the direction of growth. I find I am hopeless at keeping on a straight line, so I mark the cap out into the rows that I will applying the hair to. This prevents me from having one narrow, dense line of hair followed by another huge, sparse section. Whatever will help you.

 

2. Add the hair

Replace the wig cap, over a new layer of cling film. I find it's best to position the cling film inside the cap before putting both on the head. This is because your wig cap won't slide down easily over a cling filmed head. I also make sure the cling film is right up into the crown, pushing it in with my fingers. This is because it otherwise has a tendency not to go right down onto the scalp, sitting high at the crown. This causes the hairline to rise and the wig to not have such a good fit, as the drying fabric glue fixes it in this shape.

Some people like to mark out the wig cap with lines for where they are going to stick the fibres. It isn’t essential, but it can help you spread the fibres more evenly and avoid having one narrow, dense row of hair followed by another huge, sparse section.

In positioning the rows, you want them to reflect how you will stick the hair. This depends on the style you are making and the direction in which you want the hair to fall. If you are doing a no-parting, short style that comes forward from the crown, you will need to draw the lines in concentric circles, with the “bullseye” being at the crown of the head. If you are doing a style with a parting, you will need horizontal lines up the head, with the final line being where the parting will end up. Start by marking the parting or the crown, to tell you where you are aiming, then draw lines from the nape and hairlines, working your way in and up towards the top of the head. This makes it easier to give the hairline (the bit you want to be neatest) the right breadth of row.

Your rows should be approximately 1.5cm apart. You are trying to strike the perfect balance between making sure there is enough hair to cover the wig cap and not packing the fibres on so densely that you have a mad, thick head of hair. You can go wider for a long wig, where the long hair covers any bald bits of wig cap. You will need to go narrower for a short wig, for the opposite reason. Also, small heads tend to need narrower rows. You are now ready to start sticking.

There are two methods for sticking fibres to a hard cap; wefting and direct gluing. Wefting involves using pre-made strips of fibres, which are secured at the top edge with either glue or stitching. These are trimmed to size and the top edge glued to the cap. Direct gluing, as the name suggests, involves sticking loose fibres direct to the wig cap.

The advantage of wefting is that there is less loose hair flying about and it is therefore a more controlled method. The disadvantage is that pre-wefted fibres are more expensive than loose. You can make your own, but this takes time and effort. I also find wefts more awkward to stick in small spaces and restrict my sense of gluing freedom. We will focus on direct gluing.

Lay out your fibre. Your priorities here are to keep you fibre in its natural locks whilst preventing it from flying around the room and up your nose. My method is to keep all floaty fibres, such as suri alpaca, banded into bunches until I need them. I then snip a lock from just below the band, as I need it. It is a rather wasteful process, as I throw away the fibre above the band. However, it does keep flying hair to a minimum. Crimpier fibres can afford to be cut free from their bands and laid out without them taking off. You can sort the nice locks from the less nice locks at this stage, setting the best stuff aside for the front hairline and top layer, where they will show most.

If you are doing long hair, you can cut it into the length you need at this stage. Alternatively, you can trim it once it’s all stuck on. If pre-cutting to size, I cut a piece of masking tape the length I want the hair and stick it to my work surface. I can then cut each lock of hair to length, by lining it up against the tape. Always cut from the root end of the hair. This retains the natural ends to the curls. You can always trim any stragglers at the end.

You are now ready to apply the fibre to the wig cap. The order in which you stick fibres will depend on the style you are making. You want each new layer to cover the previous one. For most styles, you therefore start at the nape and hairline and work up and in towards the crown or parting, with the hair hanging down vertically. The exception to this is if you are doing a swept back style. For this, you would do the back as usual, then work from the crown out towards the hairline for the top and sides, with the hair being stuck horizontally, so that it is lying backwards over the head and sideways over the sides..

Apply a patch of glue at one side of the nape of the neck, 1-2cm wide and relatively even and right up to your first pencil line. If using fabric glue, you will now need to work quickly, as the glue dries in a matter of a few minutes. Firmly grab a lock of hair (you don’t want it to move around and spoil the curl structure or start it flying around the room) and trim the top edge straight across, to get a nice, clean edge to glue on. Trim it far down enough on the lock that you are snipping all the hairs in the bunch. If you don’t, the shorter hairs won’t stick in the glue at the top and will fall out. Holding it near the cut end, fan it slightly into an even layer, thick enough that it won't show the wig cap through, but not so thick that you have big chunks of hair. Line the cut edge of the lock against the top of the glue and, still holding tight to the lock so that it doesn’t slip about, press it into the glue with the side of a pencil or toothpick or a glue spatula. Don't worry about glue coming through to the top of the hair. It won't show as it will be covered by the layer above it. If I am feeling keen, I then brush a thin line of glue along the very top cut edge of the hair. Holding the lock tight against the side of the head to stop it moving around, I then smoosh that well into the top edge of the hair. This makes it even more secure and reduces hair loss to virtually zero.

Repeat the process along that row, gluing the next lock right next to the one you have completed, being careful not to leave a gap. Repeat until you have completed one row of hair.

Leave that row to dry. If using fabric glue, this will be only a matter of a few minutes. You will be ready to start on the next row as soon as you have finished your current one. With PVA, you might want to leave it longer. Just make sure the glue isn’t so wet that it will get all over the next row of hair or allow your nicely-stuck fibres to be dislodged as you work on the next area.

If you are making a very short wig, the process is slightly different. Start with one, long lock of hair. Stick that on and carefully cut it to about a centimetre longer than you need (without pulling it out of the wet glue). Keep using that lock to stick and cut sections until you have used it all up. Pick up the next lock and continue. Once you have completed one row and it is dry, you will need to trim the hair at this stage, or you will lose track of it once you have stuck the band above. Be careful not to cut so much that you expose the glue from the layer underneath. You can lift the lock with a piece of card before cutting, to separate it from the one underneath. You need to proceed pianissimo. Short wigs are a fiddly business and you might need to go over the whole thing with a final tidy-up trim at the end, to minimise steps.

