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Below is the handout from the Session Modifying Wigs I presented at USITT in 2009. Other handouts and articles are in process of being uploaded. If you are searching for the handout from the Poster Session at USITT 2010, please check back after April 8, 2010, or email heatherfleming@wigsforstage.com
Modifying Wigs - USITT, 2009 Heather K Fleming – Wig and Makeup Designer The purpose of this session is to briefly convey a variety of techniques for modifying an existing wig to better suit the needs of a production. Techniques will be discussed, and where relevant, examples will be shown or demonstrated. Due to the shortness of this session, techniques such as ventilating and hand sewing will not be covered – information is available in a variety of places for both techniques, and this packet will include sources for said information. How to attach a ventilated front to an existing wig (copyright Heather Fleming, 2009) When it is necessary to put a hand-tied, or ventilated, front on an existing wig, one must first remove the front edge of the wig. If the front edge is not removed, the lace piece on which the hairline is ventilated will not lie flat and smooth, and the ventilated hairline will not look natural. Most machine made wigs have a finished front edge that consist s of binding and a row of hair “plugged” into the edge. It is best to use a seam ripper to pick out the stitching on the binding and remove the binding, leaving a raw edge. Many wigs have a metal boning piece inserted at the temples – this can either be removed by ripping the seams of the binding that encases it or by cutting it with wire cutters if there prove to be too many seams to remove. If the boning is cut, then a small piece of twill or bias tape should be used to neatly cover the cut edge and keep it from poking out. Once the entire front edge of the wig is removed, and a raw front is exposed, you are ready to attach the lace front. To do this, take a canvas or wooden headblock of the correct size and shape (if you have a plastic headwrap of the wearer’s head and hairline, it should be on the headblock – if not, use your best estimate and draw on the desired new hairline). Place the raw-edged wig onto the head block, and pin it down at the place where it rests most smoothly on the block – leave at least an inch between the raw edge and the hairline you drew onto the block. Use a marker or pen to draw a line along the raw edge of the wig onto the block. Remove wig from block. Take a piece of twill or seam tape, or silk Galloon, and lay it over the line you drew. Pin it tautly to the headblock. Make sure to use 3/8” or ½”. Take a large piece of wig lace (I prefer De Meo brothers Super Lace for fronts) and lay it over the headblock, covering the hairline (and one or two inches beyond) all the way behind the twill tape. Note, this will make much more sense during the course of the demonstration. The goal is to have a piece of lace that covers the portion of the headblock where you want the ventilated hairline to be. At this point, secure the lace piece, with the straight grain along the center line of the headblock, at two points. Then, working from the center out, smoothly pin the lace along the hairline. You will need to take darts to fit the lace piece over the curved shape of the headblock – be sure the darts are BEHIND the hairline, and are small and evenly distributed. Use pins to secure them, and to secure the lace piece to the block. Once the lace piece is laid smoothly over the block and secured with pins, sew the wig to the piece of lace, sandwiching the delicate lace between the twill/bias tape and wig to help support it. T hen use invisible thread to sew the darts down, and begin tying the hair into the lace.
Putting a Bald Spot or Part into a Wig (copyright Heather Fleming, 2009)
There are a variety of methods to accomplish this technique. The one I am demonstrating today is what I feel to be the simplest, and should be used for creating a balding spot on the t op or back of the wig. To begin, you will need a canvas or wooden headblock (if you have a plastic tracing of the wear’s hairline and head, it should be on the block – if you do not have a plastic tracing, choose a block of the appropriate size and draw the bald spot onto the block where desired. You will want to err slightly to the side of a larger spot, since you will be covering part of it with hair. Once your “bald shape” is drawn onto your headblock, take a piece of silk organza (preferably dyed to some type of appropriate scalp color) and lay it over the spot with the straight of grain running along the center line on the headblock. Pin the silk in place at the top and bottom edge of the spot, keeping the grain straight. Then stretch the silk out in a circle from the center of the bald spot, keeping the silk taunt, but not puckered or strained. You should end up with an evenly disbursed, flat circle of silk. Lay a piece of wig lace over the silk, again keeping the straight of grain parallel to the center line of the headblock. At this point, you will need to lay the wig you are “balding” on the head block so you can line up the area your are “balding”. For the purposes of this demonstration, we will deal with a wefted wig. Place the wig onto the block, making sure it sits correctly on the block ( again, easier to see in the demonstration). You will be able to peek through the wefting to see the bald patch. Pin the wig to the head block, and pin the wig down around the bald spot. You will take a seam ripper and begin loosening the wefting that is over the bald spot, eventually picking out the stitches to reveal the bald spot. At this point, you will have a good deal of loose wefting ends sticking out – begin carefully securing them down to the outer edges of the bald spot, allowing the excess ends of wefting to stick up (again, this is difficult to explain on paper, and will be apparent in the demonstration). Once all loose wefting is secured, you will cut and reattach the elastic ribs that run through the wig in the same manner. At this point, you can clip off the excess wefting because the pieces are all secured on the bald pate. For the next step, simply ventilate a shallow row of hairs around the edges of the bald pate to cover the wefting. Putting in a part Like the bald spot, you want to start with a headblock of the correct size and shape, preferably with the plastic headwrap of the wearer on the block. You should draw in the place you want the new part to go, and the direction the hair on either side of the part should go. Pin down a piece of silk organza, and then a piece of lace. Pin these to the head block, leaving at least two inches extra on each side. At this point, you will place the wig onto the block and pin it down securely. Locate the section where you have laid down the lace/silk for the part, and begin removing the necessary wefting. You will either need