Practical - Frizzing and Embellishments

We began this practical by learning a texturing technique called frizzing. This was the first technique that we had been taught so far that I wasn't already familiar with, so I was quite excited to see what it was and whether I could actually achieve it. It is quite fiddly and it's not something that I can do very quickly, but I still found that I was able to create a clean looking result using the tools I was provided with.

The utensils that I used to create frizzed hair were:

• A paddle brush
• A pintail comb
• Hair pins
• Straightening irons
• Kirby grips 
• Hair clips  

Step 1 - I started by brushing the whole head of hair through with the paddle brush in order to remove any knots or tangles that would make it difficult to section the hair.

Step 2 - I created a small square shaped section about 2 inches tall and wide and pinned the rest of the hair back using a hair clip or two.

Step 3 - I then took a hair pin and stretched it open into a V shape and pulled the strand of hair that I had just sectioned off through the widened pin.

Step 4 - This is where it gets fiddly. Taking the strand in one hand and the widened pin in the other, weave the hair over and under the pin, alternating sides. Keep weaving until there isn't any hair left that isn't wrapped around the pin.

Step 5 - Take a Kirby grip and secure the ends of the hair to the pin. Then using your straightening irons, clamp them over the top of the hair wrapped around the pin.

Step 6 - Leave the hair to cool to make sure that the shape of the hair is fixed and then remove the Kirby grip and the pin from the hair and you should have a wavy/ zigzagged strand like the one below.

I enjoyed this technique because it was more challenging than most of the others we have done as well as being something that I have never tried before. However, I couldn't help but think that there must be a different tool that I could use which would be easier to weave the hair around. During my first few attempts I had to restart weaving the section completely as the hair would slip out of the bottom of the pin when it bent inwards from the tension in the hair at the top.  I thought a tuning fork could work as the bars are stiffer and won't close in.

This practical lesson also tested how much research we had done so far into contemporary Elizabethan hair styles. We were asked to create a style that used the techniques we had been taught so far as well as the knowledge we had gained through our research. I managed to create two different styles during this session, which surprised me because it usually takes me forever to create something that I am actually willing to show anyone. I felt confident that I could produce something of a reasonable standard and I think that's why I worked so quickly as I was motivated.

The first style that I created was very simple and would probably have looked better as an element of a design where there was a lot more going on, more texture or height or maybe some props.

So from there it was quite clear that I needed to add something to it but I wasn't quite sure what. I knew I didn't want to change the texture as I wanted to see if I could create an Elizabethan look without the hair being crimped as this seemed far too obvious to me. I was considering curling the ends of the hair but decided it looked very bridal and that wasn't what I was trying to achieve. At the beginning off the session Helen had left some props on the side for us to try putting into the hair and I thought about the pearls that Elizabeth would often wear in her hair. This thought decided for me that I was going to try and incorporate a prop. I'm not used to working with props so I didn't really know what to pick up, therefore I just grabbed the first thing that caught my eye which was the end of a green ribbon and both the ribbon and a gold chain came out from underneath everything. The ribbon was green, which in the Elizabethan ear was considered a royal colour, which was perfect. The gold chain represented wealth to me so I thought I'd try playing around with it as well. I was tempted a while ago to buy a head chain as they were very popular in festival fashion so this is the first direction that I took the chain. I found out very quickly that it didn't look at all Elizabethan so had to be more creative than that. I tried draping it over the plait in various different ways, and finally decided after pinning it along the plait itself that I didn't like the way it looked and moved onto the ribbon.

 I wanted the ribbon to look less like the chain did, so I didn't want to just place it onto the hair. It looked too much like an after thought, which in all fairness; it was, however it didn't need to look that way. My first thought was to stitch it into the braid which I enjoyed doing, the final outcome looked like it had been difficult to achieve when it wasn't at all which I was impressed with. It enhanced the style I had already created instead of being separate to it, it looked like I had planned it into the original design and I was pleased with it. Despite this, it still seemed very dull from the back. I wanted it to look good from all angles, as any style should.

I thought about bringing the two plaits into one braid at the nape of the neck but I had already used this technique and I also dont like the aesthetic of a braid stright down the back of  the neck. I thought that a bun would be neat way of bringing the hair together at the back of the head and draw attention to the front section like it would have been in the Tudors as a hair piece usually would have been worn. I only wanted it to be small so I just twisted the rest of the hair up and arond itself and secured it with as Kirby grip. I was happy with the way it looked, however it wasn't Elizabethan enough, instead it looked very bridal, too modern and contemporary.

Instead of playing around with the same design, I decided that I wanted to start over. Although I had thought crimping was too obvious a texture to give a contemporary Elizabethan hair design, I actually started by crimping the whole head of hair for my next design. I thought that maybe I was using too many contemporary elements in my desgins so it didnt come across Elizabethan. I still wanted to work with the heart shaped idea but I didnt like the way plaits looked when worked into crimped hair, they look messy to me as you cant see the details of them. I could have kept certain sections straight in order to plait them but I thought instead I could practice an alternative technique that we'd been taught as I'm quite confident working with braids.

 I didnt know how well this design was going to go as I wasnt sure I'd be able to manipulate the hair into an obvious heart shape without a rat or prop but I was very pleased with the outcome. I used kirby grips and pins to create this style, although the back of the hair didnt look very clean, if I were to do this again then I would place pins and grips in a more descrete manner. I wasnt thinking about the way the back looked as I didnt quite know if my idea was going to be a success from any angle at all. Its clear what I was trying to achieve here, it had height and a clean shape and overall I think the bouffants and the use of texture alone make the style, so I left the rest of the hair loose.

This practical session made me realise that I was more capable in terms of skill than I gave myself credit for, giving me confidence. It also instilled that planning ahead is important when creating, as my first design wasnt succesful when I was designing as I worked.