Claire Golby
Level 5
Dramatic Contexts
Re-fronting a Wig
My Attempt
Caring for Wigs
- Wigs tend to last about a year
- You should only ever apply clean postiche; all glue, makeup and perspiration should be removed
- Do not use oil based products to clean the hair, as you don't want the hair to look greasy
- Acetone or IPA can be used to clean the lace, but acetone will dissolve synthetic hair.
- Acetone can be applied with cotton wool wrapped in muslin or tights and with acetone resistant gloves.
- This should be dont in a well ventilated area
- Wig Making and Styling recommends putting a wig back on a block for cleaning purposes. Using a towel under the lace, take acetone or IPA on a small brush (or a toothbrush) and gently work the bristles through the lace to dissolve the spirit gum.
- If the wig is damp with sweat, turn it inside out and leave it to air out, or if necessary, use a hairdrier. If it starts to get smelly, mist the inside with alcohol (or mint-scented alcohol).
- For cleaning facial postiche, place the piece face-up on a towel and use a brush with IPA or acetone to push the spirit gum onto the towel. If there is too much to remove this way, then soak the piece in a bowl and then wash with shampoo and restyle afterwards.
- When not in use, postiche pieces should be pinned to a block
Ruska, M and Lowery, A. (2010) Wig Making and Styling. England: Focal Press. page 202
Ruska, M and Lowery, A. (2010) Wig Making and Styling. England: Focal Press. page 202
Re-fronting a Synthetic Wig
- The first step is to trace your model's hairline onto a block (over clingfilm) and then draw in the new hairline you want to create. The sellotape over this, or the pen can transfer onto the lace.
- Once this is done you can pad it out with tissue (if necessary) so that the wig will fit your model's head properly
- Block the front lace to the front of the block so that it lies as flat as possible to the new hairline. Use pomits for a wooden block or pins for a malleable block. Start at the centre front and ensure that the hairline and 2cm either side of the hairline is completely flat.
- There must be NO DARTS on the front hairline, only behind it. Points/pins should be placed no less than 4cm either side of the hairline. If they are positioned too close to the hairline they could stretch or rip the lace.
- Fold and pin any darts behind the hairline. These should all fold downwards towards the ears.
- Any excess lace, in front of the lace front edge, can be loosely folded and pinned flat out of the way but should NOT be cut.
- Position the wig over the lace, roughly ear to ear, further forward if possible but it must remain at least 3cms behind the marked hairline.
- Run a tacking line of thread through the lace following the hairline exactly from ear to ear. This transfers the hairline onto the lace.
- Using a black or brown eye pencil, draw a line onto the lace just infront of the wig edge or alternatively place a row of pins accross the block infront of the wig edge to mark where the wig will sit when in position.
- Remove the wig from the block and whip the darts
- Reposition the wig in the same place on the block and excessively pin the lace and wig togetherfrom ear to ear where the two materials overlap.
- Remove from the block, ensuring that the lace and wig remain pinned together.
- Turn the wig inside out, pin to a block, and sew a double seam fromear to ear thus securing the lace to the wig.
- Cut away the excess lace from the inside of the wig. DO NOT cut the front lace.
- Re-block the wig the right way around and knot the lace according to requirement and specifitcation
Knotting a Wig
- Obviously only the front of the wig has to be considered in terms of knotting
- The majority of it should be bulk knotting (about 3 hairs) up until 2cm before the hairline, where it should be single knotted and diffuse out sporadically
- Most wigs are made up of about 4 different colours of hair to break it up and provide a natural variation of tones
- The photo demonstrates the direction hair typically falls and should be knotted, unless the hair is going to be styled in a particular way which requires the hair to fall a specific way
- As I understand it, typically commercial and synthetic wigs are the ones that get re-fronted and are often not the best quality and are therefore not used for film purposes.
Quick Front: A step-by-step example
After reading up on the subject of front wigs, I came accross another method of doing it. This is called the 'quick front' method, and I assume would only be done in situations where a wig is needed very quickly and therefore not much time can be taken over it.
" - The hairline is traced by punching holes into a layer of masking tape
- The commercial wig is placed directly over the lace and secured to the block.
- Sew the commercial wig to the fronting lace using a short diagonal stitch. Keep stitches short and make sure that each stitch catches both the foudation fabric of the commercial wig as well as the fronting lace. Some people prefer to use a strong straight needle, thimble and finger gaurd; others prefer to use a curved needle and pliers.
- Ventilate very densley close to the commercial wig hairline. Make the knots with atleast 3 hairs. This will help create an area that has hair density similar to the commercial wig. Then gradually decrease to single hairs and wider spacing at the front edge of the hairline." Ruskai, M and Lowery, A. (2010) Wig Making and Styling. England: Focal Press. page 74 and 75
Personally, I don't find this explanation coherant enough to understand. Like which hairline is punched into the masking tape at the start? And I'dve thought drawing in hairlines would be a lot easier than trying to see tiny holes in masking tape. I assume this method is for people who are very exoerienced with wig making, but I find the method I've been taught a lot easier to understand.
Ruskai, M and Lowery, A. (2010) Wig Making and Styling. England: Focal Press. page 74
Ruskai, M and Lowery, A. (2010) Wig Making and Styling. England: Focal Press. page 74
(We used tutu lace to practise, as fronting lace is very thin and delicate to work with, so this was easier to use for a first time practise)
I found this process very complex initially. Obviously we couldn't practise the whole process, as we were using university wigs, so we only got up to whipping the darts. Because there are so many parts to the process, I find it very difficult to remember them all, particularly in order. Keeping in mind things like how to lace falls to influence the direction of knotting is also a concern. I think the whipping and knotting is the easiest part of this process, and that ensuring the fits and how the lace falls (the more technical aspects) are the more challenging and more important.