to cut the wefting and then tack down the loose edges on either side of the part, or remove the pieces of wefting entirely, to expose the silk for the part. Once you have sewn the edges of wefting to the silk/lace and have the gap expose for the part to go, you can cut away the loose ends of wefting. Then it is simply a matter of ventilating in some hair to cover the edges of the wefting and you will have a new part in the wig. Methods for coloring wigs – Heather Fleming (Copyright, 2009) 1 – Acetate nylon dye will work for human hair wefting and wigs. You must be sure not to let the wig or hair touch the hot sides of the pan. It works best when the water is hot but not quite boiling. I like to start with a weak dye bath, and let the hair gradually soak up color, stirring all the while. Depending on how long it takes, you may need to reduce the heat to keep the dye bath from boiling. After the hair has been dyed and rinsed, it is a good idea to condition it with basic hair conditioner, and then comb it out gently. This color method is semi-permanent. 2 – sharpie – As scary as it sounds, a simple Sharpie will allow a variety of color effects in both human and synthetic wigs. You can use markers to add highlights, low lights, silver or white streaks, other streaks of color, or effects like dark roots. In some instances, using a slightly darker Sharpie around the hairline and roots can give a very subtle dimension to a wig – the is especially effective with blonde wigs. This color method is semi-permanent. 3- makeup (short term) – For a quick fix, you can color small parts of a wig with crème makeup. This is most useful for adding roots or dulling a wig that is too shiny, or adding a dirt or grime effect. It is obviously not a long term color solution and will need to be sprayed with a sealer to hold it on and retouched as needed. Removing and reinserting wefting – Heather Fleming (Copyright, 2009) You can change the direction a part or section to better suit the style you need. To begin, determine where you want the new part or the hair to lie. Comb it in that direction and see where the problems are with how the hair is laying. At this point, you will be able to see which direction the wefting has been sewn in, and can figure out where to remove it to change that. If you are trying for a side part, and the wefting is sewn across the top going backwards, you may need to remove all of the wefting on the top of the wig and then sew it back on facing the direction of the part. Though this may take some time, it is basic hand sewing and once the wefting has been marked for removal, it can be done by a lab student or intern with a seam ripper. Likewise, once it has been removed, and the new direction chosen, it is easy for someone to pin the wefting in place (it works best to sew wefting on if the wig is blocked onto a headblock) and stitch it down to the wig structure. Removing and re-inserting the wefting to help the hair lay more naturally can go a long way towards making a stock wig into the wig of your dreams. This is also a good opportunity to put back less wefting or add more wefting, thus thinning out the wig if desired, or adding fullness. You can also add length or texture to a wig by sewing in longer wefting. This works best if you use wefting close in color to the wig, and if you are not trying to take a dramatically short wig and make it a long, flowing wig. If you are going to add wefting for length, you will need to start around the middle-back of the wig, at the point that the wefting is hanging straight across. Simply start at the top and layer in longer pieces. You will want to put in enough rows of longer wefting that the longer layers blend into the shorter layers, rather than simply stick choppily out of the wig (unless this is the look you are going for) To add a new texture, use wefting that is similar in color to the wig, but curly, wavy, etc. It will be most effective to use a texture only slightly different from the wig. For example, you may have a long straight wig that needs a little body. To achieve this, you could sew in row of a slightly wavy or loosely curled wefting, again making certain that the new wefting was spaced evenly throughout most of the wig. This would give the entire wig just a little more texture and style, without looking as though it had been rolled or styled. A Note on Cutting Wigs In the Costume Technicians Handbook, Rosemary Ingham and Liz Covey make the excellent observation that once you cut a wig, it will not grow back. Sadly, this remains true, so be careful when choosing to cut a wig. If you must cut a wig, it is best to, it is best to do so on the actor, with the wig properly secured on their head. If you are cutting synthetic wigs, do not use “good” scissors, as synthetic fibers will dull them. If you are cutting human hair, use the best scissors you have, preferably those intended for cutting hair. For a simple trim of the bangs go slowly, and cut at a slight angle, unless you desire blunt cut bangs. You should use a comb to hold the bangs securely against the forehead while you establish how much needs to be cut – once you have that, simply snip carefully across the bangs. It is best to take a little off at a time. If you are taking a little length off the back of the wig, secure the wig onto the actor and have the actor sit up straight with their legs uncrossed. Start in the center of their back, and work your way slowly around. Again it is best to cut the ends at a slight angle unless you desire a blunt edge. This is especially true with a new, thick wig where the bottom edge of the wig hair will be much thicker than a person’s own hair would be. In the case of an extremely thick wig, you will need to put it on the actor, secure to their head, and then section the wig into two layers, doing the bottom first – if you do not section the hair into two layers, you will have difficulty making a clean cut through the thick mass of hair. Many stock wigs develop ragged ends, particularly synthetic wigs. If this is the case, and the wig is going to be dressed down with the ends showing, the best course of action is to put the wig on the actor, have the actor sit up straight with their legs uncrossed, and carefully cut off the bottom, frayed edge of the wig. In this instance, the hair will probably be uneven in length and thickness, so you need to determine how much of the damaged length must be cut away, and then work from that point around the bottom edge of the wig.
Sources For basic ventilation instruction, there is no better book than the Richard Corson’s Stage Makeup, any edition. Corson provides a step by step picture guide to learning the craft of knot tying For basic hand sewing instruction, The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Rosemary Ingham and Liz Covey has detailed, easy to follow instructions for a variety of hand stitches and techniques. |
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