Hard cap wigs for small heads

Well I do feel safer with you being on the internet than behind the wheel! A year is a long time, not sure I could let the wig cap dry for that long.

 

Lol! I'm a pretty safe driver (been driving since I was sixteen, so that's twenty-one years of safe driving!), and I don't drink (vegan, and don't really care to have alcohol). I didn't really leave the cap to dry for that long on purpose. More like I am a notorious procrastinator, so that's how it went. But I guess now I have a good test subject for dryness of a wig cap vs losing its shape, or otherwise getting warped along the way.

 

No, only if you were driving, then yes. But if it's only advice, you wouldn't be any worst than me, you would probably be better at it! Even when I'm 100% "awake," I still give terrible advice... or at least type two page rants. Lol!

 

I'm trying out a new glue this weekend. Its been a decade since I took a book arts class and its pretty clear I'm not using my leftover glue from that class to make any books, so I thought I'd try it on wigs. The bottle says Talas Jade 403 "An all purpose acid-free PVA. Can be thinned and cleaned with water. Permanent when dry."

I'm not sure how important being 'acid free' is, and I'm not sure if "permanent" means "waterproof", so maybe its no better than the school glue I was using. Does seem thicker/less drippy. I'll report how it comes out in a few days!

 

IN the USA School Glue is a simple casein-based white glue that isn't waterproof.

 

That’s @Rosslyn ! I didn’t know what it really was, the bottle literally says school glue!
@MadamMauMau i had used school glue on my previous two wigs and I liked the results, just had this other glue sitting in the cabinet and decided to give it a go! I’m just making yarn wigs so nothing fancy in terms of fiber.
So far it’s looking good, I think I’ll stop at 3 layers and take it off tomorrow.

 

I've been working on my second wig. Pretty happy with the result and I love how easy brushed yarn is to work with, even though it takes time to brush and iron. I still feel like there's too much room between the fibers and the head (it looks a little unnatural). After thinking about it for a while, I think it's the jersey fabric that I'm using. It's too thick so I'm going to try with panty hose. I bought a tulle to use, but it's too stiff to really form around the head.

 

@ATBryant I agree there seems to be a bit of a gap between the hair and the head...I'm not very experienced yet so I'm not sure why that would be?

I made my third wig!
New Bun! by Skyealloway, on Flickr

I definitely trimmed the wig cap incorrectly this time. I didn't photograph it but its a weird shape above the ears, and I think it might should be lower on the back of the head too. Overall I'm still happy though, and now I know! Also, the book arts glue is great for gluing the wefts to the cap because it dries fast and is not drippy, but it is not great for the wig cap, which came out thick and very flexible. I'll stick to my "school glue" for the caps

 

@skyealloway It looks great! I like the depth of color the yarn provides and how you did the front bangs.

 

Just wanted to show you my latest wok - a pixie wig for Tender Creation doll. I made it according to the video tutorial by a famous doll artist .

 

That looks great! What fiber did you use @Lisa_Alisa

 

@skyealloway it was suri alpaca

 

@MadamMauMau I think now it was the weight of the jersey I used. I think it was just too thick. I'm currently working with two layers of nylon stockings to get the wig cap to be a bit thinner. With the light blue wig, I used a bit of water and some rubber bands to style the fiber closer to the head. That helped a bit!

 

That's a great wig and you've added another doll to my wish list!

 

Sorry, there's no link to the video, but you can buy the tutorial on etsy

 

Thank you glad you like it

 

I've been looking into wig making like this recently, and if you're interested have found some (English) links on youtube that may be helpful.

This is Lomi's Playground, who works on BJD and with Mohair and other animal fibers:


And Mozekyto has some interesting info on making acrylic fiber from yarn (I'm trying this out right now, as I'm impatient about wefts shipping from China):


And she has videos about how she makes her wigs, though she works on off topic dolls, just gonna link to her main channel, but she does styles like pigtails, middle parts, fringes, etc, all info that should translate over to other fibers and BJD wigs well:
Mozekyto


As said, I've been working on yarn wefts recently, though haven't made my headcap yet. But once I do I'll update with progress pictures of how everything is turning out (I'm planning to try out pixie and undercut styles first, even though longer styles first is probably a better idea...)

 

What's the tutorial name, or name of the artist that sells it on Etsy?

 

The artist is Olga Kamenetskaya

 

I found her listing for the video but it says ony in Russian! Can you learn enough by just watching it?

 

There are English speaking customers, who understood everyting perfectly - video is very detailed, 4h long. An English version is to be released soon

 

Thank you! That's good to know! Now I have to decide: do I buy the Russian or wait for English? I don't think it's in the budget this month anyway!

