Hair Today 2 ( deleted from earlier post)

 In reviewing my posts I discovered that I inadvertently deleted the second part of the Puppet Hair tutorial, so here it is belatedly:

Aside from the pom-pom maker for creating the puppet's hair, the simple cardboard jig shown above will assist you in making long lengths of yarn hair. Roughly 12" long by 7" wide with the center section cut out.

Here the yarn (two tones of color to create texture that will read under the stage lights) is wrapped around the width of the jig about 40 times and secured at the outer ends with wooden clothes pins. The open center section allows the entire jig to be positioned on the sewing machine. A tight stitch is run down the center of the yarn. Clip the sides with scissors.

 The first finished section of hair, laid ear to ear on the back of the puppet's head and then stitched with heavy carpet thread to the same colored fabric backing.

 I use a curved upholstery needle for this type of sewing. Much easier to handle. Tie a knot in every other stitch to secure the hair firmly in place.

Sew three sections up the back of the head to the upper center and flip the last section around to form the bangs. Give the hair a trimming and GOLO the Giant has a very serviceable head of hair. I will take a few stitches to secure the strands above the ears later.

[ Not Shown, but equally useful: To create curls from the yarn you will need a 12" length of 1/4" wooden dowel and a plastic soda straw which you will slip over the dowel. In a small dish or tray ( I wash and reuse the ones that frozen dinners come in) mix some ordinary white school glue with an equal amount of warm water and stir together thoroughly. Cut about a 20" length of the yarn and dip it into this glue mixture until it is saturated. Draw the yarn through your fingers to remove some of the excess liquid. This is messy, so you might want to wear plastic gloves while you work. Using a wooden clothes pin, clip one end of the wet yarn to the top of the straw over the dowel. Gently roll the yarn around the straw being careful not to stretch it. For tight curls, wrap the yarn so that each round touches the first one...for looser curls wrap the yarn with a bit of space in between the rounds. Clip the other end of the yarn to the straw & dowel with another clothes pin and set the whole thing out in the sun to dry. If no sun use a small fan to blow on the yarn to dry it. This takes about 4 hours. Don't remove the yarn until it is completely dry. When you un-clip the ends the curled yarn should slip off the plastic straw easily. That 20" piece should yield three or four good sized curls or you can sew it on the head as is in a curving formation, adding additional lengths as needed.  These glued curls will hold their shape forever and the white glue doesn't alter the original color of the yarn at all. ]