Move on to the next row and fill in, working round from the hairline inwards and upwards, applying even bands of hair in the direction of growth of the hair, until you reach the crown or where the parting would be.If you are doing a parting, you need to leave a bald band around your drawn parting line, the width of one row of hair either side.

If you are doing a no-parting style, work towards the crown until you have only a tiny patch of un-haired wig cap left. You will then need to go very carefully, using tiny sprigs of hair a tiny dots of glue to cover that last bit. There is no way I have found to not leave one, last little bit of glue showing at the crown. I have cut some fibre into flocking and sprinkled it on the wet spot of glue to dull it down a bit. That does as good a job as I have managed.

You are now ready to add your parting.

There is an excellent visual tut for adding hair in the resources section below.

 

3. Add the parting (if your style has one)

This can be the trickiest bit and the bit that needs some practice. Have a go at the various styles with your cheap fibre wigs. The one you opt for depends on the look you want and your degree of fine dexterity.

The easiest method is the simple parting, which is just an extension of the hair gluing method you have used for the rest of the wig. An advantage is that it doesn't require longer bunches of hair for the parting. However, it can look the least tidy, with the risk of bald spots and glue showing. It also leads to a flat crown, which is fine if that is what you want. Next up is the zigzag parting, which reduces the risk of bald spots and glue without much additional work. However, not every style needs this very distinctive style of parting. The folded parting is relatively easy and can give a pretty neat result. There is some risk of baldness and glue, but less than with the simple method. THere is also a risk of bulking at the parting, making the top look too high. Most complex is the split parting. This produces the most precise parting, if you can master the technique. However, there is a risk of bulking out the top of the wig, mismatching the sides of the parting and it is the most fiddly and involves the most swearing.

Simple parting

Put a patch of glue on one side of your parting. Grab your first lock, damp down and snip the end straight. Line your nice, neat end up against your parting line and press in, making sure you push the ends and loest layers of hair into the glue but don't push so hard that you push the glue up to the top layers of your hair. Repeat for the rest of that side of the parting, keeping each bunch as even and flat as possible, then move onto the other side, making sure the nice, neat edges of hair meet up with the edges of the first row of hair on the opposite side of the parting.

If you want, you can finish off by dribbling a thin, even line of off-white acrylic paint along the parting line to give the impression of scalp showing through. It also hides your ends and some of the glue splodges. You can nudge it in gently with a blunt toothpick, to push any glue ends into it and smooth it out a bit.

Zigzag parting

I have not tried this, but have inferred the method by seeing wigs done this way. If someone wants to add to this, please do. You are basically gluing hair in a herringbone pattern along the parting, in overlapping V-shapes, with the glued end of one bunch being hidden by the bunch of hair behind it. Start at the front hairline and work back.

Folded parting

Method 1: Paint glue neatly along one side of the parting and right up to the pencil line. Precision is important here. Take a bunch of hair and place it against the cap upside down, with the cut end butting up against the cut edge of the row of hair under it. The bunch should be slightly thicker than you have used for the rest of the hair, to avoid bald spots and show through. However, don't make it too thick, or you will get an unattractive, cone-headed effect from the bulky hair at the top. Press it in firmly right up to the parting line. Wait for the glue to dry, then add a thin layer of glue to the top side of the hair, from the cut edge right up to the parting. Pull the bunch of hair up and fold it over itself, so that it is now hanging in the right direction. Pull it as tight as you realistically can, to give a clean edge to the parting and further reduce the cone-head effect. Press it lightly into the glue, not so hard that the glue starts to show through to the upper layer. You can pull a little of the hair forward at the front, so that it covers the edge of the wig cap and hangs naturally. Hold it until the glue dries. Now, repeat for the other side, making sure the glue on the wig cap is right up against the parting line and that the hair is pushed right into the fold of the other side of the parting (I used a sculpting tool to do this, but the end of a dinner knife would work well too), so that there will be no bald patches along the parting. Glue the top side and fold over, as before.

Method 2: My thanks to J&C entangled for this stroke of genius. Because of the fiddly nature of partings, this is one situation where the extra pain of making a weft pays off. Make wefts of hair as long as you can, using the method described above. I suppose the ideal would be a weft as long as the parting, but suspect it would be more realistic to do it in two sections for each side. When dry, trim the end and hammer the glued bit with a hammer. Yup. Not only does this flatten it out, minimising bulk at the parting, it has the pleasant side-effect of matting the glue down.

You could then use those as is, or iron a fold into the hair, so you have a nice, flat, straight edge to your parting (I would put a piece of card onto the hair, fold the hair over smartly with the fold against the edge of the card, and iron on top of that). They could even be sewn together and then ironed open, using tissue paper as a stabilliser. That way you get a nice, straight seam as your parting.

Split parting

Leave a band of scalp around where the parting should be. Draw a line for the parting with a pencil, from the front hairline to the crown. Using a scalpel or sharp scissors, cut along this line. Turn the wig upside down and paint glue on the inside of the wig cap, along one edge of this gash. Press a length of hair into the glue and repeat in patches until you have got hair lined up along the length of the slit on one side. Give it a while to dry and then lift the hair through the slit until it is on the outside of the wig. Put some glue on the bare patch of the wig cap on that that side and pull all that hair over and press it into the glue, being careful to leave the very top layer glue-free. Make sure you have pulled it over evenly so that hair is is neatly folded over the edge of the slit. Let it dry and repeat the process for the other side of the slit. You then need to close the slit. Get some thin, non-fraying fabric and cut a rectangle the same length as the slit and about 2cm wide. Turn the wig upside down again. Put a strip of glue on one side of the slit, on the inside, and press half of the fabric slit into it. Let glue dry. Repeat for the other side, makng sure you have closed both sides of the slit firmly. Some people do this bit with the wig right side up and on a styrofoam ball. This means they can stretch out pin the slit and fabric to the ball as they line it up and dry it.

