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Lexa Kom Trikru (The 100) Wig Tutorial

10/21/2017

4 Comments

 
By Willow Enright
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Finished Lexa Kom Trikru's Wig from the CW's The 100
Sometimes when you are putting together a cosplay it’s easier to acquire a wig for the character in order to have consistent continuity for your character’s look. I used to try and cut, color and maintain my own hair for every cosplay, but that starts to take a toll on your own luscious locks. Especially when you want to do multiple characters with different hair styles and colors, possibly for the same event. ​
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Alycia Debnam-Carey as Lexa from the CW's T.V. show The 100
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Behind the scenes shot of Alycia Debnam-Carey and Eliza Taylor, Lexa and Clarke from the CW'sThe 100.

Reference, Research, Restyle

Lexa has some seriously long locks which she keeps tied back with a series of various techniques. The wig that I acquired for her look was a 24” heat resistant lace front wavy synthetic hair, medium brown. I bought it on Ebay for a really decent price, and I couldn’t be more happy with the quality of it, especially on camera. It has a sewn in cap with clips and an adjustable strap for under the skull, dense locks with a natural variation of color, and the hair feels extremely soft and natural. The most important part is that there is enough hair on the wig itself to do all the details we need to fully embody Heda. ​
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Behind the scenes reference photo of Alycia Debnam-Carey from the TV set of The 100.
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Reference photo of Alycia Debnam-Carey (Lexa Kom Trikru) from the TV set of The 100.
I used a behind the scenes reference photo of Alycia Debnam-Carey (Lexa Kom Trikru) from the TV set of The 100, and I also referenced two YouTube Lexa hair tutorial videos. The main video, Commander Lexa Hair & Makeup Tutorial! | The 100 by Jackie Wyers, and the second The 100 Hair Tutorial for Commander Lexa by Silvousplaits. I mostly wanted to match the reference photo but really liked some of the added details from the two tutorials. ​
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24” heat resistant lace front wavy synthetic hair, medium brown
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I always forget to take before pictures. This is already after I have created the five ponytails in the front.
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The colors in this wig are incredible!

Wig: Ready, Set, Braid!

The first step was to section off the front bangs/fringe and separate it into five small sections. I used the little, cheap, black rubber hair bands that are better to cut out of hair than pull. They come in a large packet for fairly cheap so you never feel bad cutting or breaking them to remove them instead of attempting to slide hair back out of them. I made five small pony tails and to give them extra poof I did a reverse tuck with each. Separating the hair close to the scalp with thumb and index finger I pulled each pony through itself, giving each hair section a nice twisted definition. Then the hair along the temples was smoothed flat and pulled into a ponytail at the crown of the head for Lexa’s slicked back sections.
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The little ponytails on their own weren't enough texture and poof.
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Doing the reverse pony tuck really made these little poofs pop with detail.
In order to carry the front five ponies back over the top of the head, and to give some more of that defining poof of Lexa’s front section, I did a loose weave of two braids created with the five strands into one. I used the middle ponytail for one of the strands with both braids which nicely guided it along the middle of the head. This was then tied into a ponytail right where the slicked back hair was, leaving one ponytail on top of the other. I then implored the pull through braid technique. By dividing the top ponytail into two sections which I looped over the second ponytail before bringing them back together at the base of the second pony and into a new ponytail underneath. This process was repeated three times and can be found visually at around 3:22-4:13 in Jackie’s video. Once you are done, tug on the separate pieces to puff out the loops. It gives some nice added detail and poof to the crown of the head. ​
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5 strand braid is the underside ponytail and the side slicks are the top ponytail.
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Reverse Braid: Pull on your loops to give them a nice curve for that added full detail.
Next you’ll want to take two additional small sections from beside the tied off pull through ponytail and combine them into one ponytail. This will sit over top of the pull through braid. Be sure to pull the loops out to create the soft curving detail of each loop. You’ll want to make two additional ponytails in the same way, only on either side of the middle pull through set. Try to tie them off at roughly the same height so that your loops are fairly symmetrical to each other. Again, you can visually reference Jackie’s video at 6:10 for this technique. The remaining combined ponytails are fairly easy, simply divide the ponytails into two sections, connecting the two center pieces into one hair elastic. This leaves you with two ponytails which you bring together making the final ponytail, tie it off and braid the remaining hair securing the end with another black rubber band.
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The vast amount of loops with our braids is quite stunning. and throwing in that reverse braid gives us nice texture and body!
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At each elastic holding a braid I added the twisted wire for a nice shiny detail. The only place I didn't do this was the top 5 ponytails because I want the black elastics to blend in more and not stick out.

