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Posts: 13I'm new at soft sculpture and would love to know if anyone can give me any ideas on how to add extra long hair to the face of certain breeds of cats and dogs. The longest mohair I can find is 3" long and I see dogs/cats done by others that have hair that is much longer. One artist told me she used the 3" but added longer hair around the face by her own technique(not needlefelting).
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Jayne Sabino
Taber, AlbertaI take it she didn't tell you her secret technique? 
I would love to know this too! I thought of maybe looking for the longest synthetic fur you can find or mohair and then trimming off the shortest areas and leaving the longer parts 
Little Bear GuyWell I know some artist actually use real hair, have no idea how they attach it though. I know it's not needle felted on, I guess it will remain a mystery and we just aren't meant to know :crackup: :crackup: trade secrets and all you know.
big hugs
Shane
KezjoyKritterzyou could zigzag the hair..umm..not sure how to explain it..have a long piece of fur or whatever youre using, then stitch it in a zigzag coming out at each point of the Z just a little bit to anchor it..would take a long time to do a whole face..its a technique used for whiskers..just a thought!! I haven't tried it myself for a face..but I have used it for whiskers and it holds well. oo I just thought of another way..you could pull it through the existing fabric before stitching it all up..you'd need a small crocheting hook or similar..not sure how you'd anchor it though...maybe glue?? dunno..anyone else got any ideas??
Kerrilyn
TuckerbearsAnyone know Brittney Spears? We could ask her hairdresser.... Just kidding. I would lover to know because I want to make a bear that looks like my dog!
TuckerbearsAnyone know Brittney Spears? We could ask her hairdresser....
Lover???? :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: Where did that come from? :crackup: :crackup:
Taber, Albertalover? that is funny! :crackup: :crackup: There's some really strong glues out there, or maybe even cut out the sizes of fur you need and lay it down the way you need to and make tiny little stitches to hold it in place? Too bad some people keep the secrets to themselves, I always like to tell mine 
when they do hair on dolls or those 'reborn' dolls, they root the hair with a fine needle-felting needle and then they coat the inside of the head with glue. hair extensions are put on with a hot melt glue gun and a special glue. I'm thinking it might be easier to buy ultra long fur like tibetian lamb and trim it.
yes I think it is the hair for dolls. There use mohair hair for the dolls too. But I don´t know how she do it.
Bear HeartsHi Jayne,
First on the long mohair, you can buy a pelt of tibitan lamb, it will take dye, and you can straighten it with a flat iron. To get the the mohair into the piece you will need a felting needle; 38 star is what I use. You will need to dip a tooth pick into fabric tac glue and dab the area where you insert the mohair. Take your needle and felt over a small staple of hair about 2 mm in diameter in the area where you glued. After you get all the hair in. wait until the glue dries and tug on it a little to get the unsecured hairs out; might be about 25% to 50% of them. Start that process again and again until you cover the area desired. Hold the hair you are felting in the direction you want it to go. I had to do this with my last bear around his eye brows I plucked a scrap of mohair and with about 7-10 tufts at a time I did the entire upper eye brows on my bear it's not hard, but takes a little practice and experiment with the amount of glue to use. The other thing you can do is cut your pattern out of the pelt, this is the best way to do it I think depending on the breed of dog.
I learned this through trial and error. I'm really new to bear making, and this I'm sure is not the definitive technique.
Hopefully someone more insightful will share with us I also want to learn if there's a better way.
Bobby :hug:
Donna's Duin BruinsCould the other person be using the long mohair that they weft (I hope that is the correct term). You buy it by the foot. All the mohair is sewn onto this long piece. Then you would just sew the piece of weft where you wanted it. They use it for doll wigs.
Donna
Donna I was thinking that...I have bought the wefts before and they get sewn in..you just trim it then.
Posts: 13Thanks everyone for their help! Does anyone know where I could buy the tibitan lamb or the wefted mohair?
And no, she didn't tell me her technique. 
Bear Heartshttp://www.shoppalstores.com/curlyfur/ This is the place a really well known artist who I've collected for years told me she gets hers from for quality. I know that she uses this stuff to make Yorkies that look really life like by brushing and ironing the hair strait. The hair on this tibetan lamb is 5-7" long, and when brushed out and ironed it can be as long as 10" You ca also use hair spray to style it.
Bobby
Taber, Albertawhat good tips! :clap: :clap:
Posts: 13Thank you so much! I have never seen a group of nicer people than on teddy-talk!! I'm so glad to be a member here!
mjbearshi woodland teddies sell long bits of mohair extensions in all sorts of colours you just group a small bundle together and sew in place instructions come with them as well they come curly then you wet them to untangle them air dry them then you can style them when you have put them in bundles ie hair straightners tongs etc they are good or i have also come across tibetan mohair in small sheets they comes on a thin suede backing you just cut what you want then sew in place again all colours just a idea hope this helps x i have seen a bear recently on ebay made frm all tibetan mohair looks fab i have been told you can buy on bigger quantitys they normally sell on 10x5 but if you ask you could get whatever you needed and just make the bear i am going to try it for a afghan hound so i will let you know how i get on as i was also having trouble getting something in the length for this dog i wanted and colouring well i have come across strawberry blonde and dark blonde just go to ebay and type in tibetan mohair and ask questions before you buy and woodland teddiesx
PottersHouse BearsI am really enjoying this info here. I just bought a tibetan lamb pelt from the supplier mentioned above. I am so anxious to get it and see what I can do with it. I have so many ideas running through my head right now.
Strange BearsAt a show once I saw this bear with really really long fur running through the mohair. I asked the artists how she did it and she fixed the long mohair inside the head and then used a very fine crochet hook to pull it through the mohair........like streaking hair when they pull it through the caps (She was a hairdresser by trade) .......she said it took ages and then she a bit of a problem stuffing the head but it was very very effective. It muts have been a pain to do because she only ever did about 3 bears and has never revisited the technique that I know of.
I wondered where people got the long long hair for dogs myself. I'm new to all this so I thought it was from mohair suppliers.
Apparantly it isn't. But, I have up till recently been sculpting and making art doll fairies and used tibetan mohair for their hair. It is usually sold on the pelt and is usually about 5" long. I was interested in getting it even longer for larger dolls so I did a search on the web of Tibetan mohair. I don't remember the actual site name but I found one that had very long hair on long strips that were called wefts as was previously mentioned here to be used on doll wigs. You might find a site by typing in doll wigs or tibetan mohair in the search bar.
Beth
Posts: 13Thanks so much to everyone for all their help. I really appreciate it!
Jayne