A split parting on the left, note the bad join between the two sides of the parting (ahem). A simple parting on the right, note the bald spots and glue splodges (ahem part 2). However, this was my first attempt at a split parting and my second attempt at a simple parting. It really does get better with practice.



A folded parting. Everything is easier with wool!



4. Finishing off

• When your wig is dry, you can add hair to the hairline, if you want to hide that nasty edge of wig cap. There are two ways of doing this, with attendant advantages and disadvantages. The first is to stick your best bunches of hair so that the ends overlap the edge of the wig, so lying on the forehead. Make sure you have glue right up to the edge of the cap and be very careful when pressing the hair in, so that there is no glue show through. Your wig cap also needs to be a perfect fit at the front, so that the hair will appear to be growing from the forehead and not floating above it. When the glue is dry, remove the wig and carefully trim the overhanging hair, using near vertical cuts, being careful not to trim so much that you uncover the edge. The disadvantage of this is glue show through with almost all fibres. Wool is the only one I have managed to get a good finish with (see the wool wig up there).
  
  The second method is to stick fibres on the inside of the wig cap. The risk of doing this is that it adds extra bulk to the edges of the cap, which can distort it. Remove the wig from the head, turn it upside down and glue thin layers of hair around the hairline from the inside, to cover the edges of the wig cap for when you want to style up. Glue in as much the direction of growth as you can and with a thin and even a layer of glue as you can muster.

• Turn the wig right side up and remove any glue spots with nail polish remover on a cotton bud, being careful not to remove the glue that is holding the hair in place. You can also pick bits of glue off with a pin. This is less intrusive and I would try it first before you reach for the acetone.

• Carefully brush through. Loose hair will come out, no matter how well you stuck it. This is fine and can even thin the wig out in a useful way. Spritz it with water to get the hair to fall well again. Do not submerge the wig in water, even if your glue is water resistant, as this will dissolve the glue and make your wig cap go all If the hair is dyed, allow it to dry off the doll, in case the colour bleeds. Plonk it back on the doll's head and trim any bits that need trimming.

• Style with human hair styling products, if you need to. Be aware that you won't be able to wash this off, so proceed with caution or you could end up with a gunky, dust-covered wig in no time at all. I use a good quality hair spray, that brushes out. I spray a bit onto a toothbrush and brush it through the hair, to tame flyaways

 

Common problems with wig caps

The wig cap shrinks

You think you cut the hairline just right but, when you go to stick your fibres, the hairline is too high and the wig doesn’t sit tightly to the head.

• Your glue is too watery. All glues shrink as the water in them evaporates. Some glues, such as crafting PVA and Mod Podge, have a high water content. Therefore, they will shrink quite a bit as they dry. Try using a low water content glue, like woodworking PVA.
  
  
• You didn’t allow your wig cap to dry out fully before cutting in your hairline. After removing your wig cap and cutting in the hairline, it shrank. Dry your cap out thoroughly before trimming it.

The wig cap is wobbly

The cap isn’t sufficiently rigid and doesn’t hold its shape. It sticks out at the sides and back and doesn’t hold close to the head at the edges.

• Your glue isn’t strong enough.
  
  
• Your fabric isn’t thick enough. If you have used a fine fabric, such as tights, you will need to use multiple layers to give the cap enough body to maintain its shape.

The wig cap keeps coming off

Your wig cap slides around the head and can only be held on with poster tac and prayer.

• Your cap isn’t rigid enough, meaning that it can’t grip the sides of the head. See the possible problems and solutions above.
  
  
• You cut your hairline too high at the front and nape, meaning that the cap is sitting on top of the head rather than wrapping around it. Cut lower. It might mean that you need to invest a bit of effort to remove and replace it, but at least it stays on.

The wig cap has creases and folds

The fabric has bunched up around the neck and has produced unsightly bunches.

• Your fabric is too thick or stiff. Use something that is, at most, the thickness of medium weight jersey. It also needs a little bit of stretch, but not too much.
  
  
• You aren’t being sufficiently assertive with your smoothing. You have to be insistent when you pull the fabric round to the front of the neck and down at the sides. Really pull and rearrange until you have pulled out most of the bulges and folds.

Common problems with wigs

Shedding

You will always have some shedding when you first brush your wig. However, if huge clumps are coming out or it sheds continually, you have a problem.

• You didn’t trim your lock far down enough to catch all the individual hairs. Be a bit more ruthless next time.
  
  
• You didn’t apply enough glue. The hairs closest to the scalp might have got stuck in the glue, but there wasn’t enough to saturate the outermost hairs as well. Use a little more.
  
  
• Your glue was dry. If you are using fabric glue or the 3-in-1 crafting glue, you have to work fast to get the hair in and smooshed down before it dries. If you aren’t comfortable working at that speed, switch to a slower drying glue, such as PVA wood glue, or try wefting.
  
  
• Your glue wasn’t dry. I know it’s hard, but wait for your glue to dry thoroughly before attempting to brush the wig. If you don’t, you will be pulling hair out of the wet glue. Be patient!
  
  
• You didn’t smoosh. When you place your lock in the glue, make sure you press it well in, so that the glue soaks right through all layers of the lock. Adding that line of glue along the top line can help here, as it soaks the outermost layer most and makes sure everything is well glued in.

Big hair

The wig is too full and your poor little dolly is drowning in hair.

• You didn’t fan out enough. Before applying the lock, make sure you fan it out to an even layer that is just thick enough to cover the cap and no more.
  
  
• Your rows are too narrow. With a long wig, you don’t have to cover every millimetre of wig cap. When using thick, curly fibres in particular, you can afford to space your rows out further apart and your wig cap will still be covered.

Frizzy hair

Your lovely mohair locks became all frizzy after you stuck them to the cap.

• Your lost the curl integrity. Curly locks need to be kept in their natural state as much as possible, or the curls separate and you get a world of frizz. Make sure your locks are not disturbed and messed about with before sticking them. It can help to keep them banded and snip each lock off from beneath the band as you work. Also make sure you maintain a deathly grip on all cut locks as you stick them. Letting go can make the lock disintegrate and you can never line them up afterwards..
  
