Project: Historical wig silhouettes from nontraditional materials

There are so many periods in history where hair and wigs are absolutely essential to the general silhouette of the human figure. What're Restoration-era men to do without perukes? How do you have Chancery barristers without barrister wigs? Can you hope to present pre-Revolutionary French royalty without giant white ringlety pompadours full of flowers and birds and such on your ladies' heads?

And, all too often there's simply not enough money in a theatre's costume budget to allow for building or renting quality wigs in these types of elaborate period styles. When the second installment of the 1830s wig/hat project gets done, you'll see more about what goes into such a thing, and hopefully have a better idea why handmade lace-front wigs cost as exorbitantly as they do. The topic i want to address in this post though is, how can you still pay visual homage to these kinds of wig issues, yet solve them inexpensively through good craft artisanship? Skill and creativity can solve these problems by thinking outside the wigbox.

Recall my previous post on period wigs from wool roving...or, if you missed it the first time around, check it out. Roving is one possible "hair substitute" in making these kinds of "wig-hats".

( images of other solutions )