Hair!

Hair, the crowning glory... if the hair on your art doll is off, people will notice immediately. Every time I start a project, I find myself looking for new methods to try or improve what I'm already doing. I'm currently working on a pair of Asian art dolls, twins, and I needed really straight and shiny black hair. So far, I've had difficulty making natural fibre super straight so I tried synthetic and that worked really well. But working on synthetic was different from natural fiber so I had to do the rounds of research again to double check that I was using it right. That thought led to this post...  a collection of videos and/or tutorials I've found helpful, which hopefully, you're here because like me, you like to study different methods to finish your projects.

There are a great many materials that can be used for doll hair from synthetic to natural fibers. It's easy to get lost in the choices and, trial and error can be taxing on the budget too. One very useful video I found is from Sugar Charm Shop – she has amazing tutorials on a variety of sculpting subjects but since we're talking about hair, she has a just as amazing overview of the different materials available out there, what's in her collection, where she bought them and what she uses them for: 

Sugar Charm Shop on hair 

I prefer to use natural fiber but I like I mentioned earlier, I recently tried synthetic hair for the Asian dolls and I loved how synthetic hair was shiny and super straight. Before I used it though, found this delightful Youtuber, Dollightful, discussing how to weft, make a wig and style synthetic hair:

Dollightful on wefting synthetic hair, making a wig cap and wig

Wigs are great especially if you're afraid of ruining your doll or if you want to change the hairstyle later on. I ended up following Dollightful's wig tutorial for practice but in the end, I chose to glue the synthetic hair directly on my Asian dolls. 

Another method I found is rooting. The first time I saw this method of inserting hair on raw polymer clay was in an IG post by Michael Zajkov. It's like rooting reborn babies (lots of other samples out there, just linking this random video for easy reference), except using raw polymer clay. Michael Zajkov inserted each strand into unbaked clay in a circular pattern. That's dedication – no wonder his dolls look so gorgeous!

Michael Zajkov's rooting method. 

This is a screenshot, please click this link to go to his original post.

I made a small head and tried this method but boy oh boy, it's a painstaking process! I need a ton of  practice before I can really do it successfully. I also found a reference of this method in Glass Attic. If you go there, click or scroll down to "hair", the site has a lot of tips on different materials and methods, also in using polymer clay to make hair, which I will do in another post. They also have tips on what needles to use if you're trying this rooting method. Glass Attic is a great reference, it's a repository of knowledge from a lot of artists, unfortunately though, when I tried some of their links they led to dead ends. Fairys N My Pond combines the first two methods and roots (or in this case, felts) the wig:

Fairys N My Pond's felting wig process

My preferred method of applying hair to art dolls, is gluing the material directly to the scalp. First, you prepare small batches of hair and glue the ends (the end that goes in the scalp) together in what is called a weft. Once you have enough wefts to fill the head (and make the hair as full as you want), identify the hairline and start gluing each weft on the head, making sure to cover the hairline marks while going around the head in a circular pattern, working your way inwards. 

If I remember correctly, I first saw this method years ago from the MadSculptor, Mark Dennis who sparked my interest in art dolls and who've I've greatly admired since I discovered his work years ago. Mark Dennis does not seem to make wefts though. He glues the cut strands directly to the head. He has a step-by-step in photos in his blog: 

The MadSculptor's blog talking about how to apply hair.

This method is clearly illustrated in the following video (hair work starts around timestamp 3:33) by Celodonia Studio:

                                  

Celedonia Studio sculpting a fairy

April Jensen starts off her hair slightly differently; she puts a couple of wefts/plugs up front first to frame the face. I have yet to try this and I definitely will because it does frame the face so nicely!

April Jensen's hair tutorial

If you like Angora Goat Mohair, Tibetan Lamb Mohair, combination and the like, but you're not sure you want to invest in it or if you want to try the process first without wasting the pricey mohair you just bought, practice first with yarn. Yes, yarn! HeXtian shows us how those long, thick, twisted fibers can be turned into the light and hair-like consistency of mohair. This makes yarn a great option for practice before you break the piggy bank and splurge on pricier materials. On the plus side, this video is great for styling too. HeXtian is like a real-life hair stylist at work. I learned a lot just watching her.

