Project(s): Wig/hat hybrids!

The class i'm teaching this semester is actually entitled "Millinery and Wigs" in the course catalog, and as such, part of my responsibility in the class is to cover the topic of wigs. I give a lecture on wig and hair-related topics--an overview of things like how various kinds of hair extensions are installed, the differences between wig types (like, how a lace-front wig differs from a skin-top wig), types of hair used in wigs and hairpieces and the like. I don't have them make any traditionally-constructed wigs or hairpieces, because I don't feel that a project of that sort would make sense in the context of our program. (If a student were particularly interested in making ventilated lace-front wigs, i would point them towards a summer job in the wig department of somewhere like the Utah Shakespeare Festival or similar. And if they were interested in it career-wise, they wouldn't be in our program, which doesn't offer a graduate concentration in wigs and makeup.)

What i do ask them to consider in terms of a project, is the concept of wig/hat hybrids--ways in which you might solve structural or elaborate period hairstyle shapes using principles of millinery construction and other crafts artisanship skills. (The "Bawd" hairdo from the recent PRC Pericles production is a good real-life example of what i'm talking about here.)

This project is always a lot of fun because it's definitely one where there are an infinite number of possibilities--in hairstyle options, materials used, ways to achieve looks. I did the project along with them, so the first set of photos behind the cut show my step-by-steps, then at the end are pictures of the students' projects as well.

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