'The Trouble With Tribbles' photoshoot with Cherryfox Fine Photography

After finishing the styling work on my Jackalope wig last week my friend, fellow burlesquer and photographer Cherryfox suggested we do a shoot before I attached the antlers, ears and other Jackalope-ish paraphernalia to it so that it could be used for a different look.

On Wendesday I had a day off to use up and my previously made plans didn’t happen so we ended up having a fun impromptu shoot at her home studio in Stoke-on-Trent. Cherryfox has been working on making some gorgeous hair accessories – lovely feathered birdies and rhinestone embellished butterflies, big and gaudy just the way I like them! So we went for a bright, drag queeny look with as many of these adorable little creatures as possible nestling amongst my gargantuan tresses.


Here’s a little teaser from the shoot - you can see the rest at: Cherryfox's Facebook


I could seriously get used to having that much hair – if only it was real! Hopefully, the next time you will see this wig it will be part of a finished Jackalope costume. I still have lots to do but it is coming along gradually.

Huge thanks and hugs to Cherryfox for the amazing pics and the loan of her lovely bird and butterfly creations, and a tip of the hat to my car Boris for getting me to and from Stoke in on piece despite my fairly punishing driving technique.
As Amanda Lepore says – ‘I don’t know much about clothes but my hair looks fierce’

‘Til next time
X
Emerald

Adrift in the World of Wig Styling

As promised I have been as good as my word and prepared a little photo blog of my first proper attempt at wig styling – my Jackalope wig.

To begin – here’s a picture of the original wig (I bought mine from the brilliant Annabelle’s Wigs) so you can see what I started with.


Originally (like back when I was still thinking about buying a pre styled drag queen wig) I was going to use a readheaded wig but I gradually came round to a pale blonde as I wanted the whole costume to have a dirty yellowed out white theme running through it.

Here is a picture of my inspiration of what I wanted the wig to look like (the picture is from America’s Next Top Model – the lovely Allison).



As my Jackalope lives in a forest (I think ‘real’ Jackalopes usually live on plains or prairies but I have allowed myself some creative licence!) I wanted the wild, tangled look with twigs, plant matter or feathers twined into it. I had been daydreaming about something in this general area for some time but hadn’t been able to nail down the exact style until I saw the episode of ANTM that this shoot was from. As soon as I saw Allison with her hair styled this way I knew that this was the look I wanted for my wig!

My base wig was from Annabelle’s Wigs. The style is ‘Danielle’ and it has a skin top. For those who are interested a skin top is useful for wig styling if you want to mess about with the parting. Without a skin top wigs normally only part one way and trying to part it any other way will just expose the lace the hair is mounted on. There are ways you can change the part on a wig without a skin top but I haven’t attempted them yet as it looks like a pretty complicated process! As the original wig has a centre part and the style I wanted has no parting at all I thought the skin top would be a good idea (although in reality I might have been able to do it another way if I had got a wig that didn’t have this feature).

So I started off by pinning my wig to my wig head which I have affixed onto a stand made out of an old artificial Christmas tree. I pinned it around the outer edge but I also put extra pins in the lace above each section while I worked on it to avoid putting excess pressure on the wig and ripping or stretching it.

After securely fixing the wig to the head I used a tail comb and a hair elastic fastened loosely to section off the portion of the wig at the front that would make the backward bangs/pompadour/quiff whatever you like to call it.



It stayed pretty firmly parted down the centre but I tried not to worry too much about that as that would be remedied when I styled that part. Then it was time to begin the backcombing process. I started at the bottom back. I figured that way if I had any teething troubles at the start they would be hidden by the rest of the hair when the wig was finished. I used my tail comb to part the hair and clipped the parts I didn’t want up out of the way. Then I took the hair in small sections and started backcombing. After I had done a section I misted it lightly with hairspray. I have been using Tresemme because that’s what I’ve got but supposedly Aquanet is the wig stylist’s spray of choice.

