Wigs Wig attempts - 01/25 progress update!

So I started on this new project/skill learning journey ages ago, failed miserably and said I will leave it to the pros and pay for the good wigs! XD

Well, here I am a few years later and, um, my gaggle of Minifee are a demanding crew and they are wig snobs who only seem to wear natural fiber D8

...so here I am again, but this time with the benefit of a little thing called an ADHD diagnosis and treatment! O.O And so I have returned and guys-! The world of difference it has made in this endeavor!

AHEM! Anyway, background ramble aside, I am not going to show that sad, sad excuse of a poor yarn wig I tries first. I also am not going to show my second wig (which I actually completed!) because I'm a derp who forgot to take any photos. Sorry, I was too busy learnin' and stuff?

But! But I have wigs 3 and 4 to present and my thoughts on the process!





Here we have wig 3. Close, she was SO close! She photographs well from conventional angles, but there is a spot on the crown of her head where I did not make the part thick enough to cover using way too much glue. Dx;; Gonna have to use a hat or creative camera angles. I can also see a bit of the wig cap at the part line and I'm not real thrilled with that.

But! In making her I learned how to:
- sort raw alpaca fiber
- wash alpaca fiber
- comb alpaca fiber
- dye alpaca fiber using RIT dye

Other things I learned for my next try:
- make my part wefts thicker
- add in a third, smaller weft at the back of the part as well for the back of the head.
- to try a different fabric for the wig cap, the previous nylon and glue took forever to dry.



Now here we have wig #4. She had SUCH promise and I was SO excited once I got her all colored. The failure entirely sits with me, however, thinking that it I would be fine trying to do the hardest bit of the wig (for me) while I had been put on a medicine that made me so anxious you needed a spatula to pry me off the ceiling. ==;;;

This pastel sherbert ombre was dyes with semi-permanent dyes diluted with conditioner, which made the alpaca suuuuuuper soft! I did find that I had to dye it twice, learning curve to figuring out just how pigmented I need the color to be diluted for the color I want it to be in the end.

She is not quite done. This wig has finally made me get off my butt to get a scale. I definitely did not dye enough fiber. I need to dye a little more for a couple of patches before the gluing is done. Unfortunately, I initially messed up the part because my hands were shaking and I got so frustrated that I could hardly see straight. X.x I waited until I was done with the icky medicine and feeling a lot better before I went back and did some attempted damage control by adding in a few more thin wefts to neaten the part. Unfortunately, this made a mess of the wig cap a bit and it's bulkier inside than I like. >.< I also find it slips a lot, so I have to use a silicone putty to keep it in place on my girl's head.

So what did I learn how to do this time?
- dye alpaca with semi-permanent hair dye
- to better measure how much dye I need to mix with conditioner to get the desired color if I am diluting it
- to make thin glued wefts, which as it turned out were a 1000x easier for my always shaky hands to handle with any coordination in such a small space

I still need to finish the last few pieces then trim and style, so she'll get an update later!

Will wig #5 be it? Stay tuned! I will give a sneak peek, here is the fiber I will be using. I'm off to go dye more because after measuring I definitely did NOT make enough!

EDIT Pssssst @Robyn_in_WA You told me to let you know when I started to try my hand at wig-making! Here it is! @,@

 

Thank you! I am determined to get better at them haha. The colors are my signature part, my shop for both my art or doll items is ColoModeKitten xD I also routinely wear colorful ombre hair myself.

Store bought neurotransmitters for the win! XD

Why the semi-permanent dye? Because all the fun fashion colors are semi-permanent (there literally are no permanent fashion colors, fact I learned from my own hairdresser)and because I have more control when coloring and ombre this way personally. =3

As for the conditioner- that was only added to the dye for wig 3. I wanted to make the colors more pastel. If I hadn't I would have some very vibrant hi-lighter pink and orange hair for that wig.

Ooh, feather wigs look so fun! I have a blue jay harpy I am still designing mentally. I am picturing a mixture of feather and fiber wig for her. I am probably not quite ready for that yet though LOL

 

Thank you! The doll is a Minifee Luha, btw~

No problem! Why buy more money for a pastel color when I could make it easily myself? =3

Aw, keep going! If I can do it, you totally can! I am learning from each wig I make, tweaking to better my skills and find working methods that work best for me. Sometimes it's a lot of trial and error.

Thank you You absolutely can do it, too! It's pretty fun!




UPDATE

Haven't been feeling great so I haven't finished the pastel sherbert wig. I will have to try and do that this week.

Last week I did a bunch of prep though! I have now got hair ready to make 3 wigs, dyed and wefted. I was totally gonna make one this weekend and realized in all my inglorious wisdom of prep work, I forgot to finish the wig caps. So I had to finish those yesterday and leave them to dry and harden overnight.

There will be pictures soon! Maybe progress with less mistakes?!

 

@Fushia Lace I go in spurts Life at large is stressful, so sometimes I have zero motivation lol. I am determined to get good at them someday! I too am constantly scowling at pieces I'm not happy with. Perfectionism yay!

I have fiber ready for 3 wigs atm and I am biding my time in hopes more raw alpaca fiber will go up on Etsy in spring! The sort/clean etc process is slow, but I find a sort of zen in it! Thanks for the warning on the dyes, I'll have to watch for that in the future.

Aw, lol! I guess I'm pretty oblivious because I never realize that anyone notices crew! I'm not the best about taking pr sharing more than random pics on my phone of them. My large crew have been chilling the last year or two, the minifee bug bit me and bite hard! But I will certainly post when my attention turns to braving the bigger wigs!


In other news- I suck and am awful at updating. Here's a couple things I have been working on!



The blue fiber! Still working on styling but it has been made!



This one was SO much fun to make! Probably the closest one so far towards my goals of wig-making. Progress!

 

Hi there!

Thank you for taking a peek! It's a bit chaotic but it's fun. You're right, I am very much a perfectionist! I am determined to finally get these wigs right!

In regards to your question- it's not silly at all! It took me awhile to figure out how much fiber I use, but for the standard minifee head I use about 1oz/28.35g. If you are completely new to wig-making I would suggest having more than you need though. My first few I think were around closer to 1.5oz/42.5g until I got the hang of it.

I hope you will show your gal's wig when you make it!

 

I think you will be okay with 30g ^^ I make a lot of mistakes, so I like to have more!

New wig progress for a new face! Meet Raven, my Lishe boy. I have a few things to figure out once I finish this wig, but it's coming along nicely! Just have to do the part line.

I made myself slow the heck down with this one and be more precise in the fiber placement. I think it's definitely working out better for me.

 

Oh goodness, I totally fell off the face of the Earth there.

Yes, you have a good eye! The character that doll shells is supposed to have long, wild red curls similar to Merida from Brave. The teeswater seemed like the natural choice!