Lessons in doll wigmaking

Tags

ball, BJD, doll, dollmaking, ginger, glue, hair, jointed, nylon, redhead, wig, wigmaking, wool

As humans are mammals, hair is usually present.  I wanted Aria, my little ball jointed doll, to have vibrant red hair, and I started by attempting to make a nylon wig.  Several hours later, I had finished watching the entire Back to the Future trilogy, my floor was covered in orange spider’s silk, my fingers were sticky with glue, and I had a shabby, unnatural, “If Mattel made a Cousin Itt Barbie” wig.  To maintain some sense of pride, I’m not showing those photos.

Still, the process taught me some things, and one of them was to try a different type of hair.  I opted for Tibetan lambswool because I wanted a natural fiber and had seen some beautiful little dolls with curly woolen locks.  In Tibet the sheep are used for meat and the wool is a byproduct that is then dyed and sold.  I chose one I thought matched Aria’s eyebrows and the overall color I had in mind, and a couple of days later I had a nice square of wool in my mailbox.

This fiber is so fluffy and amazingly soft.  Holding it in your hands is like holding a piece of fresh bubble wrap, because it’s hard not to mess with it.  If you’ve ever held a hamster, it feels very similar.  I buried Aria in there to get an idea of what she would look like with hair before starting.

I needed a removable wig for access to the back of the doll’s head if I ever had to restring her.  I made a wig cap by first covering Aria’s head and body in plastic wrap (which gives one an odd feeling of malevolence).  I then painted on a layer of wood glue and pressed down thin strips of silk to make a close-fitting hat about the thickness of a fingernail, resembling a 1920’s bathing cap.

I had tested several glues in making the first wig, but settled on wood glue because it

1. Dries hard and translucent
2. It is nearly odorless, non-toxic, and easy to handle
3. It is very strong and made to adhere to natural fibers
4. It does not stick to plastic wrap

I cut the cap to shape and started working with the wool.  The best thing I could come up to keep the curls together was to stick them between two pieces of painter’s tape over some wax paper.  The tape kept things in place long enough for me to paint on the wood glue and snip off what I wanted once dry.  I worked my way up the head and eventually Aria had lots of wild hair.

Granted she looks like a Treasure Troll, but I am not cutting or styling it until I have the costume finished.

Speaking of which, I have the fabrics picked out and sewing will commence shortly :-).

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My first faceup

Tags

ball jointed doll, BJD, doll, faceup, freckles, ginger, OOAK, pastel, polymer clay, redhead, sealant, watercolor

First, my apologies to everyone who reads this blog for the lack of posts.  Between traveling and new commissions over the past week, I haven’t been around the computer much.  But I can fix that!

Pastel dust and brushes in hand, it was time for Aria’s faceup.  A “faceup” is the term the doll-making community uses to refer to the makeup, shading, and details added to a doll’s otherwise blank face and body.  Some people make good money doing faceups, with a steady hand and an eye for color.  Here’s Aria before the party started:

Having decided she would be a redhead, I went crazy dotting freckles with watercolor pencils.  I was a little heavy-handed on the blush, partly to hide the lint and such that had worked its way into the clay when it was soft, and to give her the look of a pale-skinned ginger child that had spent a lot of time running around in the sun.  I resorted to acrylic paint for the eyelashes and eyebrows when the pastels and pencil didn’t stick well enough.  Though I started to enter the realm of “too many layers” and could have done things differently, I am generally pleased with Aria’s character.  She looks a little more blemished and real than a perfectly symmetrical molded doll.

I had to keep up with the freckles for the rest of the body to make it more realistic *tiny internal screams from so much stippling* and tried to imagine where people usually get sunburned.  Shins, shoulders, feet, and hands all got a liberal dabbling with colored pencil and pastels.

I did a lot of research into sealing the doll, because many of the traditional spray-on products for BJDs actually react with polymer clay, causing the pieces to become sticky and discolored.  No es bueno.  I settled on PYM II, a protective spray originally for scrapbooking, but also labeled for polymer clay.  PYM II dries in a couple of minutes, is odorless after a couple of hours, and has a fairly matte finish when applied lightly (I just overdid it on the face).  I realized that to save on time and sealant, I needed to spray in batches, and I spared no expense in my supports made of toothpicks and extra clay.

Eventually, all of the pieces were blushed and sealed and Aria was ready for restringing and installing the eyes.  She’s getting there!  I still haven’t decided on her clothes, but it will come to me.

Next time, wigmaking!