Wigging tutorial

Wigging for Christmas Ornament

          ..........by Stacy Hofman

If you are making your Georgia as a

Christmas ornament, take a piece of

metallic cord, fold over in half, tie the ends
together in a double knot. Run a section of
beading wire through the top of the head down
through the torso and fasten to the metallic cord .
Use the wire to pull the cord through the top of
the head until the knot stops its progress.
Secure with a dab of glue.

For the ornament, I decided on highly stylized bangs. I

desired a wispy effect that would allow a lot of the

forehead to show through. For this doll I used the

synthetic fiber viscose. You will need an assortment of        

knitting needles in various small sizes, viscose, a

small bowl of warm water, scissors, and a cookie sheet

lined with paper towels. Separate your viscose into

segments a scant 1/4 inch across and 2 to 3 inches

long, dip in the water and then wrap around the knitting needles to make long sausage curls.
As you wrap the needles lay them

out on the cookie sheet and afterwards

cook in a slow oven 250 degrees for 30

minutes. Remove from the oven and set

them aside to cool completely before

gently sliding the curls off the

needles. Take one of the largest curls

and cut off a ½"

section..............unfurl it and

spread it apart and glue these curved

wisps as shown in the photo. After the

glue has dried, take a small paintbrush

and dip in starch water ( one cup water with 1/4 liquid

starch ) and dampen the bangs then stroke into a

stylized fashion with the point of a needle. Set aside to dry.

Take a selection of sausage curls

and unfurling the top of each one,

glue one after another, with the

flattened section glued to the head

from the nape up past the ears. Be

sure to glue down the curled

sections to the porcelain down the

back. As an ornament. It will

receive a lot of

handling, the wig

should be firmly

glued in place.

 In the second photo observe the excess at the top has been cut off. 

Unfurl two curls then spread them apart. Glue one

end to just the side of the center part line. Then fold

over and glue down all the way around to the back of

the head. Repeat with the second curl to form the other

side of the hair part. Remember as you bring the

sections of hair down the sides of the head be sure to

cover the top glue level of the lower curls. At the

place where the hair ends in the back of the head cut

level with the scalp. As the ends will be covered with

more curls, it is not essential that it presents a

finished appearance . Photo of the center part swept back

along the sides and ending center

back.

         Take some viscose odds and ends from

         your prep work and roll together in

         the palm of your hand to make a

         small hair "rat" and glue to the top

         of the head. As this rat will be

         completely cover it does not have to

         be extremely neat in appearance.

Glue a second

line of sausage

curls to the back

of the doll's

head right below

the hair "rat".

      Take the smallest of your sausage curls

       and glue one end down to the back of

       the hair "rat". Uncurl the center

       section and glue over the top of the

       "rat" . Continue to glue curls in the

       same fashion until the rat is

       completely covered.

    

     Cut the end

     of the curls

     in front of

     the "rat" and

     glue the

     curls down as

     shown in the

     photos.

Next you’ll

want to add

florals to her hair. I start by gluing on

clumps of landscape

foam available at your local

model train

shop. I then add leaves; for both of these I prefer Tacky glue.

It is extremely helpful to glue what I like to refer to as a filler flower as your next step. My personal favorite is glycerin dried pepper grass...in some areas it is referred to as candy tuft. The filler flower gives a nice cushion for the other flowers to nestle into.

           If you’re going to use

           flowers made out of polymer

           clay they should be attached

           with Zap-a-gap or another

           type of Krazy glue. You can

           also substitute silk ribbon

           roses or even larger

           varieties of dried flowers.

            Because Georgia in this

            instance as being used as a

            Christmas ornament, I

            thought it might be a good

            idea to add some metallic

            beads so she would capture

            and reflect the lights on

            the tree.

            These are silver no hole

            metallic beads which are

            available through many craft

            stores and are usually found

            among the stamping supplies.

To apply the no hole beads

simply take clear fingernail polish and put

a small puddle out on a glass surface. Dip a

toothpick in the fingernail polish and then                        

into a small container of beads. Roll the beads

around in the fingernail polish on the glass

surface and while they’re still wet randomly apply

them to the florals. Set aside to dry.

The end!