Up-Dos with extra support There are some types of up-dos that are better not done with stubbing only - they require some extra support, or the leverage of the hairstyle will pull the ponytail or the complete wig back. It doesn t only look less nice, it can also be uncomfortable if the wig is pulling back. Here are some hairstyles matching the ones I m talking about. You can see what I mean - The updo is so heavy, especially in Tsubakis (1st picture) or Jun-Juns (3rd picture) case, that it s hard to make it stand up without anything underneath. Also in Korras (2nd picture) case the wig benefits from a support. you need I m going to show you the process on Jun-Jun, since she doesn t only have a ponytail, but those three wire-thingies standing up, so that you can see how to prepare extras like that as well (they are also helpful in chinese styles like the ones used in Fushigi Yuuigi or xxxholic). polystyrene/sintra board (or thermoplastics such as Worbla/Wonderflex) rivets a large screw tape glue rubberbands or rubber yarn additional wefts make things easier your wigstyling essentials (comb, scissors, hairspray) your crafting essentials (scissors, cutter)
Create a harness To create the harness, I m going to use polystyrene foamboard/sintra. You can also use Worblas finest Art, or Wonderflex (though I recomment sandwiching foam into them or using multiple layers. Before I m going to style the wig, I m creating a sort of harness underneath. You might know similar things from attaching bunny-ears to your wigs using headbands. 1. Measure your head from ear to ear, just like you re creating a headband. I m demonstrating this on a wighead, but you should do it on your own head. For example my head is a lot bigger than the normal wig heads. 3. Your measurements tell you how Cut out two straps of your chosen material, around 3-4 cm (1.2 in) wide. long they have to be. Make the edges nice and round, so that you won t hurt yourself. 2. Now measure around the back of your head, this is going to be the lower base for your harness. Drill holes into the ends. This is where the straps are going to be jointed. 4. You don t have to use a drilling machine, in thermoplastics a normal hole-puncher or an awl will do. Only if you use very stiff material like aluminium a drilling machine will come in handy.
4. In the next step, the straps are going to be shaped. You can easily do that using a heat gun. Heat up your material until it gets soft, bend it around your head and let it cool down. This works with thermoplastics as well as with polystyrene/sintra. Be careful not to burn yourself, or have WFA or Wonderflex stick to your hair! This can happen if the material is activated to it s maximum. This is what the harness looks like now. It s not much of a support yet, so let s change this! 6. To keep everything in place, there needs to be a third strip in the middle. This is also the piece of material where our ponytail/up do will rest on. Measure between the upper and lower harness-stripes. 5. The two parts are now going to be jointed. I m riveting them together. You can buy rivets in a normal fabric store or a home improvement store. 7. Repeat steps 3-5 for the middle strip to finish the harness.
Create the support 1. ponytail/up do to be. Mark this spot Now that the support has a stiff base, you can figure out where you want the and get a LARGE screw or Nail with a flat head. The flat head is important, you don t want to hurt yourself! Screw or nail them through the middle strap in whatever position you need them. This way, you can also make multiple supports for multiple up-dos if you need - just put more screws in! 3. To avoid headaches and getting your own hair caught in rivets, you can glue some pieces of felt over the screws head and joints. Much more comfy now! If you want to make a ponytail only, like Korra or Tsubaki, your support is done! You can proceed to the section stubbing. 2. Secure the screw or nail from underneath with with tape, so that it can t move. Ducktape or Gaffatape are a good choice. 4. If you, however, want to add additional stuff like in Jun-Juns case (or chinese hairstyles), there s an additional step. Now I m going to add the wire for the tentacle thingies. Why? Because now you can fix the wire not only to the support, but also to the middle of the harness, which makes it more durable.
Secure everything with tape to the middle strap and the screw. You can also add more stuff like that, like I added more wire....extra wefts... On to stubbing! It s time to get serious. The harness with the support is finished, now everything is ready for wig styling! Prepare your wig for stubbing. This means you should fix everyting on the wig that needs the wig to be turned and twisted. In my case I m going to sew wefts to the inside of the rubberband in the back of the wig, and fabric to the front side to make a glued hairline. You can also have a look at this video how to prepare your wig for up-dos: youtube.com/watch?v=kemosoqctua If you re sewing in extra wefts in the back, make sure the rubberband of the wigs back is stretched far enough, or else your wig might be too small in the end!...and fabric for the hairline. You can also make yourself a skintop, like here: arda-wigs.com/blogs/tutorials/14929265-howto-make-custom-skin-tops-and-goatees Now the wig is prepared for stubbing.
