Chibi Jack Instructions
Making the Wig
Wed 3 Jul, 2007
Lee Thompson-Herbert
Basic Wig Construction
The wig is made up of two or three bands of wefted braids sewn to the scalp. Each layer's ribbon is hidden by the braids of the next layer above it. The top layer's ribbon is hidden by the edge of the pate (skull cap). In addition, there's several braids bundled together over to the right side near the temple which support the bone ornament, and a large three-strand braid at the back of the head. The bandana helps hide the seam between the skull cap and the braids.
Four types of yarn used: Lion Brand "Homespun" in Black, and Russet to give the braids bulk, and mohair-blend yarns to make it look like hair. I used Red Heart Symphony in Redwood and Patons Lacette in Touch of Black. Most braids were a roughly 2/3 auburn colors to 1/3 black. Each braid in the upper layer had three strands of Homespun in them and eight strands of mohair-like yarns, which were doubled over when the yarns were twisted to form the deadlock. Each dread was then individually sewn onto a 1/4" brown ribbon, forming a wefted band of dreadlocks. The scalp was covered in a brown felt wig cap that had loose yarn sewn down onto it with enough length to cover the ribbon band at the top of the wefted braids. A second row of wefted dreadlocks was initially sewn down at the base of the skull, from ear to ear, to give the wig enough thickness. Additional braids were sewn to the scalp at the right temple area, above where the bandana sits. The bandana itself covers the seam between the scalp hair and the wefted bands and is tacked down with concealed stitching along the front of the head.
Photos of the finished wig before the hair ornaments were added:
 Front View
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 Back View
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 Side View, Left
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 Side View, Right
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Twisting Chibi Jack's Dreadlocks
Chibi Jack's wig has two different thickness of braids, in several different lengths. I'll list them out, so you can cut the yarn pieces and bundle them before you start twisting them into dredlocks.
The underlayer, which runs along the nape of the neck, roughly from ear to ear is made up of 7 braids that have been folded over and wefted.
Cut your yarn into 32" pieces. Each braid is made up of:
1 black homespun
1 auburn homespun
3 black lacette
3 redwood symphony
The upper layer of braids follows the edge of the skullcap and runs roughly from temple to temple. It's made up of 8 braids that are folded over and wefted, but of a larger size than the underlayer braids.
Cut your yarn into 36" lengths. Each braid is:
1 black homespun
2 auburn homespun
4 black lacette
4 redwood symphony
All the other braids use this same composition, though they may be different lengths!
There are also two longer braids at the front of the head on each side. You'll be sewing one of each (unfolded) to the very end of your wefting band to cover it up.
So make up two (2) 28" braids
and two (2) 32" braids
If your wig is looking a little sparse, you may need to add a third layer of wefted braids,
a middle layer that runs roughly from ear to ear in between the other two lines of wefting.
In that case, use regular thickness braids, and cut your yarn into 36" lengths.
You'll probably need 5 (doubled) braids to cover the area.
Jack has a little gather of braids and curls on the left side of his head, near the front where the bone marlinspike is tied in. For that section, you'll need two braids that will be attached folded at unequal lenths (to give you four different length braids).
Make one (1) 36" braid
and one (1) 40" braid
Lastly, you need the large braid at the back of the head.
To construct this braid, you will need to make three (3) 36" long dredlocks.
Cut 6 pieces of 72" long mohair-like yarn (redwood should be the prominent color).
Chibi Jack's beard braids use the same twist method, though they're smaller. You'll want to make them as two seperate braids, even though they're short.
Make two (2) 4" braids
cut 8" lenths of:
1 black homespun
2 redwood symphony
Spin these braids very tightly, or you won't be able to fit beads on them later.
[Insert Photo of Wefting here]
When wefting dreadlocks, it's easiest to actually make each finished braid twice the length you want. The braid is then doubled over and sewn to the weft ribbon on the fold. You then only have to sew down half as many separate braids as you actually need for the finished wig. In that case, you'd measure out your yarn four times the finished length, plus 2-3 inches to deal with the way the yarn bunches up when twisted.
Conair battery-operated braider. Igia also makes several models, including some with three hooks. For this particular application, the cheaper two-hook machines are fine. If you don't have a braider or don't want to spend the $15-$20 for one, I suggest you buy a book on rope making, as this is just a machine-assisted method of making rope-twist.
Open the hooks by pressing straight up on the bar beneath the hook. The instructions don't actually say this anywhere, and I spent a week or so prying the hooks up with my fingernails before I discovered this trick.
Catch one end of your yarn under each hook
Make sure the tension is even and that all the strands are caught snugly under the hooks.
loop the center of your yarn over a hook fastened to a wall, bookshelf, door, or some stable surface that you have enough room to stand back from and put the yarn under tension.
These machines have two switch positions. Position A twists the individual strands. You may see the strands start to twist over each other near the very end as the machine gets to the maximum tension it can twist.
Turn the switch to Position B. The headpiece will turn, twisting the strands around each other. Keep twisting, even if the braid starts to kink up. Go until machine starts to sound like it's straining. Stop, but keep the braid under tension for the next parts.
Holding tightly to the braid, push the bars up to release the yarn hooks. Keep hold of the braid, set the machine down.
Make an overhand knot on the end of the braid to secure it. Pull tight. DO NOT LET GO OF THE BRAID END
Keep the braid under tension. Absolutely don't let go from the knotted end. If you do, the hook end of the braid will be too loose in the finished braid.