 

Does anyone have any tips for keeping the bulk down with yarn wigs? I've noticed that my wigs tend to be a bit bulky, but I find it difficult to get a good coverage.

 

Hmm @ATBryant do you think the poor coverage is due to the style of wig and not the wefts? I make my yarn wefts very thin (brush very thin, iron very flat, glue into wefts by mooshing the fibers even flatter.) conversely for some styles it works better to have some thicker wefts (to cover the top of the head) and some thinner (for closer to the base). To make thinner or thicker wefts I focus on how close the fibers are when I’m gluing the wefts- the brushing and ironing is the same.

 

Ugh. First go with yarn wefts is.... well, interesting. They didn't flatten as well as wanted, the top of the head part area laid flatter than the part on the side (hopefully some pressure or glue will fix this) and I think I made the "glue" part of the weft too long on the pieces for the part. I'll have to cut that thinner next time, or bit the bullet and do the "cut the wig, and insert the weft" method. All I have left to do is cut the style, since I gave up on cutting while wefting.

 

@skyealloway Up until now I've tried to do pretty much the same style, bangs with about shoulder length. I think I'll try to get really poor coverage on the bottom and then thicker wefts at the top.

I need to get better at bangs though. I find those quite difficult, and it's so easy to make them bulky.

 

Are you making wefts and then gluing them to the cap? You may get less bluk by just gluing your hair fiber to the cap.

 

I think this is deceptive. You all make it seem so easy and I know if I go and give this a go I'm going to get bits stuck to me and glue all over the place.

But I think I'm going to try.

 

@Barmy Bunny haha yes first wigs are a mess but you will make it neater on the next one.

 

@Barmy Bunny - it does sound easy at first and in real life you end up with fibers everywhere, glue sticking to everything, etc. but it is a lot of fun when you finish and it looks okay!

For very tiny heads I definitely prefer the "direct gluing of fiber to the cap" method rather than making wefts. Wefts are very useful for the part, but they make things so bulkier if used for the whole wig.

Something else I have done with some of my wigs is to insert a very thin piece of wire across the top of the head and over the "sideburn" sections so that the wig remains snug in these areas.

Hana3 by StellaMarigoldArt, on Flickr

You can see in this photo that the finished wig stays close to the sides of her head:

Spoiler: Finished Wig

Hana in White 3 by StellaMarigoldArt, on Flickr

I got this idea from another wig-maker, but I don't remember the name so sadly I can't credit them.

 

Oh what a fantastic idea @StellaMarigold! I'm going to have to try that next time I pull out my wig-making gear.

 

@StellaMarigold, I have been thinking of adding a wire but haven't had time to make a wig! Thanks for posting your results! The wig is great!

And who is your lovely Hana by?

 

I love the idea of a little wire to help get a closer fit! I'll have to try that

 

So happy to be of some help!

And I just remembered where I got the original idea - the tutorial below! But I do it a bit differently, since I don't use masking tape for the wig cap and I glue the wire higher up on the head so as not to interfere with the hair line.

I used some a thin beading wire available in the local store. The girl in the photo I added is super tiny so I would like something even thinner for her wigs eventually. But for larger dolls I think a reasonably thin wire would be fine.

/tutorials/making-a-hard-cap-for-short-hair-wigs.100/

@nancy_schroeder_ca - she is a Rosen Garden doll! Her face sculpt name is Hana. Fleur, another one of the Rosen Garden sculpts, may be better known, but I loved the shape of Hana's eyes. I still call her Hana at the moment since I haven't painted her face and figured out her style yet.

 

By the way, you can flatten the wire a little, knocking on it with a hammer. it will be flat and will not bulge so)

 

That's a good idea! I'll try that next time!

 

I've been working hard on reducing the bulk of my wigs. This is one I made with viscose. It's so easy to work with, is cheap, and takes less time to process than yarn. I've focused on getting the layers on the sides so thin that they don't really cover the head cap, and using multiple layers to hide the head cap and then the top part being thick enough to hide the head cap in one layer.



My next wig is alpaca.

 

I tried out the rooted method mentioned earlier in this thread.

I like doing it because it's a bit cleaner than glue wefts for me.

But I need some work on making sure the hairline lies flat by the end. I think the type of fabric used for the cap might affect it. I haven't finished styling their hairdos yet.