  
• Brushing separated the locks. Brushing curly hair makes it frizzy. It’s a fact of life. However, providing you have maintained the lock integrity, you can regain the curls by lightly spraying the wig with water and shaking it upside down. Don’t use too much or you risk dissolving the glue on your wig cap. A light, all over spray is enough.

Addendum 1: Links and tish

Making a wig cap and sticking hair - visual tuts

Excellent visual tutorials for how to make a wig cap and stick hair by Lany on BJDClub. In Russian, but the visuals are good enough that language isn't really necessary.

Making a wig cap - visual tutorial

Sticking the hair - a visual tutorial

Another excellent visual tut, in English, from Bliznyashka.

Bliznyashka hard cap visual tut

Making partings

Video tut for doing a folded parting.

How to make a doll wig by Twinessence

Visual tut for making a zigzag parting, by the wig meister Lany.

Zigzag parting method

Where to buy fibres

Synthetic fibres

Retrodolls (UK and USA).

Supplier of various types of synthetic doll hair. Cheap!

Retrodolls UK

Retrodolls US

My Little Customs (UK)

Supplier of lower grade types of hair, such as nylon, saran and polypropelene. Cheap

My Little Customs

Restore Doll (USA)

Supplier of lower grade synthetic hair, such as saran and nylon.

http://stores.restoredoll.com/

Dollyhair (USA).

Supplier of doll-scaled kanekalon, as well as other types of synthetic doll hair. Expensive. Some people appear to have had difficulty getting problems sorted when they arise. Just a warning.

Doll Hair- DOLLYHAIR.COM Saran and Nylon for rerooting

Natural fibres

Whitehouse Crafts (UK)

They sell mohair crepe and low/medium quality mohair cheaply. A good place to start.

Whitehouse Crafts

Mohair Wig (USA)

Sellers of mohair, yak and other fibres in loose hair or wefts. Non-US residents beware that they only post by express, which can be pretty expensive.

Mohair Wig

Reborn Doll Hair (USA)

Suri Alpaca in a good range of natural colours. Mid-priced, at about £24/$39 per ounce. International shipping is reasonable. Helpful people, and the suri I got from them was BEAUTIFUL!

Reborn Doll Hair

Newmoor Barn (UK)

They sell processed mohair and suri alpaca. Upper end of the middle range at £26-36/$42 per ounce for mohair and £32/$52 per ounce for suri.

Newmoor Barn

Angora Mohtique (USA)

REALLY expensive mohair at £50-60/$80 per ounce, but it looks pretty good.

Angora Mohtique

Inspiration

"For BJD with my own hands" is the website of a master of hard cap wigs, Bliznyashka. Just have a look at some of these. They also add reflections on the various methods tried, which are very useful. And so gratifying to find someone else who is as obsessive about getting it right as I am. XD

For BJD with My Own Hands site

 

Addendum 2: Processing raw fibre

Buying fibres raw is the cheapest way to go for making wigs. Processed fibres are expensive and for a reason. It is a long and arduous task and is not for everyone. If you don't like the smell of warm animal urine mixed with soap and don't have the patience to brush brush brush for what seems like months, buy it ready processed.

Some fibre is sold completely raw, other will have had a preliminary wash. Even if it is sold as washed, the chances are that it won't be clean enough for wigging. So, wash it again anyway. You will be amazed at the amount of muck that comes out.

Buy a third to a half more fibre than you need. There is a lot of wastage involved in the process.

Raw animal fibres will arrive in a smelly, skanky pile. You won't believe how this pile of muck could be transformed into silky, lustrous locks, but it can be.

Wash it

The key thing to keep in mind when processing is that you want to keep the fibres in their natural locks and not mix them up into a fuzzy mess. So, the first step in this is to restrain them as they are being washed. A popular solution is to decant the fibres into a mesh laundry bag, of the kind that is used to wash delicates in the washing machine. This gives the locks some room to move without them becoming undone or tangled. I have also fed sorted locks into the cut off leg of a pair of tights. There isn't much room for movement, but it works fine for a preliminary wash for very manky fibres.

Fill a sink, bucket or basin with very hot water. Don't mess about with warm water as this stuff has been rolling around in a farmyard for a year in all sorts of substances, glued in by natural oils. You need strong stuff to shift all of that muck. Put a dollop of washing up liquid (dish soap in the US?) in the water and gently dissipate without frothing it up too much. Submerge your bag of hair and dunk it gently or swirl it a few times to get the water through the fibres. Don't agitate it too much, particularly if it's wool, as it might felt. Many guides say to leave it to soak. Seems it has been found that this adds nothing and, in the case of wool, it can be counterproductive. So, no need to do that. Carefully lift the bag out of the water and squeeze gently. If the water is pretty dirty, you will need to repeat this until the water no longer turns brown or yellow.

Be careful not to change water temperatures too drastically as you go from one stage to the next, as this can felt the fibres. So, no taking out of scalding hot water and plunging into freezing cold water. Keep it as constant as possible.

Rinse the fibres by filling the sink/bucket/whatever with more hot water and doing the gentle dunk/swirl thing. Repeat until the water is clear. Remove from the water and do a final, gentle squeeze. I then wrap it all in a towel and squeeze again, to get as much water out as possible.

Place the bag on a dry towel in a warm place and leave to dry, turning occasionally. This can take a couple of days.

Sort it

Carefully tip your bundle of fibres out of the bag onto a table. Try not to disturb it too much as we are still trying to keep all the locks intact and not mess them about too much.

Now you want to pick out as many useable locks as you can from the mass of fibres. Spot a good lock and firmly grasp it by the tip and pull gently out of the mass. Lay it out on the table.

I sort locks into bunches of four or five locks. I sort according to length, for suri, and into length and curl type of mohair or wool. This gives you consistent bunches to work from.

