she’s got hair

wigcap.jpg

Miss gourd head doll has her hair now. I tried something new, inspired by some info on wig-making at Susan Doyon’s site. I often use wool felt to make a wig cap… Edinburgh Imports carries it in nice hair colors. Usually I make a paper pattern and then use it to cut out the felt. This is what I did this time-

I measured the head- ear to ear across the top of the head and again across the back. This gives 2 measurements- in this case 6″ and 8″. I use these numbers to cut out a rectange- 6″ X 8″.
I wet the wool and squeezed the water out so it was damp, not drippy. I put a plastic bag on the dolls head and upper body. The bags was taped around the dolls neck to keep it from moving. The felt rectangle was placed on the head and the excess was pinched up into 4 darts with the clips. Easier said than done- the plastic bag made the head very slippery and since it is a gourd head, I couldn’t use pins. I ended up using rubberbands, which as you can see in the picture, I anchored in the front with tape.
Then wait for the felt to dry… by the next morning it was ready to go. I carefully cut off the flaps and sewed the darts closed.
This method made for a much better fitting wig cap and cut out one step (the paper pattern). This method also works for lambskin wigs, so I will try that next time I make one.

The yarn hair is sewed onto the wig cap and the wig is glued to the gourd.

And here she is with her new hair… it still needs cutting and fixing, but I’ll wait til she is dressed to do that.

hairon.jpg

—-

she’s got hair

wigcap.jpg

Miss gourd head doll has her hair now. I tried something new, inspired by some info on wig-making at Susan Doyon’s site. I often use wool felt to make a wig cap… Edinburgh Imports carries it in nice hair colors. Usually I make a paper pattern and then use it to cut out the felt. This is what I did this time-

I measured the head- ear to ear across the top of the head and again across the back. This gives 2 measurements- in this case 6″ and 8″. I use these numbers to cut out a rectange- 6″ X 8″.
I wet the wool and squeezed the water out so it was damp, not drippy. I put a plastic bag on the dolls head and upper body. The bags was taped around the dolls neck to keep it from moving. The felt rectangle was placed on the head and the excess was pinched up into 4 darts with the clips. Easier said than done- the plastic bag made the head very slippery and since it is a gourd head, I couldn’t use pins. I ended up using rubberbands, which as you can see in the picture, I anchored in the front with tape.
Then wait for the felt to dry… by the next morning it was ready to go. I carefully cut off the flaps and sewed the darts closed.
This method made for a much better fitting wig cap and cut out one step (the paper pattern). This method also works for lambskin wigs, so I will try that next time I make one.

The yarn hair is sewed onto the wig cap and the wig is glued to the gourd.

And here she is with her new hair… it still needs cutting and fixing, but I’ll wait til she is dressed to do that.

hairon.jpg

—-

working on doll hair

swift.jpg

I rooted around in the attic to find this- an umbrella swift. It dates back to weaving and college days. The strings holding it all together are rotting so they needed to be replaced and then I found that 2 of the slats were missing. I went back up to the attic and found one of the slats. By the time the other one shows up, I will be thinking- hmmm, I remember I was looking for this- now what did I need it for.
Anyway, I have resurrected this because I realized I could use it as a way of winding yarn off a cone and making a large number of threads all the same length… i.e. doll hair!

swift2.jpg

Well, it works well enough even with one slat missing. This is the yarn I bought at Pasa Yarn. I have no idea how much I need but I got tired of winding. Next time I will find a place to set the swift upright.

hair.jpg

Here is Miss gourd head, showing off her soon to be hair. After I wound it out, I tied it off and washed it. It had a grimey and oily feel to it. Much better now. I need to make a wig cap and then cut the yarn. Oh yeah… and make the wig.

Alistair

alistair.jpg

Yesterday I finished Alistair. He is the third member of the trio of dolls from the book- “The Hidden House” by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Angela Barrett. More pictures- here. The album they are in also contains pictures of Archibald who is made from the samr pattern.

The illustrations in the book were one of the first pushes I had toward finally starting my doll-making. Somehow I needed to try to make something like the dolls illustrated in the book.
Here they all are together-

trio.jpg

I took the 3 dolls to Doll Club today. They will be part of a club exhibit of dolls from children’s books at the Littleton Library during the month of May. They will then be packed up and moved to the Chelmsford Library for the months of July and August. I won’t see them again til September! I think this may be traumatic!