Thursday 24 September 2015

Cross-knotting (aka 2-way knotting) explained

A few people have asked me to explain the idea of cross-knotting (cross-ventilation / 2-way knotting).   The most common knot used in traditional wig-making (except in the Chinese factories) is the single, or flat, knot.   When used properly, the single knot gives the most natural appearance, especially if the hairs are knotted one-at-a-time.

However, single knots can tend to lie quite flat, without much volume.  To combat this, the wig factories use split knots.  These add a LOT of volume to the hair, but in my opinion they look horrible!  Also, I believe that split knots shed much more easily than single knots, which is why factories often resort to using double split knots everywhere except the hairline.  This just makes for an ugly end result, as far as I'm concerned, and the reason why a lot of the factory wigs still look 'wiggy' and fake.

Cross-knotting allows the use of single knots, but adds volume to the hair.  It also adds a more freestyle direction to the knotting so that it's not set so much in a single direction.

The idea is that every second row of hair is knotted in an alternating direction.  The best way to get the idea is to see it illustrated, so here's a diagram showing the very basic concept:

Cross-knotting / 2-way knotting

In this example, we want the general direction of the hair coming forward from the crown, towards the hairline.  So each row is knotted at slight, alternating angles to the final direction of the hair.

To add even more volume and lift to the hair, a technique called REVERSE cross knotting is used, in which the hair direction is knotted in the exact opposite direction from the final direction you require.  Using the same example, again with the final hair direction being forward from the crown towards the hairline, it is actually knotted backwards at alternating angles.

Reverse cross-knotting

When the hair is finally brushed into its final direction, it retains much more lift at the root, giving a very natural volume to the hair.

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Vintage roller set

I have been trying for ages to find time to learn how to set and style the wigs I make.  I have several sitting on a shelf that are finished as far as the knotting goes, but I haven't known how to style them.

I finally watched a few YouTube videos on roller setting hair, and I tried it for the first time today on the light blonde Marilyn wig that I made ages ago.

The results are far from perfect, but not too bad for my first attempt...





Small front partial piece

I haven't had time to do much ventilation lately, but I just completed knotting this small front partial piece.  It is fully single strand/single knotted, and is cross-ventilated to add some lift.  I used #16 Brazilian hair from YYhair.

The density is higher than I would normally like, but this piece was made to replace the hairline on an existing topper which is quite dense, so I tied the hair using one knot per hole, with slight graduation at the hairline.

The hair will finally be dyed to match and attached to the existing piece.