If you have lots of room, pick out all the useable fibres and lay them out in their groups. Bear in mind that you will have to process all you have picked out, so don't make more work for yourself than you can handle. The next stage takes a lot of time and effort. so, best to pick out as much as you want to process and put the rest away. No matter how scrupulous your washing and picking, you will end up with a shedload of unusable fibre, either because it is too short or it is too messed up. If you don't have a friend who felts or spins, shut your eyes and dump the waste in the bin.

Brush it

I have a different method for suri than for mohair and wool. This is because of the nature of the fibres.

Wool and mohair. Take one of the locks and grasp it near the middle of the lock. Wrap the shorter end around your finger and hold on for dear life. You don't want to pull out too many hairs as you do this and want to keep the lock intact. Take a strong comb or brush (I use a pet's wire brush) and brush the lock out, starting from the end and working up to your finger. When that half is all brushed out, with no knots, unwind the end, turn the lock around, and do the grasp and wrap thing so that the unbrushed portion is exposed. Repeat the brushing process.

Lay the lock out in its group. Keep all the locks the same way up, so cut ends at the top and curl ends at the bottom. This makes sure all your fibres are pointing the same way on your wig and helps it stay sleek and reduces tangling, as all the hair cuticles are laying the same way. I have got into a routine where I always brush the curl ends first. That way I always know where I am and what way up the thing is.

When you have brushed out all the locks in your group, bunch them together, with the ends levelled up. Band the bunch tightly (two or three wraps and twists) as near the top as you can whilst still securing all the hairs. I use those little silicone braid bands as they are cheap and plentiful and you can thrown them away.

Suri: Suri is slippery and flyaway and is much more difficult to keep in a lock. Therefore, I tend to brush out a whole bunch of four or five locks, rather than each lock individually. This means you can band the whole lot without having to let it go and risk it all blowing about. So, line up the locks in a bunch, do the grab, wrap and brush thing and band very securely straight away.

Finishing

Because some of the locks were in the middle of the pile and because you have brushed them out, exposing the core of the lock, you will have exposed more muck. It is therefore a good idea to give the bunches one, last wash.

Next, refill the sink with water and get a good quality conditioner. Put a good squirt (about a tablespoonful) in your hand and rub it between your palms. Then put your hands in the water and rub it off. This disperses the conditioner in the water and minimised those floating, white lumps that you really don't want on your fibres.

Lay the fibres out in the conditioner water and leave for 30 mins.

Carefully remove from the water, gripping the banded ends, and squeeze gently. I then lay them out on a towel, fold the towel over, and stand on it. This gets most of the water out.

Lay out on a dry towel and leave to dry, flipping them over occasionally. This takes about a day.

When dry, you can comb the bunches with care. Do as much of the hold-and-wrap thing as you can, holding at the banded end. If you don't you will drag out swathes of hair. Only brush dry fibre or you will stretch and snap the wet, weakened hairs.

With curly fibres, such as mohair and wool. you can give them back their curl by spritzing the bunch with water and giving the lock a good shake. Leave to dry.

Your locks should now be shiny and suri should be pretty much straight. If it's not, you still have oils and muck in there and you might have to face washing it and conditioning it again. You shouldn't need straighteners on suri. If it is washed enough, it will be straight.

And now you know why processed fibres cost so much...

 

That is very useful, hannaliten. Thanks. I will ammend those as tested and approved, then. May I ask, it looks as though mohair wig sells mainly undyed, unpicked and unsorted mohair, is that right, or have a missed a section that has more fully processed stuff?

Vindalootoo, I have no idea. Give it a go and feedback!

 

Thanks hannaliten. Have you bought loose mohair from them? If so, what is the quality like?

Bringing this discussion over from the CLine thread, as we promised we wouldn't clog it up with wig talk.

I had a little explore of the various types of synthetic hair before compiling my list for the thread and read that Shapeshifter is a type of thermofibre. Thermofibre can withstand high heat styling and hold its shape, but is not as generally resiliant as monofibre and tends to mat and frizz, so I didn't add it to the list. However, other places say it is monofibre, so I am not 100% on that. I think monofibre is a brand name, used by Dome, so perhaps they just have to be cautious.

Also, all these types of hair for extensions is designed to mimic human hair, not goat hair. XD I am not sure where that one came from. I guess if we could find which is the finest monofibre, that would be useful. But why would a manufacturer of artificial hair for humans make it too fine for a human? I think that might be an impossible task. Kanekalon is the next best in terms of resilience and realism. That in doll scale would probably be the most relevant. I would be interested to see a small wig made in monofibre though, to see how well it does.

ETA: You got me looking at hair thickness, now.

Human hair is an average of 100 microns thick. Doll hair should be finer than that, in proportion to the doll's scale. So, SD hair should be about 33 microns and CLine should be about 20 microns.

I found these bits on natural fibre thickness.

Thickness of mohair

Super kid under 23 microns
Kid 24-29 microns
Yearling 30-34 microns
Fine adult 35-39 microns
Adult 40+ microns

Thickness of Alpaca

Royal Alpaca 19 microns
Baby Alpaca 22.5 microns
Super Fine Alpaca 25.5 microns
Suri Alpaca 26 microns
Coarse Alpaca 32 microns

I can't find anything on thickness of the the synthetic hair fibres. I would think they would be the same as human hair.

A

 

I ask because they say their loose hair isn't picked, so still has bits of vegetation in it and is not sorted into nice, shiny locks, and I have read some people being unhappy with mohair they bought because it has bits of hay in it and wasn't sorted. I wonder if it was from a site like this and they didn't read the descriptions. Personally, I'm not above picking out bits of straw and combing and conditioning hair if it means I can get it for $8 an ounce, but others might not feel the same way.

 

Thanks dhawktx. I do have Dollyhair up there in the list. They are outrageously expensive for synthetic fibres so it would be useful to hear from anyone who has bought from them and also from, perhaps, Retrodoll, to see if they are worth the extra. I'm not doing synthetic fibres, so can't help.

I have just ordered some suri from Reborn Doll Hair, so will report back when it arrives. It is coming in from the States, so will take a couple of weeks.

