How to knott a moustache

Wigwork and postiche

Helen 9/10/15 and 16/10/15

Knotting a moustache

Firstly you will need to make a template to knot the moustache onto.

Cut a small piece of cling film and place strips of celotape accross the whole piece to make it more sturdy.

Then place it against your models skin and ask them to hold it in place for you.

Using a marker pen draw on the shape you want the moustache to be, making sure you leave a small gap between the upper lip and the beginning of the moustache so that it looks natural.

You only need to draw on half the moustache as the template can be symmetrical so you can fold it over. Although the human face is not exactly symmetrical your knotting will not be exactly symmetrical so you can get away with using the same template for both halves of the moustache.

Then get a piece of thin coloured card or thick paper and fold it in half. Place your moustache drawing onto it and cut around the template so that when you open the card up it is in the shape of your moustache. Blue and green card is popular as they are easy colours to look at for a long time when you are knotting. Lighting gel is also used by some people as an alternative to card.

Then hold the card template against your models’ face to check that the shape looks good.

Then attatch your template to your head block by apply strips of cellotape over the whole template. A flat surface on the head block will be the easiest to work on.

On top of the template attatch a piece of lace using blocking pins, making sure the lace lies flat and that there are enough pins to keep it securely in place. On the lace there are lines of the holes and they should be going horizontally across the lace.

Knotting

Hold a few strands of hair in your hands and fold them over to half them and make a loop in the hair.

Hold the hair in one hand and with the other hand take your knotting rod and hook and place it through a hole in the lace and under a strand of lace.

Then pull one strand of hair through the lace using the hook and turn the strand of hair so it goes under, over and through itself to create a knot.

Continue to knot the hair in rows using this technique.

Then when you have finished you can trim the hair and use small heated tongs to help style it into the shape you want.

Template for a wig

The best and easiest way to make a template for a wig is to wrap the top of the head in cling film and cover with cellotape so that it lies flat on the head. Then using a maker pen draw on the hair line and any measurements that you need. This is a very cheap way to measure for a wig whilst still getting accurate measurements, also the cling film id very light and so can be transported easily.