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Wigs Wig-making experiment results. (rooting into silicon)

Mar 14, 2019

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    1. Hello Angels, ( Hhn how to start...)

      Over the past few days, I have been experimenting with making a skin colored "scalp" with rooted hair for wigs. I had seen hair rooting done for reborn dolls and thought I might give it a try.

      The scalp part was made with clear silicone mixed with some flesh colored paint and then it was spread over a piece of fabric.
      The fabric was a very thin, almost gauzy stuff. It was stretched over an embroidery hoop before
      After letting the silicone cure overnight, the rooting began!

      I first used some left over black synthetic mohair from Dollmore.
      The needle I used was a Wool felting needle, a very fine and thin one.

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      [​IMG]​

      While I don't have that many clear pictures of the back of it. I used Aleene's Jewel-it fabric embellishing glue to secure the wrong side of the scalp. ( I did several variations.)

      The result with the mo-hair is a firm hold on the fine hairs. Of course with mohair there is some fall out.

      (Click to see pictures)
      [​IMG]

      I moved onto some Nylon hair brought from Dollhair.com
      Just a tiny bit was used for this experiment.
      Like with the mohair, I used the felting needle to root the hairs into the scalp.
      Using glue to secure the hairs at first.

      I used two different techniques for the nylon hairs. One was the normal with the cut ends and the other was the "double hair" per root. This was done by looping a single hair around the needle before it was pushed in.

      For the third nylon try, I used an open flame candle to melt the plastic, it melted into a clump of plastic which was very secure.

      [​IMG]
      [​IMG]


      The uses for this would be to make a realistic hair parting in doll wigs. and/or other things you can think of where your doll would need realistic hair.

      :aheartbea "Like" this post if you'd like for me to do an in-depth tutorial. :)

      Edit: So many likes! I will be working on a tutorial for this. But it will take a few days.

      (( Extra bonus pics! ))

      [​IMG]
      [​IMG]
      [​IMG]
       
      #1 Elysion gear, Mar 14, 2019
      Last edited: Mar 17, 2019
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    2. Ooooh! In depth please! I’m fascinated by this idea!
       
      #2 Spuggey, Mar 14, 2019
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    3. I really like this!
       
      #3 Xila, Mar 14, 2019
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    4. I'm intrigued. I'd like to see more, particularly how you keep focus (I'm easily distracted myself.)
       
      #4 saraquill, Mar 14, 2019
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    5. oooh following!!
       
      #5 micchix, Mar 14, 2019
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    6. Definitely interested in seeing more about this
       
      #6 hawkfry, Mar 14, 2019
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    7. Oh this is awesome ! I've been thinking of something like this as well, the silicone scalp and rooting hair in it I mean. I just wasn't sure if it would even work-- I would love to try it with alpaca on an entire wig, even if it would probably be quite a lot of work. I would love a more detailed tutorial on this !
       
      #7 Ginnomme, Mar 15, 2019
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    8. Please show us more! :O such great info!
       
      #8 NoodIes, Mar 16, 2019
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    9. This is genius! Please show some more! It's a brilliant idea!
       
      #9 Eleanersmith, Mar 16, 2019
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    10. Fascinating! Could a silicone wig cap be used for this?
       
      #10 Ipledreamer, Mar 17, 2019
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    11. The wig cap will still need a fabric base. The silicon is layered over the fabric, almost merging with it.
      Alone, silicone is too stretchy and the rooting hairs will fall out.
      Alone fabric it will fray when trying to root hair into plain fabric.
       
      #11 Elysion gear, Mar 17, 2019
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    12. I would love to see the technique you use to root the fibres. I want to try out different methods for a styleable wig, currently I'm working on a ventilated wig, but I want to make a rooted one next. I've experimented a bit, but I'm not sure if I'm holding the fibres right because sometimes they don't stick despite me poking it a few times. I'm such a newbie at this.
       
      #12 Humbug, Mar 26, 2019
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    13. looking great!
       
      #13 Laskalancy, Mar 28, 2019
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    14. The combination of silicone and cloth is genius! I would also be very excited to see an in-depth tutorial. :D
      Thank you so much for sharing!
       
      #14 Lady Ravenswood, Mar 28, 2019
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    15. This is extremely interesting. I think I'm too freaking lazy to do an entire wig like that, though, so now I'm wondering whether it would be possible to use the cloth/silicone cap as a base for gluing wefts in the usual way, but then rooting around the edges and the part to achieve the same realistic look...
       
      #15 celga, Mar 28, 2019
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    16. Very interesting. :thumbup
       
      #16 ErikNiceBerg, Mar 29, 2019
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    17. I think that it would be very possible. If you cut out the pattern from the Silicone/fabric after rooting and securing the hairs you can sew the cuts out into a wig cap.

      Wishing that I could have pictures to show what I mean. I'm a very visual person and I like pictures with my detailed instructions. ^^;;;
       
      #17 Elysion gear, Mar 30, 2019
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    18. I was literally just about to try this myself, haha. I've been experimenting with making silicone wig caps and gluing the fiber on with the silicone, but I've been dissatisfied with the way the edges look, particularly in relation to the part. I'll be really interested to see how you do the rooting! I've never tried it before.
       
      #18 Sephora, Mar 31, 2019
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    19. I am experimenting with something very similar, spreading clear caulking silicon onto net fabric. I am still trying to decide whether stretch or non stretch net works best, but if you make a really good wig cap pattern, cut a reverse silhouette of it from paper (so the hole in the paper is the shape of the wig cap pattern), and attach the paper to the wrong side of the siliconised fabric, you can root into it over firm foam with a rooting tool (sewing needle with the eye snipped open, held in a pin vice). It works well with mohair and nylon fibres, but not, so far, with the slippery synthetic hair sold in cheap wefts. I plan on sealing the fibre inside with more silicon - the glue I used for the first attempt was too slippery and the wig kept sliding off!

      It is actually quite a quick way of making a very small wig - you have to wait 24 hours for the silicon to cure (I stretch the fabric over a cheap plastic chopping board, then squeeze out the silicon using a caulking gun and spread it very thinly with an old kitchen knife), but unless you micro-root one hair at a time the hair goes in very quickly and covers well - just keep moving the fabric to an undented piece of foam (a use for all those old yoga and exercise mats!), and keep checking the back for bare patches. Trickiest bit for me is getting the wig cap pattern exactly right...
       
      #19 fjm123, May 14, 2019
      Last edited: May 14, 2019
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    20. Oh my! I’ve been dissecting wigs and researching silicone wig caps, needle felting, reborn hair rooting, and wig-making for dolls and for people for over a year so I could make a realistic scalp wig with no wefts. That’s part of my “grail doll” description. This post answered questions I had about using mohair. I’ve had good results practicing rooting synthetic hair into inexpensive silicone wig caps. I’ve just completed some wig mannequin heads using diy felting mat techniques to try because rooting into a styrofoam ball, though wonderful while rooting, was hideous when removing the cap. The needles “felt” the hair to the styrofoam and destroys the ball. You lose a lot of rooted hair and length when removing the felted hair/styrofoam mess left inside the cap.
       
      #20 Sin's Wife, Jun 24, 2019
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    21. What about felting mats? One YouTuber makes a rice filled burlap bag. Do you think that could work?
       
      #21 IngieBee, Sep 7, 2019
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    22. These are all great ideas. I'm thinking of trying it on a double layer of panty hose. Imagine a wig with a restyle-able part that looks like a skin top? That's my idea.
       
      #22 Untamedhybrid9, Mar 2, 2023
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