I have also ordered a custom colour mohair from Mohair House. Lovely lady. Very accommodating. I will report back when I get it.

I will get some more cheap crepe from Whitehouse Crafts, so at least I can have another practice and take some pictures whilst I wait.

 

Enzyme, as I say, synthetic hair for human extensions is designed to mimic human hair as closely as possible. People want it to be undetectable. It will therefore be considerably coarser than mohair. I suspect the term "synthetic mohair" refers to doll-scaled kanekalon, which is heat resistant to a certain degree. It is a shame that the only loose doll-scaled kanekalon is from such an expensive supplier. Yes, do post your experiments. It would be very interesting to see.

dollsbestfriend, thanks for all that info. I get the impression that many people are daunted by the prospect of picking and processing their mohair, so that is one for the truly dedicated. What a price, though! I could wig my entire collection twice over with that fleece! They'd all have curly white hair, though, as I can't be bothered to dye fibres. XD

 

Thanks for that dhawktx. I saw this video when we first raised the topic of raw fleeces and, it is fine but, boy, does she gabble on. Yours is a much quicker way to find out what to do. I also found this page which is very helpful and has a pdf summary that I might link to in the resources section.

And for those outside the US, Dawn is just a brand of dish washing detergent. As main the aim is to emulsify the lanolin (the natural oil in the wool) and wash it away, any good detergent should do.

And just to note that I have been adding more stuff to the front page as it occurs to me or as I see/read another tutorial with a potentially useful idea. I am also culling bits (the sewn parting method went as it made no sense and didn't seem to be anything of an improvement). My next task is to prepare the bunches of hair by sticking the tops with glue and letting that dry before attaching them to the cap. That will be a way to minimise hair loss. I am also thinking it will be a way to control short hair bunches, as I couldn't get my head around how to manoeuvre those as loose tufts on a tiny head. When I have got hold of some more granny tights, I will have a go at a long and short wig with that method and feed back. I will also be trying the folded parting method. Watch this space!

 

dhawktx, your detergent can only be got in the US, and all detergents are designed to remove grease, by definition, hence my recommendation for people to use whatever good quality washing up liquid they have around. It all does the same job. If people in the US want a recommended brand, though, that one is useful.

And yup on the trimming. If you watch the video I linked in the resources section on doing a folded parting, this is what she recommends and I can see how useful that would be. I would be interested to see the wigs you have made using that method. What scale are they? My only concern with this method is that it adds another layer of glue, so am keen to see if that makes a difference. If you have made tiny wigs with this and have pictures, please do share.

 

Added some bits on types of sheep's wool suitable to wig making, in first post.

 

saharali, thanks so much for that. That wig is glorious! And I saw the thermal sarans on the dolly hair sites. Great to see one put to use.

As I understand it, saran is made specifically for doll hair, so one would expect it to be fine (no, that doens't always follow as nylon doll hair is as coarse as anything). I tried looking for the micron thickness of saran and drew a blank but, whatever way, that looks in proportion, and good to hear it is easier to handle than natural fibres.

Any other notes on your experience of using teh various fibres and hints and tips would be great.

ETA: Bringing Saharali's picture of a short wig over from the CLine thread.



I tried a short wig and had a number of problems. First was that I couldn't cut the tufts short enough. I held the hair between my thumb and forefinger and glued it into mini wefts whilst holding it this way, splodging and working in the glue right up to my finger. That meant that the useable hair couldn't be any shorter than the width of my finger. That was too long. Secondly, I used my usual method of glueing in rows. This made the hair look stepped. I did try feathering the ends of the tufts before sticking them on, but that didn't make a whole lot of difference. I also tried feathering the hair once it was on. This would potentially have worked, if I had persevered with it (I didn't finish the wig as it was just an experiment), but what a lot of work. I was also using mohair crepe/cord and was finding that my bunches of hair were turning out to be different thicknesses, which made the hair look uneven. This wouldn't have shown on a long, full wig and wouldn't have been a problem with something that doesn't have to kept in locks, lke Suri or synthetic hair.

On a plus point, I quite liked using the pre-glued tufts. It was more controlled than gluing loose hair straight on. It did bulk out the wig cap, but not so much that it looked wrong, even with short hair. As I was sticking in rows, it was also effective in covering the wig cap evenly, without bald or thin patches. So, yes, that was a result.

 

No problem. Just to make sure people know whose picture it is, I have added your name to it.

I was foolishly looking to do a gamine short cut, so REALLY short and elfish. I have no need for it for my character, but just set myself the challenge to see if it could be done. If you can do it and share your experiences here, that would be excellent.

ETA: Update. Reflections on doing the glue-it-into-tufts-before-sticking-it-onto-the-head method.

Pros: It certainly gives you greater control over your hair. You can get your hair spread out into nice, tidy bunches, make sure they are all trimmed to the same size before sticking them on and control exactly how they go on the wig cap. It gives you a good, even layer of hair, with no bald spots and minimses glue show through.

Cons: It more than doubles your processing time. I thought I had cut and stuck enough bunches to do the whole wig and found I needed twice that amount. It was because it just felt as though I must have done enough sticking and trimming by the time I had reached twenty odd. Then I had to do another twenty to finish it. It took AGES! Also, I found the process of sticking loose hair straight onto the wig cap felt quite organic, and I could think through the style and the way the hair fell as I went along and it felt easy to make the hair behave the way I wanted it. With the pre-stuck bunches, it felt more like putting the pieces of a jigsaw together, in a predetermined shape. I therefore sort of lost track of what it was I was trying to do. It was paint by numbers versus having a good old splash around with oil paints.

So, verdict. If your hair style or your personal preference requires maximal control and precision, have a go at the pre-glued bunches method. Otherwise, it is easier just to glue loose hair straight to the wig cap.

ETA2: Questions for those with more experience of this than I do.