While keeping hold of the knotted end, slip the braid off the anchor hook. The braid will spin and twist as it unwinds. Gently run your hand down the braid from the knotted end. You should end up with a fairly even-tensioned rope. It'll be much looser than what you took off the machine originally, but tight enough to hold up to being handled. Brushing it through your hands should raise the nap of the mohair yarn, making it look more like real hair. Set the braid aside and start the next one. You'll need enough braids to cover the area from temple to temple, then a second band from ear to ear along the base of the skull. You'll also need some long and short single braids for the bunch of hair that's pulled up to the right side of Chibi Jack's head, and three long-ish dreds to use as the base for the large braid on the back of Chibi Jack's head. I tried to copy Johnny Depp's Captain Jack wig pretty faithfully, and that involved a lot of hair.
Assembling the large rear braid
(Uses three 36" long braids, six 72" long pieces of mohair yarn)
Thread the mohair yarns through the top loop of the dredlocks, then tie an overhand knot, joining the three dredlocks and the mohair together. Now, start braiding, dividing the mohair up so that there are 4 mohair yarns to each dredlock (this is a three-strand braid). Braid down to roughly 12" length and tie off with a small piece of redwood mohair. knot the dredlocks so that they have a short tail and trim them close. Trim the mohair yarns so that the finished braid looks slightly rough.
The piece is now ready to be attached to the assembled wig.
The Wig Cap
You'll also need to cover the pate of Chbi Jack's head, or he'll look like he has male-pattern baldness. For this, you'll have to construct a felt Wig Cap and cover it with yarn, which will then be lightly glued to Chibi Jack's head. Final tacking down will be done by hand-sewing, so be very sparing with the glue, it's just there to hold things in place while you're sewing.
Make four bundles of yarn, each composed of 6 strands of Russet Homespun, and 2 strands of black Homespun. Make the bundles about 14-15in long, and tie each bundle about 1 inch from the end with a strand of russet mohair yarn.
Wig cap on a styrofoam ball stand. Assemble the wig cap from a piece of brown felt using the pattern on this PDF sheet
You may want to put a piece of plastic wrap over your form to keep the Wig Cap from sticking to it. Put the Wig Cap on the form, reasonably centered, then attach your first pair of yarn bundles using long straight pins or T pins. Each bundle goes on slightly to one side of the center line (don't cross over, butt them up against each other), and this first pair goes on the REAR half of the head.
[Insert Diagram]
Attach your second pair of yarn bundles ahead of the first pair. So you're covering area in front of the midline now, butting up against the yarn you've already placed on the wig cap. When you're satisfied that the placement is more or less even, lift up the yarn strands and apply a very small amount of white glue or tacky glue to the wig cap, then gently set the yarn back down. Make sure the yarn spreads evenly across the Wig Cap, covering the middle third of the head (front and back will still be bare). Don't saturate the wig cap with glue and don't apply glue to the very edge of the wig cap. Allow to dry overnight.
Carefully sew the yarn locks down to the Wig Cap at the very edge (that's why you didn't saturate it with glue at the edge).
Trim the loose edges at the top of the crown. Don't worry if there's a "bald" spot, it'll get covered up.
Take the locks on the Right side of the scalp and run them front to back. Note where the edges of the yarn falls.
Pull the yarn back and apply a light coat of glue, keeping within the boundaries you noted a moment ago.
Pat the yarn back down.
Pin the yarn in place with T-pins. Allow it to dry.
Pull the locks on the left side of the scalp back to front (opposite of what you just did) and repeat the gluing process.
Okay, now you have to carefully remove the scalp from the wig stand so you can sew down the edges of the areas you just glued. To avoid tangling all those trailing locks use the following method. Remove the pins. Take the trailing end on one side and carefully pull it up over the edge so it makes a nice brushed-over looking fringe. Don't pat it down, you want the yarns to stay raised up from the scalp.
Go ahead and let go. The yarns will frizz up some as you let go of the ends. That's okay. Just don't let them drop down off the scalp.
Carefully put your hand under the yarns you let go of, palm down. Try not to diturb the yarns too much. Put your thumb under the edge of the skull cap.
Slowly pick the skull cap up off the wig stand. Keep at least you index finger under the the looped yarns to make sure that the loop at the edge of the skullcap remains intact. The rest doesn't matter too much.
Try and keep those yarns at the edge smoothed down while you put them through the sewing machine
If you loop some of the mohair yarns, it's okay. Those can be tucked under. Just don't let them get away. They must be sewn down.
Put the skull cap back on the wig stand.
Flip the yarn back over the scalp again. It should stay better now.
Do the other side the same way.
We've still got some length of yarn left. We're going to wrap that around the outside of the skullcap. Grab the piece that's hanging down on the right side of the scalp and carry it around the front of the head to the left-rear (or even the back) of the head. Note where that is and put a marker pin in the scalp.
Use a small piece of the auburn mohair yarn to tie the yarn ends together in one tail.
Let it drop.
Now do the other side (the lefthand piece that will go around the back of the head). This one will lie tucked underneath the other piece, so it must be secured first.
Tie off the end with the auburn mohair and trim the ends close.
Pin in place for the moment.
Note where the yarn falls, and where the edges of the locks are. Use pins to mark the boundaries
Let the hair down and apply glue in an even coat, taking care not to get it anyw
here that would show when the yarn locks are put back afterwards.
Put the yarn back in place, pat down and pin. securely.
Pull the lock that goes around the front of the head into place and mark where the end falls, as well as where the edges are. Glue it the same way you did the other, taking care to tuck the ends of the first piece under the second.
The crown of the wig is finished now. Allow the glue to dry and get ready to sew Chibi Jack's dreadlocks down onto ribbons to make wefted bands if you haven't already done so.
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