The puppet's heads are quite literally "coming together" with the newly covered backs being hinged to the faces as I explained earlier Now it is time to focus on the making of the hair for each character. CARROT TOP'S red hair will be made up as a series of individual pom-poms. You can purchase commercial pom-pom makers at craft stores or just make one of your own as shown above.
Use a piece of wood about 2 inches wide by 12 inches long. Holes for 3/8" dowel pieces are drilled at the top and 3" down, with more holes drilled one inch apart up to the 6" mark. An ordinary clothes pin is attached with a removable screw. By moving the dowel and clothes pin downward you can make larger and larger pom-poms. I tapered the end to be held a bit for comfort.
CARROT TOP'S hair is made using two colors of standard gauge yarn; one a light orange and one a darker shade. This is a part of the process of adding texture to the puppets so that they will "read" from the distance of the audience. The two ends of yarn are clipped in the clothes pin and the yarn is lightly wound around the dowels ( here to make 3" pom-poms). About 12 full winds makes a good pom-pom, but for a fuller one go to 18 winds. Clip the ends of the yarn against the first ones in the clothes pin and cut with scissors.
Cut a piece of yarn about 5 inches long and tie it tightly around the middle of the wound yarn. Loop the first knot twice before you pull the knot tight and it will hold securely while you tie the second, locking knot. I usually tie one last knot just for security.
Slip the finished pom-pom out of the clothes pin and off the dowels. Using scissors clip through the two looped ends and shake the pom-pom out to shape it and trim the longer bits of yarn away.
One down...35 more to go to cover the back of the head. Here you can see that I used an orange fleece material to cover the back of CARROT TOP'S head, The pom-poms will be sewn in rows to cover this. Even if some separation of the hair should occur the orange undercover will be all that is seen. A few more pom-poms will be used to make a hairline on the sides and top of the face section, followed by a "haircut" to trim all to the right shape.
