Well, I'm finally at the point where I have to start on my Wizard's hair and beard. To help inspire, and give me confidence, I got out another old Wizard figure I made. This one isn't as old as the first one. Plus he has a much neater beard...Okay....I think I can do this.....
Time to choose the mohair. And just a quick word about "mohair". Many people mistakenly call Tibetan Lambskin 'mohair', but it's not. Tibetan lambskin is the pelt of the Tibetan sheep, and it's a by-product of when they are killed for their meat. Mohair, on the other hand, is sheared off a live goat - just like sheep - and then he (or she) goes on to grow another coat to be sheared again the following year. The length of the mohair is determined by how long a goat is left between shearing.
I have quite a large collection of mohair. It was all purchased from Edgewood Angoras a long time ago. They used to sell at doll shows, but went out of business many years ago. They had a farm with several mohair goats, and each one had a name. Each goat had it's own distinctive curl in their mohair. Younger goats had curlier hair, while the oldest goats hair was almost straight. After they sheared, cleaned and dyed their mohair, it was all packaged in baggies with the name of the goat it came from.
So, I've taken out all my white mohair to see which one I want to use. There is quite a difference between the different locks, as would be expected, since they come from different goats....
I have quite a large collection of mohair. It was all purchased from Edgewood Angoras a long time ago. They used to sell at doll shows, but went out of business many years ago. They had a farm with several mohair goats, and each one had a name. Each goat had it's own distinctive curl in their mohair. Younger goats had curlier hair, while the oldest goats hair was almost straight. After they sheared, cleaned and dyed their mohair, it was all packaged in baggies with the name of the goat it came from.
So, I've taken out all my white mohair to see which one I want to use. There is quite a difference between the different locks, as would be expected, since they come from different goats....
From the left - 'Mandrake' (uncombed), 'Mandrake' (combed), 'Gideon', and 'Cleopatra'.
If my guy was just going to be a Wizard, I'd go for the locks from 'Gideon' as they are the straightest, and suggest a very old man - like my little Wizard above. But he's also going to play the various Santa characters, so I'm not going to use the really straight mohair. The 'Cleopatra' locks are too curly. That leaves 'Mandrake'. I think I'll forgo the combed locks, and leave them for whenever I need to make a nice elegant Rococo wig. So that means using the uncombed ones from 'Mandrake'. The individual locks average 8 to 10" long, so I can cut them in half (or thirds) to make the wefting.
Well, enough time spent at my computer, putting off the inevitable....I better start sewing wefting.
RSS Feed