At first my technique was not great and some of the sections began to look a little dready. I used to make synthetic dreads some years ago and the technique for backcombing the wig is in some ways very similar to that and in others the exact opposite. With synthetic dreads the objective is to keep them nice and tight and in a well defined shape, whereas for this backcombed style the idea is to make it loose but still voluminous. When I first started I backcombed the hair sections quite strongly like you would when making dreads and this made them rather tight at the root. This tightness meant they stood up and out giving the hair lots of body but it also made the sections look a little too ratty and separate. As I got more used to what I was doing I found it worked better to backcomb the sections more gently and after every few strokes to pull the hair apart from itself (exactly the opposite of making a dread where you would twist the hair in on itself). This makes the hair less ratty and sectioned and gives it more of the ‘candyfloss’ sort of look that I wanted.

When I had worked my way up to somewhere between half and one third of the head I looked at how much hair I had left and decided to add an extra weft in for thickness. Originally, when I looked at the wig I didn’t think it would need any extra wefts put in but as I worked my way up I thought I would put an extra one in under the philosophy ‘better safe than sorry’.





I had originally planned to buy two wigs and rip wefts from one to put in the other but I ended up buying extra wefts (actually they were clip in extensions) separately and having the second wig more as a spare in case I ballsed up the original! This meant it was quite simple to attach an extra weft, all I had to do was remove the two little clips and then they were ready to go in! To sew in the weft I parted the hair horizontally and clipped the top section up with an alligator clip and then I pinned the weft to the wig and wig head, stretching it as I went so it fit neatly. I used a curved sewing needle to sew it in although I’m still not sure whether that made it easier or not, it was only my first time using one and I bought it as it was the recommended thing to use for this task. I am going to stick at using it for this reason but we’ll see if it makes things easier once I get used to it.
Here is a picture of the wig, from the back, after I sewed the extra weft in (to be honest, it's not a great photo - I should have taken one a bit closer up!):




After I sewed the extra weft I got back to backcombing and the rest of the wig took shape fairly quickly. I was really pleasantly surprised at how big I could get it with only one extra weft. After I had done the body of the wig I just had to do the quiffed back bangs. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to entirely get rid of the part but it wasn’t a problem. I backcombed them in the same way and almost moulded them backwards into shape. At the moment I haven’t permanently sewn or otherwise attached them backwards (I’m not sure whether it will necessarily need it) just in case the height or shape needs tweaking when it’s on my head.



Now all I need to do is attach my antlers, rabbit ears and the other wig adornments and decorations. As my antlers as the central piece I am going to wait ‘til I receive and attach them before I put anything else on the wig. I have been talking about doing a little fun photoshoot with Cherryfox Fine Photography before I add the extra bits onto my wig so if that ends up happening I will post the results up here!

Hope some of you found my wig styling walk through interesting. If you did and would like to see more of the same or if you want to know anything further about how I styled this wig (it’s pretty simple really as I am just a beginner to wig styling) give me a shout! PS.Apologies for the quality of the pictures, I took them on my phone so they're not amazing - at some point I will winkle out the cable for the proper digital camera!

‘Til next time
X
Emerald

The Gig and The Wig

Dearests,
This week has been taken up with a lot of boring vanilla-life day job tedium, but inbetween the drudge have been two rather pleasant interludes.

First and foremost I performed at Hull's Ringside Review on Saturday night. This was a challenge for me in more ways than I expected! The first big hurdle was getting there - it was my first time driving to a whole other city and my first proper motorway drive (had to go on a tiny bit of motorway when I picked up my car but my Dad supervised me). It was an exhilerating experience (if a little terrifying at times) but I made it there in one piece without incident and even managed to drive back the same night (on empty roads as it was after midnight - bliss!). I made a couple of peppy 80s CDs to keep me alert, energetic and on the ball and it really felt like a bit of an adventure! Definately a hundred times less stressful than taking the coach or train - especially with my huge suitcase!

