I've never worked with Mohair so I don't know much about it. I've always rooted my dolls with saran doll hair using the knot method. When rooting mohair into a 16 inch doll can one use the same knot method? (i.e. selecting 6-12 strands, threading it onto a needle & pushing it through the scalp holes out through the neck hole & knotting). I love how mohair is naturally curly/wavy, does it keep this effect permanently? Also, does anyone know of a mohair dealer with decent pricing? And are there are any essential tools besides the needles used for the knotting method, if I can use that method of course? Thanks so much for your time. Any advice or answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated.
Hello AV, Welcome to our forum. I know with the old dolls they used to be knotted inside the head or sewn in and most of them had a synthetic hair. I have googled the saran hair and found many sites not only to purchase from but also care of the hair.
Mohair or angora goat hair is actually real hair but from goats. It is finer than human baby hair. You would treat it the same as human hair.
If the holes in the dolls scalp are larger than a 32 guage needle you will need to make sure you get a 6 barb needle to root with. (Those needles pull in lots of hair to create a "plug" of hair and make it very thick depending on your rooting style.) Otherwise the hair may not stay in the hole. Seems to me that the holes are larger in most dolls as they used hair "plugs" and those are many many hairs in one bunch either sewn in or like you said, rooted and tied.
I haven't seen many offering mohair in long enough lengths to accomodate this type of rooting and since angora or mohair is "real" hair, if you use it to re-root a doll like one of the Tonner's, it may not stay in and also may not tie. When we use mohair we usually secure it inside with some type of adhesive like E-6000 or Tacky Glue, etc. I believe this glue would probably come out of the holes in the head where the hair is inserted and can make quite the mess. I had that happen when I tried to use mohair on a clown doll I was repairing/re-rooting for someone. It's original hair was synthetic and it had "plugs" so it took me a long time (especially since the hair kept coming out of the holes). :o Because the holes were so large, I had to hold the hair in while removing the felting needle, then only root so much, then glue that patch from the inside and wait for it to dry.
Now this is only my experience and suggestions. Maybe someone else might come along with other ideas. I do hope this helped some. :)