This one I made with a stretched knit fabric looks a bit too thick and it shifted. I am sure I can cut the cap closer to the hairline, but that doesn't un-shift it.... Hoping adding a smidge of glue and clamping the wig down to the head again might reduce the slightly off bits but I doubt it'll be 100% success. Was hoping the character's glasses would help clamp down the sideburns. Sideburns are my enemy lol



The other one, I used some transparent net ribbon and it's both thin enough and kept its shape a lot nicer....

 

Those wigs look nice, @zekarmisama! The second one especially looks so soft.

For taming the sideburns, perhaps you could try adding a thin piece of wire on the inner side of the wig (a C-shaped piece reaching all the way up one sideburn, over the top of the head, and down along the other sideburn)? Maybe you could glue it down with hot-glue or something similar so there wouldn't be any hard edges that might scratch your doll's face.

Just a thought! I've used wires across the tops of wigs to help maintain their shape, and it seems to work pretty well.

 

The second one is viscose fiber from treasuresdolls on etsy. It is so soft and shiny I love it. Only downside is that it doesn't take wet styling because it turns a crinkle texture when wet. It's been sitting around unstyled because the humidity was really low and it was static electricity galore.

Yeah I think I might use wire if the attempt to re-mold the headcap in place doesn't work. Need to find the skinniest wire that is strong enough.

 

So I'm trying to get better at making shorter wigs, and am in the process of making a pixie cut wig.

But I have a few questions. How would I go about getting the plucks of hair for a more textured look? And do I need to change how I glue the bundles of fiber to the wig cap to better achieve this look? As my wig is for a 22cm BJD, the wig is very tiny. I usually draw a few lines on the wig cap and then glue along this line. But this creates very defined end points.

I'm also trying to use more of the ends of a bundle of alpaca fiber for the crown of the wig, but I can't only use the ends because I'd waste a ton of fiber due to how small the wig is.

Does anyone have any resources for creating pixie cut wigs? I know of Olga Kamenetskaya's tutorial, but I don't $120 to spend on a tutorial.

I'll also post a picture later when I can.

 

I’m a fan of this tutorial for a pixie cut

 

@skyealloway I've seen Mozekyto's tutorial a few times, but to me it feels like a pixie cut is easier to achieve with yarn than alpaca. Yarn seems to have smaller locks of fiber (and I don't feel as bad about wasting it).

Maybe I should just use yarn, or at least make a thousand wigs before using alpaca. :P

 

Nah, you'd do alpaca the same way as that video. Olga's method is pretty similar too. Just cut your longer pieces into several shorter lengths and you won't be wasting any.

 

That's how I currently do it, but I feel like I'm not really getting locks of hair. Everything seems to be distributed pretty evenly. It looks a bit more like a bowl cut than a pixie cut. :P

Maybe I should be less organized with how I glue the locks of fiber down.

 

What I like doing is running a dry razor down the sides of my wig to "shave" away the even-ness. This is how I make my undercut wigs.

 

Use some styling product? Wig wax is great, but just a human hair gel will work fine on alpaca too. Or style it wet so that it clumps up (I think this is what you're saying you're looking for) then leave it to dry naturally--don't brush it after drying.

 

I do have some wig wax from Azone, that might work! And thanks for the tip, I didn't think of using a bit of water to clump the locks together.

@Quiet and Insane I do that for the back and sides of the wig to get it really short.

 

Mohair can have a little more wavy quality. you might try that.

 

I find it's a neat little trick for just fixing up the ends a little - even with long hair! I just carefully run it against my cutting mat so I only take small amounts off.

 

For anyone who wants to try wigmaking but doesn't want to shell out right away for spendy fibers, wool roving might be a good option. It's fiddly and you have to be careful when brushing/styling it, but it was cheap off etsy and gave me a place to start before ordering something nice. Definitely learned to be careful with my gluing, especially around the sideburn area--those tiny bits are such a pain--and how best to draw on the lines of hair. Funnily enough, the part came together pretty easily, though the wool is dyed pretty dark and it's not really visible anyway.

Rough Draft Wig:
Wig making IH FID Raffine by lessdenied, on Flickr

 

This could be a very neat effect to get an in scale look like relaxed Natural hair- that's what the thick texture reminds me of most.

 

Agreed. Before I combed it out and cut/styled it, it looked almost like locks:

Wig making IH FID Raffine by lessdenied, on Flickr

 

My latest wig creation.

The model is a Granado 31cm Lucifer.
Wig-fiber is loose synthetic mo-hair from Dollmore. (Carrot)

Spoiler: More pics of the wig

 

Outstanding!

 

Wow! That turned out fantastically!

 

OH that looks pretty good