The second, more unexpected challenge was of a more theatrical nature. I arrived with my music on CD and a spare copy just incase but for some reason the venue's CD player would not accept either of the CDs I had for my Strongwoman act. My Octopus CD played just fine but the others: No way Jose! Anna (Fox - promotor of the night) tried to help me source another copy of my track but it's a fairly unusual one - it's an instrumental recording of "Don't Dilly Dally on the Way" so it was nothing doing. Cut to me sitting in my car rifling through my CD collection looking for something of a similar mood to perform to!

I eventually came up with a nice Charleston with lots of brass. Not a million miles away from my original choice in mood. Unfortunately, by this point the audience were already in and seated so there was no time to try a run through. All I could do was wing it! In the car when I sat and listened I realised that the new track was a little longer than my original choice so I made a mental note to draw the act out a little and also asked Anna to fade the track out if I finished noticeably early. However, when it was time to perform, finishing too early was not a problem. I spent so long hamming it up to fill the extra music that I ended up with the music ending just before I was about to do the final reveal - missing the punchline of the act! Luckily the audience and my fellow performers didn't seem to notice or if they did they didn't mind as the reception I got for it was still very positive. Oddly enough though it did make me consider changing tracks permanently as I really enjoyed doing it to my substitute music!


Me Hamming it up as my Strongwoman (for a little too long!) - photo by Kate Rush


Apart from my minor mishap in the first half, the second half went smoothly and I adored meeting the other performers. Billie Rae was graceful and elegant, Pinny Lace was adorable and natural (and I could not believe how good she was for someone so very new!) and Milan was hilarious and had the most amazing comic timing. All the performers were really friendly and the atmosphere backstage was lovely. Anna herself (along with her maid for the night, Kelly and the compere Neil)ran a really professional night and Anna is one of the most warm and huggable people I have met on the circuit. I am dying to work with the other performers and Anna again - they were all so fun, friendly and talented! Also, on a little aside, Pinny Lace went up for the Delicious Burlesque newcomers competition (heat one was Saturday and the final will be at the show in June) and I know I will be rooting for her from the audience!

The other exciting development has been finally seeing the fruits of my wiggy labours. I received my wigs two weeks ago and since then I have been beavering away with my tailcomb and a can of Tresseme hoping to realise my wig-dreams.


Me in my Jackalope wig - apologies for the lack of makeup and crappy phone photo!


I have not done much in the way of wig styling before – I made an updo hairpiece out of a pony tail one that had got a bit ratty and I put a simple roll into my Octopus wig but I had not attempted to do anything more complicated than that before. However, I have been researching wig styling for months and months – swotting up on tips and technique until I could get my hands on a wig to try it out on.

The style I chose for my Jackalope wig is quite a simple one (especially compared to some of the elaborate, structural styles I have seen people working on on the Cosplay forum) great for a beginner. As it is backcombed and boofy there is less need for precision and accuracy – the messiness of it is pretty forgiving. As a first attempt at proper wig styling I am pretty pleased with it!

If I had to make an estimate I would say I probably spent more than 10 hours backcombing this wig, but what a result! It’s absolutely huge! I had (originally, almost a year ago) wanted to buy a drag queen wig from somewhere like Empress Bianca or Vegas Girl Wigs but I was put off by how expensive they were. Now, having styled my own I can see why the drag wigs cost what they do; it takes a lot of styling time to get a boof that big!

I still have a little to do to the wig, I need to sew in my antlers and rabbit ears (once they are finished) and I want to dress the wig a little more with pine cones, teasels, bulrushes or other similar plant matter. But I will post up another pic when it is done.

At some point I thought about doing a step by step photo blog of how I styled the wig (wig styling resources are few and far between and I thought people might be interested in the process I used to do mine) but as I took the photos on my phone it’s a pain in the bum to upload them so it might have to wait until I have a quiet afternoon with a bit of free time to do it.

Next on the Jackalope list is to carry on felting for my skirt (this is probably going to be the most time consuming part of the costuming process) and to start work customising my bra. Hopefully I will have more to show in a couple of weeks!

‘Til next time
x
Emerald

Forgiven by the Gods of Burlesque?

