Partner Laila's Practice of Final Design

I first talked through will laila the look and showed her my final hair charts (the final altered one for the back from after this session is seen below), while going through how to create each section we did make some alterations to adapt the back section onto my hair and using crimping to create a thicker base to work with at the front of the head.

When practicing the back of the hair design we realized that i didn't have as much hair as the girl i had practiced my idea on so we had to come up with a design that would work better on my hair, i decided to create a double plait around the head to give the same effect and pinning the smaller plait in the middle this didn't looks as strange as the design we previously tried to replicate. In the final assessment laila will make sure the pins are hidden and i will provided her with the correct colored pins.

Laila seamd confident when creating the french plait and the time for her to complete this was in under 15 minutes although this was her first time at creating the look. When she Practiced the design again after it only took her 10 mins to complete the whole back section.

With the front of the hair i created to triangular props made from sponge and covered in black tights for laila to experiment with, they will be the same props for the final assessment. With our first try at the front of the hair we came across another issue as i have a head band the props have to sit very far forward meaning that she can only section a certain amount of hair from just in front of the ear. This then meant that the hair was not thick enough to cover the whole prop this is when i decided to crimp the hair as from my final design idea anyway i had initially wanted the front to by crimped but it was not until the crimping workshop i realized how well this would work on the front section. After laila had crimped my hair covering the prop was much easier and more time efficient though i need to make sure for my final assessment i get bun pins as this will help hold the prop in place better. Laila and i have decided she will crimp my hair before hand to save time in the assessment.  

I feel after this session laila is confident with my design and feels as though she is able to carry out all elements of the design well and in the time she has. We will be meeting up early morning of assessment day to practices and communicate the design as a recap.

Presentation feedback

Presentation feedback from Seema: > Very Impressed with idea, took breath away> Try incorporating wool in final design, maybe try using wire for strength to hold up the structure. 

I thought the presentation went well and when getting the good feedback about the woolen head piece i began to really picture an idea of the look in my head further incorporating this in with my makeup designs which have taken inspiration from tribal war makeup similarly to how the Elizabethans would paint on their faces to be seen as more wealthy etc... furthermore this will also save time in dyeing extensions and more time on communicating with laila on how to carry out the design. Although i will need to experiment on using either glue or a strong hold hair spray or even wire to make the structure stand on its own. 

I need to experiment further with this and also create the final hair charts and a step by step explanation on how laila my partner will carry out the design. 

Final Experimentation Process

I was planning on buying synthetic hair extensions but wanted something i could practice with in the mean time i thought about using wool as it was similar to hair and i could work with it in the way i would have done with my extensions, i created the structure similarly to in my initial design image and recreated the different colours within the plaits to see what effect this had. although i wool wouldn't stand up by itself i had to add cardboard to the back, i like the textural effect this has and i worked well in allowing my to gain a better understanding of how the other components within the hair style would work with the head band in the middle.  

When testing the front section i took on board the comments sema gave me when choosing my final design about how i would create the triangular effect at the front rather than the more rounded structure i had created when testing initially. I tried to tease the hair into a triangular shape using pins and a sock stuffing the tights so one end had more in creating a similar shape, as i couldn't get hold of any foam which was the material sema suggested i use. I would like to experiment using foam as i think this would hold and stay allot better as the sock seemed to be quite heavy in the hair and i had to use allot of pins to hold the prop up, furthermore i need to make sure that in my final hair charts it is clear the prop has to sit further forward neither to the ear and hair line as otherwise the headband will not sit properly.

When testing the back styling of the hair i had initially in my practice plaited lots of sections of the hair and wound them around although this created a textured look i felt it looked to messy and it was quite heavy and falling down. I improvised with the hair and found french plaiting the hair within this way created a lovely textured plaited shape, but still looks neat and tidy unlike my previous practice this also was very time efficient for my partner laila to do in our final assessment. 

I love the texture with the hair plaited and the woolen plaited head band, they work well together. and think that when my extensions arrive i want to experiment with the colour to look similar to the colours within the wool i used. 

FINAL DESIGN

In class we presented our three final design ideas with our final development this was the main image that most people liked as it was the most contemporary with its own style while still incorporating the Elizabethan techniques and feel to the look. This is also personally my favorite design i feel that i have incorporated all aspects from our initial research and practical lessons creating a design using the Elizabethan techniques we have been shown. 

The design i feel represents the new Elizabethan the large structure as used by queen Elizabeth to represent power and wealth while the layered plaited structure takes elements from today's Afro Caribbean culture of which i have previously researched furthermore the geometric fringe influenced through my research of the tight precises feel of the Elizabethan looks, designing a style that mixes two cultures recent and pasted and creates a new experimental look.

Crimping [Technical Workshop]

Step 1: Section the hair starting from the bottom working your way up the head, clip the other hair out of the way. Depending on the hair type if it’s in bad condition or rapidly died use a lower heat.

Step 2: crimp starting close to the scalp and work your way down the section. And repeat all over, once crimped you can create a candy floss texture by brushing the crimp out.

I liked the crimping workshop although I have heard of crimpers I didn't realize what nice texture and versatile structure it gave the hair this also made the hair very easy to work with afterwards as it made the hair a lot thicker to wrap around the prop and held in place easier when pinning. I liked the final look was very simple but effective. 

Padding [Technical work]

Step 1; to make a prop stuff a pair of tights to the shape and size desired, use black for dark hair and nude tights for blonde hair, you can stuff them with either couch role or a wadding.

Step 2; section the front section away from the back making sure you leave enough hair to cover the whole prop if they have very thin hair leave more to cover. Plait or French plait the section of that you want the prop to sit on to create a strong base and to stop the prop from slipping down the head.

Step 3; Pin the prop onto the plait piercing through the tights for more support wrap hair around the prop and pin at the back pinning into the prop again to hide them.

Or

Step 1; starting at the top of the section of hair role the prop down into the hair and pin at the back

I found this technique really easy and quick although i found i didn't have a thick enough section to cover the whole prop.I liked creating the patterns with the curled hair onto of the prop structure and will look to use this technique within the final design as it would create a large structure quickly. 

Testing Design ideas 'Wild'

I used the technique we learnt in class to create the large heart structure on either side rolling a sock into the hair and pining in place, i began pin curling the loose hair at the back but ran out of pins so had to stop, but this effect would continue over the whole structure, i further began experimenting with objects to use as shown in my design using necklaces and a belt i feel gave it a more contemporary feel.