"Hair for your dummy"

I have been asked a million times "Where do you get the hair for your figures? They make them like that?"

The answer is everywhere and no. To be a figure maker you must have alot of other talents. You must have mechanical aptitude, carpentry skills, painting and sculpting skills, a great imagination and yes, you must also be a Barber.

I buy wigs from doll manufacturers, good will, ebay, close out stores... just about anywhere I see one that I like. I then match it up to the figure I am going to wig. You've got to cut the wig to fit which involves placing it on the figures head and slitting and cutting out sections until you have the basic shape you need.

Then using a good glue ( I use hotmelt) run a bead around the forehead line. Place the wig on the forehead line and then start working your way around the rest of the head.

I always look at the way the wig lies on the head to determine f I need the head to be higher. In paperman's case, I built up under the wig with batting that I attach to his head. It gives it a nicer shape and a better contour appearance.

Once the wig is in place, your barber talents come in to play. Any of you who have children have all cut hair at one time or another so you have the basic skills. Just remember that a wig is a complex of hair wefts and doesn't come out of the wig like human hair. If you cut too much, you will see the matrix.

Trim around the ears and neck line and shape his bangs by cutting on an angle . The long side should be where you part the hair and the short side on the other side as you see in the picture. You can thin hair by running the scissor up into the wig and snipping here and there (small snips. By running it up under the wig, you won't really see where it was cut.

Once your finished, use an acrylic sealer as hair spray. It works great! it can be combed out later on but the hair keeps the look you gave it. Here is paperman with his new do. Hope everyone had a great holiday. I'll be putting more vent figure on ebay this weekend. As always, anything I can help you with, email me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com Happy Venting!