Dearests,
although (as usual) my vanilla life is plagued with annoyances and setbacks (I won't bore you with the details - it's not that kind of blog!), in regards to burly it seems as though the gods and godessess of the stage have (at least for the moment) forgiven me.

In all, burlesque wise, it hasn't been a bad few days. The big win was getting my money refunded for those wigs (see the previous posts for the whole story). I requested the refund, unsure what the outcome would be but in the end the seller refunded me and now the whole matter is resolved. It was a stressful and frustrating experience from start to finish but as the saying goes, 'All's well that ends well'. I would like to put that money towards an item I want for my Jackalope costume but in reality I may have to hold onto it to pay for something stressful in my vanilla life. I should know in about a week whether the money is needed for that or not. If not I can start steaming ahead with the next phase of the outfit.

At ballet last night it was a very small class (only about six of us) and this meant there was a lot more scope to go over things that were difficult. Also because three of the girls there were quite advanced dancers just taking the class to keep in practice it meant that the teacher made the lesson a little more complicated to keep them interested but she could help the less able students a little more too as there were less of us (me bringing up the rear as usual!). The class was great and I felt really stretched by the end of it. There are still one or two steps in the routine we are working on that I seem to get tangled up in, and I can't balance when performing an arabesque to save my life but I really feel like some of it is sinking in. At the end of the class the teacher even complimented me, saying she could see an improvement with my technique at the barre. I'm not sure if she was being kind and encouraging me because I am one of the weakest students in the class or if I really have improved but I do feel as though I know more what I am doing at the barre now and I get less fuddled. Either way, it felt nice to be praised and I feel like the classes are doing me some good one way or another.

On the wig styling front I am now about half way through the backcombing process. Every evening this week I have promised myself I would come home from my day job and work on it but work has been so busy that I have come home too tired to do much to it. I am hoping that I might get some done on Friday as I have the afternoon off work, but I will blog with photos (if I can figure out how to do it) just as soon as I have finished it. I still need to order some of the ornaments and trinkets that I want to dress the wig with but that will have to wait until I have some cash!

In other, more practical burlesque news, I am performing at the Ringside Review in Hull on Saturday, ran by Anna Fox and starring Billie Rae, Pinny Lace and Milan (and me!)



I am pretty excited about this gig as I have heard so many nice things about the Ringside Review. I am also excited and nervous as this will be my first proper motorway drive and I will be doing it solo! I am a bit scared about going on the motorway and about undertaking such a long drive but it will be worth it in the long run as negotiating busses, coaches and trains with my huge suitcase and box of props makes me flapped and furious! So wish me luck, and assuming I don't die in a twisted heap of metal by the side of the road I'll let you all know how it goes.

'Til next time
x
Emerald

Getting Back on the Horse (or should that be Jackalope?)

Dearests,
After a very prickly period working on my Jackalope act (see the previous post to see how prickly!) I have dusted myself off and got back on the horse and things seem to be progressing forward, finally.

The big problems I had with this act were the antlers and the wig(s). In the antler situation I did not have the heart in the end to request a refund from the chap who made them – he obviously tried his best. So I went to my sister’s and had a chat with her other half who has a degree in product design. I told him about the prop maker’s idea of moulding some sort of cap to go under the wig which the antlers could be bolted onto. He immediately started Googling and came up with this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=POLYMORPH%20PLASTIC

It’s called Polymorph and if I remember my secondary school DT classes then it’s a low temperature thermoplastic plastic. Meaning it can be moulded when you heat it up in hot water.
The original plan was to make the cap out of this and mould it around my head (!). However, my sister came up with an even smarter idea – to mould a new pair of antlers out of the Polymorph. She kindly went away and knocked me up a small prototype and I was pleasantly surprised. The Polymorph is strong and durable with a tiny bit of flexibility so it isn’t brittle (although it moulds to itself very easily so if an antler did break it would only need heating up a little to repair). It is also unfeasibly light. Sis brought the antler over wrapped in bubble wrap and when she handed it to me I thought she had had a brainstorm and forgot to put the antler inside the wrap! That’s how light it was.

