BJD's wig making & first face up

 Hi guys!

I've been getting into BJDs a lot recently and I also ordered my very first BJD too! :D It's not Limhwa Half Elf but totally different brand, although more human like too :) I won't say which one, I'll leave it as a surprise for you.

I also finally received my nylon hair order from Dollyhair and I was able to make my first doll's wig :) I would like to show you the whole process if you're interested in BJDs and wig making :D I've used this tutorial which I found on Internet. So first you have to wrap tightly your BJD in cling foil. I've used two layers, just to be sure that the glue won't go through onto the head.

 Then you take old pair of tights, the best one in natural skin colour, but you can use any colour you have :) You won't see it after you finish anyway.
Secure it with elastic band or just tie a piece of string around doll's neck. be sure that it won't slip off while you're gluing the hair.
I also draw the hair line to see where the hair should end. I used normal black pen.
The person that wrote the other tutorial, has used epoxy glue. I don't really like it, because it dries too quickly and I haven't got much time to apply hair strands slowly and precisely. Therefore I've used other glue, Evo-stick, serious glue. It was sticky enough and it dried quite quickly. I was considering Tacky glue but it didn't dry quick enough for me. I needed a glue that would dry clear in about five minutes.



First I started applying hair strands from the bottom. I was taking thin strands. First I was applying bit of glue on the head, then hair, a bit of glue again, and then using toothpick,  gently rolling it onto the surface. This way hair was covered in glue thoroughly and it kind of smoothed and "spread" itself on the surface. Remember to hold the hair strand with your other  hand, just underneath where you're applying glue. It gets really sticky :)

 

 After I finish first layer and it dried completely, I started applying next ones. I didn't apply it just above, I left a bit of space between them.



I also drew lines on the top of the head, to know in which direction hair should be situated.







I think I applied four or five layers of hair strands until I got to the top. And this is the trickiest part of the whole process. As you can see on the photo below, the top of the head doesn't look nice. It has little "nest" of dried glue (i don't know if you can see it clearly). I wasn't shure how to finish it and then i got the brilliant idea :) After the wig had dried completely, I took a need le tool and poked a hole in the middle of that nasty "nest". I took piece of wire (that was the only thing I had :), made a loop at the end and attached thicker strand of hair to it. Kind of like needle with the hole and hair in it :) I used this wire to pull the hair through the hole in the wig. Then I glued hair inside of the wig and cut the excess after it dried. I also applied a bit more glue too, to be sure that hair won't come out when pulled.

 

I haven't got any photos of this last process because my camera decided to die on me :(

The last problem I had to resolve was these hair on the top of the head. They looked a bit like a palm tree :D So i had to figure out how to keep them nicely flat on the top. I tried to wrap piece of thighs on the head for a night but it didn't work. But then I thought of more dangerous way of keeping them in place... iron! :D yeah it did work! You have to set up your iron on very low temperature so you won't melt the hair (I think it melts easily). Use tip of the iron and gently press on the top of the head. Being honest I melted a bit of her hair but you can't see it that much. I learn on my mistakes :D

Here is photo how she looked like when I finished.  I didn't bother with hair lenght because I knew that I will cut it and style it after. It's just easier  to work with longer hair that shorter.

After everything has dried, I took it all of her head and cut the excess with small scissors. I had to be careful not to cut any hair off :D

Then was the nicest part of everything, cutting and styling! I don't know anything about hair styling nor I have any hairdressing abilities :) i did my best and so you can see how she looks on the photos below.  I've also made her a make up because I've finally got my Mr Super Clear :) I know that she doesn't look perfect. It's just my practise head, as I'm still waiting for my new heads from Miniwoo. Looking at her I can tell that I made her eye holes too big or maybe I should use 8mm eyeballs instead of 6mm.  

Btw the styling of the nylon hair is pretty easy :) You just make it wet in room temperature water, use hair curs and then let the hair dry. I was a bit impatient and I used hair dryer on the lowest setting. I was also a bit silly too :D I don't have any hair curlers so I used the closest shape item I had: hot glue sticks! Thank God I noticed in time what a mistake i made using them, before they melted while I was drying hair with hair dryer! :D Silly Mini Mo! ^__^

I think that her face up looks a bit dirty. I had problems with applying pastels on her face. I don't think it's easy to do it on the vinyl head. Pastels don't stay easily on soft plastic :( and I didn't have any paint thinner to use acrylics). I also added eyelashes.  I can't say that I like this final look, but it's the best I can do for now :) I can't wait when I get my proper BJD made from resin and I will be able to make proper face up! It's just so hard to do it on such a small head made from vinyl :(

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this rather long and clay-sweets-not-related post! :D 

Thank you for stopping by!