HeXtian using yarn for hair

While in a workshop with Wendy and Toby Froud, I used a full piece of mohair with hide on the art doll I made. The art doll had a monkish hairstyle, starting almost by the ear and going round, leaving the top exposed. The hide worked well for that project but I find that it does not usually work with all, so you do have to experiment and see which fits the bill.

This post and most of what I've learned would not have been possible without all the generous artists who share their own methods – you're absolutely fantastic! Thank you!

I hope you found this post helpful. If you know of a free tutorial or resource for sculpting art dolls, let me know so I can add it to this collection or future posts. Good luck! 

Crafts 101: Recycled Boxes

This beautiful Friday evening we set out on a quest - to create our very own beautifully recycled boxes.

(With the economic crunch, we'd rather not spend on those beautiful yet pricey boxes we can buy at the stores. Plus, we'll be helping save the environment too!)

My little helpers - Tin, Tel, Ice and Kit - all had a goal of their own. Tin wanted a box for her knickknacks, Tel wanted a jewelery box, Ice wanted a box for his photo collection and Kit wanted a dragon, which we'll talk about in a later project.

The only rule is: we can only use whatever we find in the house which we didn't need anymore.


Generally, what you would need for this project are:
1. Boxes - you can use almost any box. For example: tissue box, shoe box, laundry detergent box, boxes of shampoos and soaps, boxes of gadgets and a lot more. Most of these boxes we just throw away anyway but there are some good ones which just need a little prettying up.
2. Paper for the cover - again, you can use almost any paper. Leftover gift wrappers, paper bags, magazines, newspapers, old comics, drawings, photos, etc.
3. Glue or paste - the dry sticky kind is better so that it does not soak through the paper and end up crumpling it.
4. Scissors - if children are doing the project, please make sure adults are with you to supervise.
5. Colors - depending on your design, you may need to color so pencil colors or watercolor may come in handy.

With creative hands at hand, we set to work.

Lavender Delight
1. In this box, we used a Hallmark paper bag which was used to package some postcards we bought recently. Cut the paper bag into strips to make it easier to attach to the box. Here, we kept all the pretty lavender parts and all the white parts. The paper was a thin one, so we needed to apply two layers on the box to hide the original text.

2. We used the white strips from the paper bag as a first layer by spreading glue all over the box. Then we smoothed out the strips over it.

*If your cover is thick enough to hide any original text or design on the box, then one layer is enough.

3. Make sure that a little part of the paper strip overlap on the edges. You can then fold this over to the other side to make the edges look neat and tidy. Let it dry.

4. Once dry, apply another layer of glue or paste. Using the lavender strips, slowly and carefully put it over the glue. Use your palms to smooth over any creases and don't forget to let the strip go over the edge for a nice finish.

*Make sure you do this to all the sides.

Trinket Keeper
1. On a used white folder, we traced these two patterns to create our own box.

*If you want to make your own box, follow this guide: dark pink broken lines are for folding; the blue broken lines are for cutting.

2. After cutting and folding out the pattern, you can design the outer side. You can paste strips of paper on it or as Tel decided, color the box with her favorite colors.

*This is not shown in the photos, but after she finished coloring, Tel lined the inside of the box with cotton from an old jewelery box and sprayed it with cologne to make it smell nice.

Art explosion
1. Ic and Tin decided to cut out colorful pictures from 2004 magazines which they were told to throw away.

2. Put glue at the back of the cut outs.

3. Carefully smooth out the cutouts over your box.

There are many possibilities. It's all up to you to decide.

Hope you have fun like we did!

*You can play around with this by pasting your favorite pictures all over the box. You can choose words which you like as Tin did. You can compose messages using different word cutouts. You can color it or paste flowers, shells or other decorative items on the cover.