So Sis is now beavering away with her ‘House of Emerald’ project to produce me antlers version 2 (in reality it’s actually version 5, I think, if you count the attempts I made myself with wire and papier mache etc some months ago) and I am optimistic about the results. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

On the wig front there have been mixed results. The woman who I paid to send me the wigs has still not responded to my emails or sent out the wigs so I requested a refund. As I am sure you are not surprised to hear, I have not received that refund and the wigs still have not been sent. At the end of my tether with the whole thing, I decided to open a dispute with Paypal to reclaim my money. Paypal said that because more that 45 days had passed they wouldn’t help me – I was on my own. This was frustrating. For an international service when the seller is a third party middle man between you and another company 45 days is not always going to be long enough to know there is a problem. So I contacted Barclays to ask them to do a Visa Chargeback. They were quite happy to help me until they found out I had paid via Paypal, at which point they said it was not their problem and that Paypal should help me (ha!) but not until they had passed me around and kept me on hold for 25 minutes. I spoke to Trading Standards who said that it was out of their jurisdiction as the site is US based and finally I contacted the Better Business Bureau which is, apparently, the American equivalent of Trading Standards. They are now chasing her up but they may have no luck as one of the posters on the forum who recommended the wig lady told me that since having the baby she has moved and not given a forwarding business address!

So I am a bit stuck with these wigs – people on the forum keep assuring me that she will get round to sending the wigs/refunding me eventually but either way I would never use this seller again. Slow delivery I can just about deal with but neglecting to respond to any correspondence just shows an absolute lack of regard for the customer and makes me fuming!

On a more positive note though, this whole debacle meant I ended up getting the wigs elsewhere and I have been delighted with the product and the service. Even though I had found a couple of US based sites that sold the same wig and would ship to the UK, I decided not to go with them as time has been ticking on while this woman has fannied around. I thought a UK site might speed up the process so I went with www.annabelleswigs.co.uk . I was aware of Annabelle’s from Ministry of Burlesque forum as Claire who runs the site is a poster on MoB so I thought I would give them a try. If nothing else I knew she would be contactable if anything went wrong! I ended up calling the shop as I had a few questions before I bought and I ended up having a lovely chat with Claire and bought two wigs and some weft extensions (the idea being I could use the wefts if I needed to bulk out the wig and I also had a spare that I could use if the original went wrong!). I had them sent to my day job address and, after ordering on Friday, when I came in yesterday they had arrived (I think they came on Monday while I was off).

The wigs are gorgeous quality, they feel so silky and full – I may not even need the extra wefts (though it’s good to have them just in case). So last night I cracked on with styling one for my Jackalope. I have a source photograph of what I want it to look like and a few basic tips I have picked up from trawling Google and Cosplay.com but apart from that I’m on my own. I have wanted to have a go at wig styling for so long now but when I sat with my wig pinned to the stand and my tail comb in hand I have to admit I felt a certain amount of trepidation. It is possible I could be in the process of ruining a perfectly good wig here! On the other hand; nothing ventured, nothing gained, and since I don’t have the opportunity to go on a wig styling course self-taught will have to be the order of the day. The style I have picked for the wig is not something that involves a great deal of advanced technique and as it is a messy style there is plenty of room for mistakes – pinpoint accuracy is not paramount. However, I have been taking it slowly, working on the wig patiently and in very small sections. So far it is taking shape in roughly the way I want it to but I know that the parts at the front on the brow and the sides will be the hardest bit and also the most visible (I started at the bottom-back so that any mistakes I made whilst finding my stroke would be hidden under the rest of the wig!).

So wish me luck with the wig styling! I am taking pictures as I go and I will post them all into the blog with some step by step notes once the piece is finished. I found wig styling tutorials and advice a little thin on the ground so I want to share my experiences and let people know what worked for me and what didn’t. Also, if anyone has any wig styling advice they would like to share with me I will be all ears!

‘Til next time
X
Emerald