{"id":1548,"date":"2023-02-27T12:01:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T17:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2023-04-07T08:03:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T12:03:54","slug":"big-hair-at-birka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.biblionalia.info\/leah\/blog\/2023\/02\/27\/big-hair-at-birka\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Hair at Birka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My first event here in the East Kingdom was A Market Day at Birka in January 2023. Once I decided to go, I knew I had to do something to make a little bit of a splash, if only for my own brain – a sort of arrival moment, not unlike Vivacious.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Drag Queen Vivacious entering the workroom of RuPaul’s Drag Race.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Quick note: WordPress didn’t want to play nice with images, so all my process photos are in a slideshow toward the end of the post. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d been watching Rise of the Phoenixes again and was falling in love with big hair. Inspired, I dug back through my notes and scanned pages of old inter-library loans and landed on this representation of a carving on Princess Yongtai\u2019s tomb1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Because of the height and potential weight issues, I knew I didn\u2019t want to try to create this piece with hair. This would need an under-structure, and adding hair on top of that could potentially add too much weight and make the piece difficult to wear. We have an example of a wooden hairpiece from the Tang Dynasty2<\/a><\/sup>, so I knew that I had some options. I decided to use a combination of wire armature and paper-mache for my headpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used a styrofoam head to model my headpiece on. These heads aren\u2019t the same size as actual human heads, so I removed the headpiece from time to time to check it on my own head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I had the wire armature, I used cardstock and masking tape to do the initial side and back forms. I then used newspaper and more masking tape to do the form the front sections. Once I had a form I liked, I started covering it with paper-mache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my paper-mache, I used brown kraft paper and diluted woodglue. I tore the paper so that the edges would blend and used a combination of my fingers and an old paintbrush to apply the glue to the paper and then the paper to the headpiece. I did one layer of paper-mache, then went back and added another layer in the areas where the forms were more complicated (the front, around the top edge, the inside edge, and the back) to add strength and ensure smoothness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the paper-mache had dried, I added a layer of a white glue and joint compound mixture to once again smooth out the forms. Once that was dry, I sanded it to remove my tool marks and fingerprints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the form complete, I mixed up acrylic paint to try and match my hair color. I did several coats, starting with a base layer of darker red and then doing washes and dry-brushing to get as close as I could to my hair color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n