Adventures In Wig Making

I'm learning how to make wigs and wig caps by following YouTube tutorials and blog posts. I just did a search for "how to make doll wigs" in Google and YouTube. Then I got excited and ran screaming all the way to my local beauty supply store. 

I live in the 'hood so there are two hair supply stores in walking distance cause the sisters MUST keep their weaves on fleek at all times. 

This is the catastrophe I've created so far. These are the wig caps. 

I covered the Moxie Teenz wig stands with empty bread bags (it's important to recycle ;-)) so the wig cap wouldn't stick to the wig stand. I then took an old black t-shirt and put that over the plastic and used rubber bands to hold it down. I put a thick layer of Mod Podge over that, let dry overnight. 

After removing the t-shirt from the wig stand I cut it down to size to fit the dolls head. I'm demonstrating on a Liv doll. 

It's hard to see in this photo but I have to fold the cap in the back and glue down with hot glue (any kind of glue works, really, just takes longer to dry) to get a better fit. 

The wig caps don't have to look neat because none of this is going to show. 

Brace yourself for the photo of my first wigs. 

The third one from the left I call "schizophrenic auntie who escaped mental ward and now lives on the streets". It's a disaster but it's the only one that fits the doll's head perfectly so I'm reluctant to throw it away. The red & black one makes my J-Doll look like Dracula's wife or Frankenstein's daughter. It's being held on her head with Velcro that's glued to her head and then another piece of Velcro is glued inside the wig. If anyone has any suggestions on the best way to get a good fit for a J-Doll or any doll please leave them in the comments.

The first and third wigs from the left I made a long time ago by crocheting a wig cap and sewing the hair directly to the cap. I hated that method and probably won't do it again. I glued the wigs to the new wig caps. 

Since I'm a beginner I only bought cheap hair. I also don't know how long these wigs are going to last. 

This is J-Doll Piazza Cavelli. I'm shocked that I didn't destroy this doll in the process of making wigs for her. I nearly went insane. I did end up breaking her stand. 

This is her original wig. It's disgusting. The quality is abysmal. So the wig had to go. I soaked her head in water and dishwashing liquid for about an hour. Then as gently as I could (I cannot stress this enough; these dolls are fragile) I took my time lifting the wig away from the doll's scalp, starting at the forehead, with my fingers. I didn't have any problems getting the wig off and I didn't destroy the doll in the process. 

I made the doll cap directly on the doll. I made sure to cover her in plastic first. This wig cap doesn't fit her head at all. As the glue dried it kept expanding. I made two braids on both sides of the wig then pulled them around to the back. They are being held back there by a rubberband to cover the huge gaps. 

For the black and red wig, I glued the hair to the wig cap with a hot glue gun. 

This hair is a better quality but was an absolute nightmare to deal with. This hair hates glue of all kinds. I used Mod Podge and tacky glue. The hair slid all over the place and wouldn't stay where I put it. In frustration I dumped a huge amount of tacky glue all over the top just to get some hair to stick somewhere. That dark patch on the top of the wig is all that glue. There's also a huge patch in the back where the glue slid off the head and down the back and dried there. It just looks awful so I didn't bother taking a picture of it. 

I tried to cut bangs. Didn't work out too well. I don't know how to style hair at all. All of my wigs are a work in progress. 

I finished this wig last night. Still not sure how I want to style it so I just cut it. It's being held on the Liv doll's head with a sewing pin. The wig cap was painted red with acrylic craft paint to blend with the hair. I glued the hair to the cap with all purpose tacky glue and let it dry over night. I comb the wigs with a wide tooth comb to get rid of all the strays. 

I glued the hair on this one using Mod Podge. The wig is pinned to her head with two sewing pins. The colorful mini clips were bought from the hair supply store. 

You can see the dark patch of dried quick drying tacky glue on top. This is the only wig that stays on by itself. Have no idea why. 

This is Liv doll, Daniella. I made her belt from one of those necklaces that has a clip on it to hold keys or a cell phone around your neck. I got it from the dollar store. 

There's a lot of hair on this wig. I adore this color. 

 

As you can see, I didn't paint the wig cap pink like I should have. I forgot. I don't know how to fix that and I'm just too tired to care at this point. I'm still pleased at the way the wig turned out. I used tacky glue for this one, too. Which reminds me: I need to buy more tacky glue. 

I haven't decided how I want to style this one, either. 

I'm having so much fun making wigs for my dolls. These wigs fit Liv, Moxie Teenz, Bratz, Bratzillaz and Monster High dolls. 

I wish I knew how to style hair or had some kind of training. I'll definitely make more wigs. A lot more in all sorts of colors. 

Robotica