Whew, but progress!
20 November 2015 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nuranarI'm finally sitting down for the first time in about 5 hours.
After a bunch of errands this morning, I got back to work on the wig. On Wednesday I brushed it out in sections and built the pouf, but all the rest of the hair was down. I did a bunch of experimenting with long ringlets, including pinning them up like buckles.* I also experimented with a straight chignon** and with both a small braid and big braid, and various ringlets.
I've reach some conclusions about the Lioness. There is a LOT of hair. That is excellent, because I don't have to bother with sewing in extra hair. (Besides, weaving hair isn't available in my gold-red-brown color.) It also has a LOT of texture, being effectively in a tight S-waves. So it makes and holds wonderful ringlets and rolls with a minimum of hairspray, and really doesn't need teasing to cover a form. But these good things have drawbacks. With all this hair and texture, a regular looped-up chignon is like a massive growth at the back of the head. A thinner looped-up chignon means finding something to do with the rest of the hair and length at the back. Also, the texture means that nice smooth poufs and loops don't look right. The cut is shorter in front, too, so it would not cover an extra-tall form.
What I ended up with is a braided chignon, using most of the back hair so it's big and thick and luxurious. I do like it! I also left out some long sections just behind the ears. I would like some shortish hanging ringlets, so that's available to pin into position and then curl.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in a buckle factory. I used an entire package of braid hair and have 7 small buckles, 6 medium, and 4 large. That ought to give me lots of options! I'll play with that tomorrow morning.
Now I need to get the mitts wearable. The thumbs are in, but the side seams are still open.
* I use these terms fromdemode's book on 18th Century Hairstyling. A "buckle" is the English word for the sausage-shaped curls that are pinned to the sides and back of the hair. They're often totally separate and just pinned into place. "Buckle" is from the French "boucle," meaning "curl."
** The chignon is the treatment of the hair at the back nape of the neck. In the 1770s-80s it's often fairly long and pulled up toward the crown of the head; it can be looped tightly or loosely, and straight, twisted, or braided.
After a bunch of errands this morning, I got back to work on the wig. On Wednesday I brushed it out in sections and built the pouf, but all the rest of the hair was down. I did a bunch of experimenting with long ringlets, including pinning them up like buckles.* I also experimented with a straight chignon** and with both a small braid and big braid, and various ringlets.
I've reach some conclusions about the Lioness. There is a LOT of hair. That is excellent, because I don't have to bother with sewing in extra hair. (Besides, weaving hair isn't available in my gold-red-brown color.) It also has a LOT of texture, being effectively in a tight S-waves. So it makes and holds wonderful ringlets and rolls with a minimum of hairspray, and really doesn't need teasing to cover a form. But these good things have drawbacks. With all this hair and texture, a regular looped-up chignon is like a massive growth at the back of the head. A thinner looped-up chignon means finding something to do with the rest of the hair and length at the back. Also, the texture means that nice smooth poufs and loops don't look right. The cut is shorter in front, too, so it would not cover an extra-tall form.
What I ended up with is a braided chignon, using most of the back hair so it's big and thick and luxurious. I do like it! I also left out some long sections just behind the ears. I would like some shortish hanging ringlets, so that's available to pin into position and then curl.
I spent the rest of the afternoon in a buckle factory. I used an entire package of braid hair and have 7 small buckles, 6 medium, and 4 large. That ought to give me lots of options! I'll play with that tomorrow morning.
Now I need to get the mitts wearable. The thumbs are in, but the side seams are still open.
* I use these terms from
demode's book on 18th Century Hairstyling. A "buckle" is the English word for the sausage-shaped curls that are pinned to the sides and back of the hair. They're often totally separate and just pinned into place. "Buckle" is from the French "boucle," meaning "curl."** The chignon is the treatment of the hair at the back nape of the neck. In the 1770s-80s it's often fairly long and pulled up toward the crown of the head; it can be looped tightly or loosely, and straight, twisted, or braided.