1. On the wig, find the spot where the ponytail/up-do is going to be. Take aside all hair. It is most likely going to be in a place that has mesh under the wefts, not the part where the wefts are already loose. This is what I m using to fix the hair to the support: it s rubber yarn, that can be bought in a fabric store. You can also use rubberbands and cut them open, but you should never use closed rubberband. You re not going to have clean results with closed ones, and in this case, they re entirely useless because it s impossible to pull them over the wire. 2. Then cut a small hole into the mesh. If you just have the screw, and no additional wire, make it very small. 4. 3. After this, the harness is put underneath the wig, and the wire (screw) is pushed through the small hole. Before pulling up the hair, fix your wig tightly to your wighead! I m using several fixing pins with a big head for this. Also make sure that you stretched the wig far enough that it will fit on your head later. If neccessary, stuff paper underneath it. You will notice that I m using a different wighead now. This one has the measurements of my head, so I know the wig will not be too small when I m finished.
5. When pulling it up, take a small strand of hair, blow them up at the bottom with a hairdryer (try how much you can heat your hair up! If you re working with an Arda wig, you won t have trouble with a normal hairdryer) and clip them to the wire (or, in case you just have a screw, you re going to clip them to the screw). 6. Then pull around the rubber-yarn, and put some normal white glue on everything. When you re doing it for the fist time, it s going to be very scary! But glueing really helps to keep the hairstyle later on. 7. If you intend to use a foamcore on it later (for more poofyness in the ponytail, or in my case, a cover for the wire), then you need to cut the hair to a stub (this is where the word stubbing comes from). If you re using a rather long wig and are doing a rather short hairstyle (like Korra), you can leave the hair at it s normal length. Please be aware that working with wigs that are left long is a lot harder! It s easier to cut away hair. Since I have three wires, I m going to disperse the hair to all wires, so they are going to have a similar thickness in the end.
bbing before Two further stages of stu moving on to the bangs. e rest of the Hairspray each layer to th wig! too short to In this wig, the bangs are nt to make a fit into my stub. If you wa easy trick. bang-less wig, there s an Dealing with bangs optional step 2. Then cut the bangs short along the hairline that you want to reach later... 1. The bangs of the wig are too short for reaching the stub. So I don t try to force them into it, but do the following: At first, cut away some of the hair, so that you can make it entirely flat: 3....and glue it to the fabric for the hairline. This way you can just glue hair over it later, as if there were no bangs. Just like I m going to do at the temples.
Creating the hairline optional step Before I m going to finish everything on the stub and support, I also need the hairline, because everything of the hair is pulled into the stub. Since this does not really belong to the essentials of this tutorial, and you can find a very good video here youtu.be/kawykswlkry I m just giving you a quick overview. 1. Draw your hairline on the fabric or selfmade skintop attached to the wig. 2. Now you can either follow the method of the video above, or do it like I do: I simply glue the hair to the fabric an cut the hairline later. You can now also glue above your bangs if you like, and the parting is going to disappear! Im not doing this however, since the parting will be covered by accessoiries later. Working with the foamcore Now that everything is stubbed, it s time to put onto your wig what ever you want! For a really poofy ponytail, you can cut a core out of foam and attach wefts or hair to it. I m going to do that with the odango that goes on top of the wire later.
If you put an odango like that, with long hair, to your screw, you have a really poofy, Sailor Jupiter-like ponytail (right side) However in my case, I need to cover the wire first. I m using a snake-like foam roll that s normaly used for window isolation and put it around the wires. Then it is wrapped with ribbon, to get it s final look. By adding the odango on top, the main part of the wig is done! Just accessoires are left. This kind of hairstyle would be really hard to do without the harness and the extra support underneath the wig. It spreads the weight all around your head and makes wigs like this more comfortable and secure to wear.