You Nail the Details, You Nail the Character

To give each tied ponytail section some added detail like in the show, I used a malleable 18G aluminum wire. Using pliers I twirled a section of wire around the plier head creating some cool spiral details and then cut the wire about 2-3 inches away from the spiral design. I then wrapped the remaining wire around each hair section, being careful to tuck in the sharp wire ends so that they don’t end up poking me. ​
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18G Aluminum Wire and regular household pliers
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The wire spirals are very cool!
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I twisted the wire around my pliers making cool spirals.
Time to add some accent braids into the mix! I choose to do one on each side of the head in the back, and two underneath on each side so that you can see them from the front. I didn’t use any fancy braids since my braiding skills aren’t that great, traditional three plait braids did the trick. Jackie does a lovely dutch lace braid, around 7:08 in her video, but I wasn’t feeling that fancy with mine. If you have thinner hair or your wig is slightly thin, Silvousplaits video is a great reference for this hairstyle. ​
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I finished off my accent braids with the black rubber bands and the aluminum wire wraps.
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Nice view of the backside accent braid.
You can also choose to attach the dutch lace braid to the main braid, or leave it to hang free. I also like the idea of possibly adding in some dreaded sections for additional details. I noted a small section of four on the TV show reference photo, and Jackie used dreaded hair extensions in her tutorial. I’m fairly confident that I could get the wig synthetic hair to dread up pretty easily. However, I want to make sure that there’s enough hair left over that it doesn’t end up looking way too thinned out from all the detail braids and ponytails before I make that choice. ​
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I also put a wire wrap around the bottom section of the middle braid, although I didn't grab a photo of that detail.
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Close up on middle braid
​www.facebook.com/leatherworksbywillow/After all the careful detailing and braiding, be sure to store your wig appropriately to avoid unnecessary entanglements. I left mine pinned on my styrofoam head and covered it with the hair netting that came with the wig, carefully tucking the ends up into the net. I will likely find a cloth to also drape over it to avoid dust gathering on it. I now have my Lexa hairdo ready for every time I need to suit up for battle! Kom wor! (To War!) 

The next blog will come out on November 4th! I'll be getting into the  holiday spirit next Saturday. I'd love to see you Halloween outfits in the comments, or on our Facebook Page. 
4 Comments

Clarke Griffin (The 100) Wig Tutorial

10/14/2017

2 Comments

 
By Willow Enright
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Clarke Griffin The 100 http://www.cultjer.com/img/ug_photo/2016_01/95177720160131112418.jpg
There are times in your life where you really feel like making a change. Coloring or cutting your hair can be fun and give you a new outlook on life, however there are times where going blonde just won’t work for you. Clarke Griffin (The 100) has some ever changing blonde locks, and we’re going to transform an ordinary wig into a version of her combined hair-do’s. ​
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Antique Gold and Honey Brown Acrylic paint, Rubbing alcohol, glass head, saran wrap, and Black Canary Wig
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Platinum Blonde Synthetic Black Canary Wig
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Clarke's side braid as she kisses Lexa. http://cdn03.cdn.justjaredjr.com/wp-content/uploads/pictures/2016/03/100-lexa/lexa-dead-the-100-recap-spoilers-05.jpg

​Supplies: 

Antique Gold, Honey Brown, and Crimson Acrylic paint, Rubbing Alcohol, Head Stand (I used a glass Buddha head, you might be temped to use styrofoam, DON'T!), Saran Wrap (optional), Spray Bottle, Cardboard, Paper Towels, Cheap Small Rubber Bands, and Wig (This wig was originally purchased for a comic book Black Canary cosplay.)
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Woo! Black Canary wig to start with, that's for sure!
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Blonde hair extensions to mix in once it's all colored
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Blonde hair extensions added into the wig at the temples and sparse spot at the crown

Cheap vs Quality

The wig that I started with was a super cheap synthetic Halloween wig that we got at Goodwill one year ago. So, the quality to start with wasn’t great, in fact it was a pretty typical bad wig. However, it was what we had to work with and I figured that I would at least give it a shot to see how it would turn out. After all, I love a good challenge. Only, if I were to repeat this process in the future, I would definitely invest in a higher quality wig. ​
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Don't use a styrofoam head with this or it will melt. I used glass and covered it with saran wrap.
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Liquid acrylic paint mixed with rubbing alcohol. 5-10 drops of paint to 1 cup alcohol, or add more paint for however dark you want the color to be.
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Antique Gold mix

Color Chemistry

Since the coloring process involves rubbing alcohol it’s important to use a glass head instead of styrofoam, otherwise it will simply melt. I also covered it with saran wrap beforehand so that the paint wouldn’t stain the glass. I used a cardboard box to make a three sided place to spray, and placed paper towels underneath the glass head to soak up the alcohol. I mixed 1 cup of rubbing alcohol with about 10 drops of paint in order to get the richness of color that I wanted. Always start with your lightest color, Antique Gold in this case. I spritzed the entire platinum wig with this light color first. ​
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Adding Honey Brown to the Antique Gold
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Making sure that the Acrylic/Rubbing Alcohol mixture is getting the underside of the wig hairs
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A little bit of red really made this wig pop as Clarke

Coloring Synthetic Hair

Changing the color was a lot easier than I had thought initially. The tricky part is making sure that you mix the paint in the rubbing alcohol extremely well so that it won’t clog your sprayer, or you will spend a long time trying to clear it. Eh, hemmm… as some of us may have done. Once the Antique Gold covered the whole wig, I added another cup of rubbing alcohol and 10 drops of the Honey Brown. Making sure to constantly mix the solution, spritz the second color in various random spots, including the underside of the wig.  Adding the red at the end was insanely easy. For this part of coloring you won’t need a full cup of alcohol, just ¼ cup and only 5 drops of paint. The platinum hair just soaks the color up nicely giving that slightly Clarke hue. Leave the wig to dry for 24-48 hours before styling. Also, don’t repeat the alcohol/paint process on the wig more than twice, making sure it is completely dry in between, otherwise the synthetic hair might disintegrate.

