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Reborning Your First Doll
Rooting Hair
One
of the most important aspects of creating a realistic reborn is rooting
the hair. Using a needle with too many barbs will create pluggy looking
hair that is generally undesirable to collectors. In addition,
using poor grade mohair, such as roving mohair, will result
in more breakage and a less realistic result. Premium grade mohair,
especially first cut kid mohair, available from many online reborning stores, is recommended for
reborning.
For this section of the tutorial, you will need:
- Good quality premium mohair (I got this hair from Dolls So Real)
-
Felting needle in size of your choice (I'm using a 42-gauge. The larger
the needle size, the thinner the needle and the finer the result.)
- Pin Vice (I got mine from Secrist Dolls)
- Sock filled with rice or warming lamp
- Leave-in detangling conditioner
- Comb
- Very sharp craft or hair cutting scissors
- Lead or colored pencil
- Tweezers
Mark
the crown of your baby's head in a swirl pattern with your pencil. I
usually eyeball a diagonal line from the nose or chin up the back of
the head.
Heat the rice sock with a mug of water in the microwave until it's
quite hot. (My small microwave takes about 3 minutes.) Insert the
rice sock into the head and allow the vinyl to warm for a few minutes.
While you wait, insert your needle into your pin vise. Some
needles may need to be cut to fit the pin vise, but I've never had to
do this with my Secrist pin vise, even with needles from many different sources.
Beginning
at the crown, lay the hair over the head in a thin layer.
(Laying a thicker piece of hair over the head will insert more hairs
per jab.) Angling the needle in the direction the hair would
normally grow, push the hair through the head to form the swirl pattern
at the crown. Continue
outward for an inch or more until you can see a distinct pattern
emerging. Be careful not to flex the needle as you insert it,
which will eventually weaken and break the needle. It's normal to break
a few needles at first. :)
I usually root the front of the hair next. Using a series of small
dots, I mark my desired hair line with a pencil and continue forward to
this point, angling the needle front to back so that the hair will lay
flat.
Now
I'll start rooting the sides. Continue to gauge the angle of the needle
in relation to the swirl you created at the crown so that your hair
will lay flat when it's finished. I usually root the hairline and
proceed back to the ear. Then I move to the other side and continue
around the back of the head, changing the angle of the needle as I go.
Next I thin the hair with a pair of tweezers strand by strand to remove
any plugs that might be visible. True micro-rooting needs to
limit hair insertion to 1-2 hairs per follicle. I thin every head
of hair I create without exception, even when using the finest needles.
Now our little angel needs his first hair cut!
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