Loose hair. Do you find you have handfuls of hair that isn't attached to anything? I find that I come away with piles of it when I run my fingers through the hair. I also "brush" it through with a paper scoring tool (a thing with a handle and a pointy end) and tug loads out. I though the glue-it-into-tufts method would reduce this. It didn't, but then I was using mohair cord and that is full of ends and beginnings, no matter how carefully you sort it. It does stop shedding eventually, and no bald spots from it. It just seems such a wasted to stick all that hair on and then comb about a quarter of it out again.

Distorting wig cap. All the wigs I have done so far have ended up with distorted wig caps. This compromised the ability of the wig to fit the head and stay on. For the latest wig, I didn't do the cut parting method, which obviously distorted the cap. I also didn't stick any hair on the inside front hairline, in case that was the culprit. It went baggy at the nape, although the front hairline stayed fine, which is something. I wonder if I should try a thicker fabric for the wig cap. Anyone got any experience of this?

 

Thanks very much for adding that, Anteja1984. Any reflections on your experiences of making a hard cap wig would be most welcome as it seems people have similar problems. I can then add any insights to the first post. Your link is broken. I wonder if it is the same visual tut that I linked in the resources section? I only managed to find the one on making the wig cap, but I know there is one on sticking the hair too. Both are excellent. If you know who they are by, I can credit the link, which would be a Good Thing.

saharali, thanks for all that. Reassuring to know I am not the only one with shedding hair. No, it is never so much as it leaves bald patches and, yes, it does helpfully thin out a bulky wig, so it is not a problem in itself. I just hate waste. XD.

I added a second layer of glue to my latest wig caps and that seems to have stabilised them. They did need drying out inside, though, so that is worth bearing in mind.

suddenoats, I will be adding more pictures. At the moment, I am having such fun making the damned things that I don't want to stop for pictures, but I will do a few as I go along when the good stuff comes in. I now have a picture of sorted, glued locks to add and I will take a picture of my folded parting, to add with the other two.

 

Yes! That's great. I will add it to the resources section. What is their name, so I can credit the tuts.

 

Bliznyashka, your website is terrific. And it was great to read about your experiences of trying different methods (Google translate did a decent job of tackling it). I will add your name to the link, which I have put in the "Inspiration" section, because that is what it is. Inspiring! I still can't open that English language tutorial. It says there are errors. Now, my laptop is old and dying on me, so it might just be that it couldn't handle a file that size. Be interested to know if anyone else can open it.

 

Possibly. We will have to see if anyone else can open it. It looks as though it could be useful.

 

Thanks so much for all that, both of you. As I can open all of them except the full size, I have to conclude that it is my clapped out laptop that is at fault. I will link to that very useful tutorial in the first page.

 

OK. Fibre update.

I received my latest batch of Suri alpaca from Reborn Doll Hair. Lovely stuff. Quick and helpful service, the fibres are as soft and as fine and as silky as, well, silk. And they arrived all tied up in jaunty elastic bands in neat, ready-to-use bunches.



Then I got my Teesewater wool locks. They said there was a waiting list for processed fibres so I said, hey, just send me some that are washed and I will do the rest. The replied that they would send washed, sorted locks, as it was a small order. So I waited for my package of long, shining ringlets. This is what came through the post.



That moment when you feel as though you have bitten off more than you can chew. Anyway, I separated it into locks...



Then I processed it. Ye gods! It has taken HOURS and I am only about halfway through. I combed each lock to remove the knots and tangles (and about half the hair). Then I rewashed it (could have done that first, but it wasn't until partway through when I realised some of the locks were still a little greasy). Then I dunked it in water with conditioner dissolved in it. Then shook it out (using my patented whiplash movement method, good at separating the locks without snarling them up again) and left to dry. Phew!



The fibres are silky, being first clip, but too coarse and stiff for a little head, I would think, unless you are going for the wild and wooly look. But this is for one of my EIDs, who needs to look like a ram (don't ask) so they will do fine.

My recommendation if you are going to process fibres for wigs is to make sure you have time to do all the hard work (I don't. I REALLY don't). Also, order more than you need, by about 1/3, I would say, maybe even 1/2. You will lose a lot of hair in combing. But, there was some satisfaction in turning a pile of curls into long, silky locks, so there is that. I will process the rest when I have a minute (hour) and show you the wig.

ETA: I tried a different method and that speeded things up considerably. I tied the hair into bundles of matched locks, using the tiny rubber bands that came with my suri. Then I soaked the bundles in hot washing up liquid water for 15 minutes, being careful not to aggitate them. Then I drained and rinsed carefully, not changing the temperature of the water radically (this can felt wool, so to be avoided). Then blotted them on a towel, shook them out, and left to dry. When dry, I brushed them through with the wire brush I use on the cats (I saw a picture of someone using a carding brush and it looked just like my cat brush so I thought "Hey! Why not?" Don't tell the cats). Wow! So much quicker! I am still not convinced on using wool locks, unless you leave them as locks and have a dreaded sort of effect, but I will make the wig and see.

ETA: Updates. I made a wig with the suri and, ye gods, hair everywhere. It is exceptionally fine and it was damned difficult to control. It floated off all over the place, even when wet. I ended up giving it a conditioner bath, which did seem to help.

And I have figured out why my hairlines kept creeping back. It is because it is quite difficult to replace the wig cap back on the head to start making the wig. If you put the clingfilm on first, the cap sticks to it and won't slide down on the head easily. So, the wig ends up being made with the cap sitting high on the head and is fixed in that shape when the wig dries out. What I did this time was put the clingfilm inside the cap first, shoving it in with my fingers so that it was right up against the inside of the cap, particularly at the crown, where it seems most reluctant to go. I then plop the whole rigmarole back on the head, pulling the cap right down and checking at the crown that it is against the head. I pulled it forwards periodically as I worked on the wig, to make sure it didn't slip back. And it worked. The cap is overall a better fit. And, having compensated for hairline slippage when I cut the cap, he now has a Neanderthal hairline. No, it's not that bad, but it is lower than I expected.

Oh, and dry out the inside of your wig cap before doing anything with it. Take it off the head once it looks dry outside and leave it upside down to air. I am convinced that not doing this is what caused my earlier ones to distort as I worked on them.

