A Very Hairy Experience...

Here is my step by step experiment on 'rooting' a cap! I have to say that with the Welsh wool I used it was easy to create this effect

I got the idea from a Pullip Japanese magazine, though it's not too informative and I can't read Japanese :-O It uses wefts of hair sewen onto a strip. I will look for these in future or try to sew my own! Please note I didn't put wool in all the holes, just 3/4 of the front of the cap and sides as I had too many holes and my wool was too thick!

I start off with cutting lengths of Welsh wool and a needle threader (though some fine wire looped and twisted would work well too)

You can see the underneath of the cap, I have been pulling yarn though and then knotting the end to keep it in place. I didn't do it but if I was doing again, I would snip off the end of the yarn so it doesn't get too full. When all is done, a little glue could be applied to the underneath to keep it all in place.

I pulled the threader in from under the cap

So the loop came through the top. I would then slide the yarn into the loop
and gently pull the yarn to the underside of the cap

I then tie a knot and pull the yarn from the top end so the knot is against the skull cap

Then ta daaaa! It's a wigged cap

This is just a simple first step version. I've never done any sort of root work before but I think for Makie dolls this came out great.

Some more experimentation to come!

Drilled Skull Plate for Makie Doll Tutorial Part DEUX

I finished this last night so this is part two of the Tutorial of preparing the wig cap for making a Rooted Makie Wig. I forgot to Mention before that you can purchase extra skull plate direct from the Makie shop for £9.

I decided with the yarn I plan on using that I needed a bigger hole than what I originally started with. I also found that by using a 2mm drill bit, it was a bit more sturdy and I didn't break any bits!. So as an amendment I would recommend trying as much as possible to use the hole punch to start the holes and then use the drill to re-drill them to make it bigger. Being a curved surface it is much better to have prestarted hole to drill the bit onto.

So... I re-drilled ALL the holes to 2mm

New Drill bits- so I drill again!

As you can see underneath there were some holes with little scraggly bits hanging out. I just wanted to tidy them up a bit (being pedantic and all)

I don't like the scraggly bits!

So I got a craft knife out and cut to my best ability as many of the nibbly bits off.

Careful not to cut yourself

I wanted a smooth surface on the top because I didn't want the 'hair' snagging at all so a light sanding over did the job. I used a fine grit sandpaper.

A fine gril, about - I used P180

To smooth the holes, I used a rotary tool round filing bit on the holes that still had a few rough bits. A 2mm round jewelers file will do the job too but I just didn't have one and improvised.

The start of a pin head?

So this is the finished product, I am quite pleased with the results!

Where a hole in the head is good!

This is the finished wig I made with the skull cap, but I will put up a full tutorial on how to make that :)

Lovely 100% Welsh Wool