Learning how to make wigs

Hi everyone! A couple of years ago I've become tired of how hard it was to find doll wigs that would meet my vision, so I've decided to learn how to make them myself. I'm not a professional by all means, but I think my latest works look good enough, and I wanted to show them here

One of my first works that turned out neat and pretty. Long pink waves (made from goat hair, I love working with this material), parting with cut haircap. I wasn't really satisfied with how this wig looked from the front (especially the parting - you could see the haircap if you looked close enough), so recently I've sold this one.



The same wig for the same doll, but in different colour and with different parting type. I'm not sure how to call this technique, but it requires using a plastic card for interwining hair strands.





This hairstyle was difficult for me, it took me three attempts to master it! But the result was 100% worth it, I looove how this wig looks:





This is the only short-haired wig I currently have in my portfolio. Initially I couldn't figure out the right density of hair I was glueing onto the haircap, which resulted in a lot of bald spots Later I had to cover them up with more hair (0 out of 10 experience, absolutely would NOT recommend. Inserting additional hair after all layers are completed is the WORST)





And this is my favourite wig so far - whopping 20 layers of hair (or even more?), my first time making a hair crown and a fringe, smooth transition to shorth length at the front area. Not sure why I don't have any technical photos for this one (I was probably too lazy or tired).



What can I say? Making wigs is damn HARD, and the process definitely made me hysterical a couple of times. Can't imagine doing that for money. It's addictive though! And I already have another short wig in my plans - a curly ginger beauty ^^

PS confession time - I don't know anything about cutting hair. Seriously, nothing. I just determine the correct hair length for each layer in advance, sometimes even using a calculator...what a shame. If anyone can suggest some kind of tutorial for making smooth transition between short hair layers, I'd be super grateful!

 

Thank you! Honestly the best learning strategy for me is to break each 'wig project' into separate stages and then try to perform as best as I can at each stage (and a tiny bit better than the previous attempt, so that there's progress). I've learned how to make headcaps that can hold shape and fit the doll head perfectly using gauze pads and 'tair' modeling gel medium. After making a headcap I gather photo references, they help with determining directions of hair growth and hair length at different sections of the wig. Then I figure out how many layers I want (this part is tricky, too many layers make your wig look like a hat), desired length of each layer (overall length, length of the upper layer, everything in between is evenly distributed), and finally I mark the layer boundaries using a pencil and glue the hair! As I said, I only cut hair strands at the base, tips stay untouched. That's why I'm still an amateur, 'leveling up' would require to actually learn how to make a hairstyle without the calculator trick. If I fail during my first attempt, I analyse my mistakes and try again (and again, and again, until I reach the desired quality). Basically that's all!

Thanks a lot! Frankly it still has a couple of bald spots, which I'm too lazy to cover up rn

Thanks!! I've recently got my hands on baby goat hair, it's soft and curly, this is a whole another level of hair quality! Sadly I can't use it yet, since I don't have the desired doll head. And this head is rare, so I don't even maintain any hope for finding it in a foreseeable future

Thank you very much for your kind words Dark blue wig is in one of my favourite colours. Initially I asked my supplier for black with blue hue, but the result is even better I think. It looks either dark blue or almost black depending on the lighting.

As for the tutorial, I haven't really considered making one, since this method of making the parting is quite popular, al least in China. You can try to find it on chinese websited probably? Unfortunately I don't know its name, I only know it requires using some sort of a plastic card.

I'm considering making a tutorial for making resin eyes, since I'm quite good at it:

 

Thank you! And I wish you luck with all your endeavours!