 

Enzyme, that is a great start! First wigs will never look the way you want, hence my suggestion that people start with cheap fibres. It takes practice. But I like how sleek it looks. Did you stick some hair on the inside of the cap? That can help it frame the face and hides the edges of the wig cap if the hair lifts up.

Is Elmers a PVA glue? You will be surprised how firm a cap can be with one, good coating. It doesn't feel like it when you peel the cap off but, once you have hair glued onto it, it does hold its shape. If the glue is a good quality, thick PVA, you really shouldn't need that many layers to get it sufficiently rigid. One, maximum two, is enough.

What fibre did you use? Looks good!

Yup, fabric glue is great. I have no idea how you managed to stick the hair with no shedding! That is extraordinary, but well done. But, if you are finding that the glue is showing, that might have been too much, though. Shedding is expected and can usefully thin out a bulky wig, so actually a good thing. Try with only a thin layer of glue on the cap for each bunch of hair. Fabric glue shows on both light and dark hair. It leaves a dark patch on light hair and a light patch on dark hair. With natural fibres, you can remove obvious glue patches with acetone/nail varnish remover. I am not sure how well that would work with a synthetic fibre as it might disolve it. Try on a spare piece. On last night's one, I added a tiny line of glue at the tips of the stuck hair, then rolled it down with my pencil. It did reduce shedding substantially without adding lots of glue. Made the ends look tidier as well (not that they can be seen, as they were covered by the next layer of hair, but I knew they were there XD).

Partings. Gah! The bane of my life. I would recommend trying the folded parting method (details in p 1, with a video in the Resoures section). It is relatively easy and looks pretty neat. Having said that, I did last might's wig with a simple parting and it is OK.

Keep going!

 

You know, I didn't even think about whether PVA is waterproof. I assumed it was and have been happily dunking my wigs in a conditioner bath. But I have just looked it up and you are right. It isn't. There are water resistant PVAs, usually for wood, but it appears that they will turn white when wet (which isn't a problem). I am having a look to see if they will also dissolve when wet, which wouldn't be so good. It seems that the process that is used for water resistant PVAs means that they are less likely to dissolve in water and more likely to dissolve in other solvents. So, it looks as though a fully waterproof PVA doesn't exist, almost by definition, but that a water resistant one might withstand the occassional dunking, although not extensive soaking.

Water resistant PVA for woodworking

I wonder whether it would be better to switch to a water resistant PVA for these. I might get a tube of that and try it out and report back. I like to dunk my wigs in a conditioner bath, or at least be able to spray them down. It is possible that the fabric glue protects the cap sufficiently that even the water soluble stuff is safe for that, but you have got me thinking now. I feel an experiment coming on...

You might want to try the pre-stickng of bunches method for your fine fibres. I think that would have helped with my suri. There are notes on that on the first page and a photo of pre-stuck bunches. The video tut on folded partings also shows how to pre-glue your bunches. It does take a LONG time, though, and I'm not sure it adds very much, except a feeling of control.

And don't worry about shedding. Mine shed HUGELY to start off with but, once the loose hair is gone, the shedding stops and I still have good, thick wigs. I even comb and brush mine (which you really shouldn't do a lot of) and they are fine.

 

You are welcome! I am still getting home from work and washing and brushing out wool at the moment. I really don't recommend processing this stuff by yourself. It is TEDIOUS! And I bet, once I have fished out all the useable fibres, that I don't have enough to ocver my Akando's vast, bulbous noggin. Ah well, Let's see.

By fabric stiffener, do you mean starch? That is very water soluble and you would need a shedload to get the cap to hold its shape. If you mean something else, it is new to me. Remember that the wig cap isn't supposed to be completely rigid. It just needs to be thick enough and stiff enough to hold its shape. Two layers of ordinary crafting PVA on a thinish fabric is enough for that.

I think we have some wood glue kicking about somewhere so I will do an experiment of that (water resistant PVA) vs crafting PVA and see who comes out on top.

 

Yes, I always cut off the snaggly ends. As you say, it helps keep as much fibre attached to the glue as possible. With my Teesdale locks, I am cutting off a good couple of cms. With the processed suri, I don't have to take of more than 0.5cm as they are so well sorted.

And needle felting? I don't have the inclination or patience. Not my thing. So I just have to look the other way when I have to consign big balls of fluff to the bin. Shame.

 

I have never heard of that. Not surprising, as I only venture into the crafting section when I need something for the dolls. XD. OK. I looked it up. Fabric stiffener seems to be a glue-based solution. Most are water-soluble, with Aleene’s and Craft Pro making water resistant versions. So, I am not sure this adds anything to the glue-splurging method, as you will just be sprayin dillute glue on the cap, rather than painting it on. It might help with smoothness, if that is a problem, and perhaps be quicker. I would be interested to hear.

Fabric stiffeners 101

I am working from home today () so I will see if I can dig out the wood glue and do the test. I am also now keen to find something water resistant for the caps. Can't believe I didn't think of that before. Traditional hard cap wigs don't get restyled and fiddled about with in the way BJD wigs are, so presumably it hasn't been a problem before so no one has explored it. We are pioneers!

 

I buy most things of the internet, although I do have a pretty good selection of art supplies shops and stuff around, if I can be bothered.

Still can't find the wood glue, but it is here somewhere. I will turn it up.

And I will take a picture of the latest suri wig tonight. It is WAAAAY too long, and I am chary of trimming it. I also did a simple parting and coloured the parting in with gluey watercolour pencil. He looks as though he has a bad case of flakey scalp. However, now that we know that waterproof caps are probably the way to go, I can chop the hair off and start again. Am I dedicated/mad, or what?

 

Just to mark progress, the latest suri wig. This is that lovely stuff from the reborn shop. Beautiful, but with the fault of all very fine hair, flyaways all over the place. It is also too long and needs a trim. Simple parting that turned out the best so far, if still a little scurfy. First wig cap that retains its shape, for a number of reasons. I can turn him upside down and it still stays on, even if he doesn't look very happy about it.