Styling

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These bangs are wild and had to be braided together in sections in order to creat these front braids.
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The front braids are combined at the crown of the head
This particular wig has bangs and Clarke doesn’t, so it made sense to me to braid them together along the temples using a dutch lace braid. I was then able to combine the two braids at the crown like Clarke does. There was also a lot of matted hair underneath from previous wearing. When knotted together in sections it became lovely texture, and a lot less 80’s punk mess. I repeated this process several times throughout the wig.
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The really ratty bits of hair underneath
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Knotting the ratty bits of hair helps to create body and texture without looking like an 80's punk band
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Little knotted bits to add texture
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Color and texture make it seem more like actual hair
To finish off the Clarke Grounder hair, I added several more small braids. I used cheap rubber bands that can be cut out instead of pulled out. Synthetic hair will not tolerate rubber bands being removed. It will rat the hair, break it, or pull it out. Let’s face it, rubber bands aren’t that kind to real hair either. Getting cheap ones will ensure you don’t care about cutting or ripping them.
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The unfortunate front of the wig
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Clarke Griffin wig, all braided and mulitcolored!
The process of changing synthetic wig hair color was daunting, and I wasn’t certain that it would turn out like I wanted. I was actually surprised at how easy and fun it ended up being. The colors turned out wonderfully! I just wish that I someone had told me to invest in a much better quality wig before attempting this process. Even though it would have cost more, the end would have been a very satisfying kickass result. Instead, I spent countless hours recoloring a crappy wig that really just can’t be used as a complete character wig due to its poor quality. Next time I will begin with a quality foundation. C'est la vie! ("That's life!") Stay tuned for next week's wig transformation: Lexa (The 100) Wig! 
2 Comments

Daryl Dixon Wig Tutorial

10/7/2017

1 Comment

 
By Willow Enright
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Norman Reedus as Mr. Daryl Dixon from AMC's The Walking Dead
Attempting to capture the details of your favorite characters can be as mind boggling as it can be rewarding. There’s nothing worse than being able to convincingly recreate their clothes, props, and identifying features but not be able to sport their characteristic locks without drastically changing your own hair to match. Finding the right wig can go miles when it comes to your cosplays, and not breaking the bank. Especially, when you've have a different character for each day of the con, you'll need more than one wig. Note, this is the first wig I have ever manipulated.

I found mine on Ebay from RightOn, Men's Medium Wavy Heat Friendly (150 c / 302 f) Synthetic Wig in dark brown, and it was less than $20. I also made sure to use a good reference photo of the character before starting my wig sculpting, hint, you've already seen it.
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Ebay Image of the wig used
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Wig right out of the bag
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Original Wig before I got my grubby hands on it
First thing out of the bag the wig was very poofy, and required lots of palm petting to calm down the wig fibers. This transfers the normal oils of your hair to the synthetic wig hairs. The wavy style had the whole top part of the wig swept over, and I had to separate the long bangs to give them that classic Daryl part. Usually, this would be the time to brush the wig, but this is Daryl Dixon and he doesn’t brush his hair. So, I used my fingers which seemed appropriate.
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First layer of hair products
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Second layer of hair products
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First application of coconut oil
Wearing the wig, I applied two different hair care products, Alterna Life Curls Detangler and Avon’s Curl Goddess Curling Mist. The detangler helps the synthetic hair to avoid knotting up. While the Curling Mist gives some body to the flat wig. I spritzed the products over the wig and used my fingers to scrunch it into the synthetic hair. ​
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More Coconut Oil
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Coconut Oil and some bang trimming
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Cut some actual bangs
Water is hard to come by in the apocalypse so washing your hair isn’t a priority, especially to a snake eating dirty fiend like Daryl. In order to obtain the greasy dirtiness that he usually sports, I used coconut oil. Rubbing it into my fingertips and then running them through the wig hair. I did this a few times until I was satisfied with the amount of grunge. Since the bangs were designed to sweep over to the side they were quite long and I had to do some random trimming to help create the disheveled  bangs of Mr. Dixon. The end results completely tie together the costume, makeup, and props wonderfully!
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My freshly wet hair
Here you can see me in full Drayl Costume. If you'd like to know more about how I created the rest of the costume you can click here: Creating TWD's Daryl Dixon. Stay tuned for next's week's blog about how wig making doesn't always go as planned when I discuss Clarke Griffin's (The 100) wig making experience. 
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All dry and at the Con! I'm standing next to a fantastic cosplayer, Tina Rivets.
1 Comment
    Etsy

    Willow Enright

    I started crafting out of leather in 2011, and now I am making it my life's work. I am writing this blog to help myself remember some of the small steps in past projects, sharing my triumphs and failures, as well as my love of leather. 

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