Hi all,just getting into this myself. I have finished a nice head,newborn sized and havent baked it yet. Now I cant find any directions on hair. I tried to use my hair needle I bought and mohair and it just made holes and didnt really hold on to the hair. I thought I had read to do it before baking BUT .... If you have any info about this please let me know. Thanks very much. Karen
Hello Karen, You bake to doll first, what paint did you use and do you know how long to bake it. If it is Genesis it is 7- 8 mins. and what kit is it, When rooting the hair you need to warm the head to soften the vynal. You can do this by putting a cup of rice in a sock or stocking ,tie it loosly and heat it for 3 min with a cup of water in the microwave so the rice wont burn. You have to keep doing this while rooting so you don't break the needles, how many barbs do you have on your rooting neele and what guage. June M from Oz.
I made the head from clay and using the vinyl form from Secrist. I know I have read where they bake the hair into the clay but I wasnt able to get any hair to really stick into the head just holes.Luckly with the clay I just covered them up. Do You bake it then add the hair? I can glue the hair from the inside like a regular kit head afterward since Im using the form but am afraid of large holes I cant cover up. Or is it just better to use a wig on a clay baby.
OH and I am going to use the G paints but that is done after baking, right?
Hello Karen, Are you using sculpy or surer sculpy to do the head, if you leaving big holes that you can't fill ,I think I would tend to go for a wig. When you talk about clay , to me it is like sculpting a clay sculpt to make a porcelain doll mold from. So I am presuming it is the sculpy. you would still have to bake it first though, to set the paint.
Im using the Super Sculpey. So I should bake and then try the hair? I guess if I didnt like how it looks I can glue a wig over it then. lol this is a lot of trial and error isnt it. thanks
Danielle says she cuts out the scalp part (just where the hair will go) and then bakes the rest of the head according to the clay directions. Then when it is completely cool, she re-inserts the scalp she removed, smoothing it to match the sculpt. Then to root it, use your needle and poke a hair (or 2) into the clay softly pressing each and every hole closed immediately after removing your needle to make sure the hairs stay in there. Its' a very intense type of rooting (IMHO) lol Then bake as usual when you are done with all your hair.
The other way you can do it (and this is how a lot of the doll manufacturers do it) is to bake your head, paint it, spray the area you want the hair on with a permanent spray adhesive (sp?) and lay one hair at a time in the direction you want it. It's still considered "hand applied hair".