My Journey with the Elizabethans - Assessment Outcomes

The assessment was quite a daunting experience, as it was our first assessment of the course and none of us really knew what to expect or how it would turn out.  During the first week of assessments, I had my design created on me by my partner Ashleigh.  We had practiced my designs previously, however I was still nervous as to how it would turn out on the day.

Having to sit in the chair and not be able to say anything to your partner was really frustrating, as I wanted to be the creator, not the one being created on.  I was a bit anxious as to whether or not Ashleigh would finish my look in time, as she took longer than she usual to do the pin curls.  She attached the bow in the correct position and connected the two pieces with a spare piece of synthetic hair, with literally seconds to spare.  Unfortunately she did not have time to take out the hair grips that were holding the pin curls in place.  However the look was still completed and looked good, it was just the finishing touches that were missing.

I was happy with the outcome of Ashleigh's creation of my design and I felt that the assessment was quite successful overall.  The only thing that I would criticise Ashleigh for is her timing, although she got the main features of the hairstyle finished, so there is not much that I can complain about.

Below are some of the final images from the assessment.

 

 

In the second week of assessments, it was my turn to create Ashleigh's design on her.  We had practiced it previously and it had gone well, however that didn't stop me from worrying that something could still go wrong in the assessment.
This time around I was a lot more comfortable, being to one in charge of the creation, rather than having to  sit and anticipate how it would all turn out.  Although this time, I had to worry about whether or not I was creating my partner's look in the way that she wanted me to.  My timing in the assessment was good, and I managed to finish Ashleigh's look with a few minutes spare to go over and touch up anything that might need it.  Ashleigh's hair design wasn't difficult to create, but it took a long time to do as she has really think, long hair, meaning that there was a lot of layers to have to create texture with.
I think that I managed my time well, and that I did a fairly good job with her design.  I was happy with the outcome of my creation of Ashleigh's design and I hope that she was too.
Below are some of the final images from the assessment.

 
 

My Journey with the Elizabethans - My Partner's Hair Design

For the assessment, we will be working with our partner's hairstyles that they have designed and we will be creating them on them.  Ashleigh's design contains lots of different textures, including crimps, curls and plaits.  Her design is a french plait on the left coming back to the nape of the neck and pinned with hair grips.  The right side of the hair is loose, with different sections crimped, curled, plaited, left loose and sprayed red.

Ashleigh's design has features that I feel confident in creating, and that I feel I will be able to create well and to her liking.  In order to understand Ashleigh's design properly, we went through it together in our studio session this week.  Ashleigh provided me with a set of instructions, telling me exactly how to recreate her hairstyle.  I then practiced her design on her hair and we went through any problems that occurred whilst I was creating her look.  For example, she originally wanted me to thread a wire of pearls through her hair to incorporate within the french plait, however the wired pearls weren't long enough and didn't thread through the plait very easily.  We decided that it would be best if she attached the pearls to hair grips that I could then pin into place within the plait.

Below is the step by step that Ashleigh provided me with:

Equipment needed:

Crimpers

Large curling iron

Sectioning comb

Sectioning clips

Hair grips

Hairband

Pearled bobby pins

Red colour hairspray

Step by step guide:

- Begin by placing the parting more to the left hand side of the head

- Create a French plait on the left side of the head and pin when you reach the nape of the neck

- With the rest of the hair, create clean layers of, working from the bottom up, using a sectioning comb and sectioning clips

- Take your first layer and alternately crimp and curl the hair in sections, leaving some bits loose and untouched

- Using the red hairspray, spray a section or two of hair in the layer, ensuring to hold a piece of paper behind it to stop the colour from running anywhere else

- Repeat this method for the other layers until the whole head is crimped, curled, and coloured in various sections

- When you reach the top layer of hair, back comb it underneath at the roots and then create three normal plaits within the very top section

- Once the whole head is crimped and curled, spray with hairspray

- Going back to the French plait, take your pearled bobby pins and pin them into the middle of the plait, creating a row of pearls down the center

My Journey with the Elizabethans - My Final Hair Design #2

Previously I posted further experimentations of my final hair design for my assessment.  After that I purchased some already crimped hair pieces that were the closest match to my hair colour that I could find.  I also purchased some pop socks and wadding.

When creating my hair pieces, I began by stuffing the pop socks with wadding and pushing it about to make a bow shape.  I then tied the ends of the pop socks and wrapped the hair pieces around them, and tied them to the pop socks as well.  I made the two bow parts separately, with the aim to then join them together to make just one hair piece, however I could not find a way to do this effectively without ruining the already made pieces.

I then practiced my final look using the hair pieces to see how it will turn out.  I think that the design worked well on me and this is the method that I am going to describe to my partner for the assessment.

Communicating my design to my partner:
So that my partner, Ashleigh, can create my hair design in the way that I want her to, I have created a pack for her.  The pack includes my initial collage of the design, my hair charts that I made, the images displayed above of how I want the outcome to look and a step by step guide of how to create my look.  This is explained below:

Equipment needed:

Crimpers

9mm curling iron

Sectioning comb

Sectioning clips

Hair grips

Bobby pins

Hairband

Hair piece

Step by step guide:

- Begin by separating the front section of hair from the rest (using behind the ears as guidelines)

- Separate the section again into small sections to create a row of pin curls

- Using the curling irons, create the pin curls and pin into place on top of the forehead using hair grips

REMEMBER: remove the hair grips just before the end

- Tie the rest of the hair back into a tight ponytail and secure with a hairband

- Create a bun with the hair from the ponytail, leaving two small sections of hair out of the bun

- Secure the bun using hair grips and bobby pins

- Crimp the loose sections of hair

- Attach the bow hair pieces to the front of the bun using hair grips and bobby pins

- Pin the two pieces together in the middle and cover the middle section with a spare piece of synthetic crimped hair

My Journey with the Elizabethans - My Final Hair Design

For my final hairstyle, I have decided to go with the bow design.  This is because I found that it worked best in my initial experimentations, and it is also what I would class as my best definition of a contemporary Elizabethan look.  I would say this because my other two designs were either too contemporary or too Elizabethan, whereas this design has a good balance between the two.

When I initially trialled this design, I crimped my hair and created the bow from that (see post 'Experimenting with my Designs' for my thoughts on how that attempt went).  After that experimentation, I was advised that making a hair piece for my bow might be an effective way to get the look exactly as I want it when my partner creates the design on me in the assessment.  This is because I know how to create a hair bow with precision and the detail that I want, whereas my partner might not be as confident in this area of styling.
Taking this advise on board, I took some old extensions to see how a hair piece might work with this design.
- I began by taking the extensions and creating a bow shape out of them.
- I then started on my own hair, separating the front section of hair and creating a row of pin curls.
- Then I pulled the rest of my hair back and pinned it up into a bun that was flat to my head.
- I finished off by pinning the hair extensions in the bow shape to the bun that was on top of my head.
I felt that the process of this method was really effective and simple to achieve my desired look.  The aesthetic feel of this look was not the best, as the hair piece did not match my hair colour and I had not made it to be a proper hair prop.  Also the positioning of the hair grips on the pin curls is faulty, and that will be worked on.  However I think that the use of a hair piece will be taken forward with my final design.

The Hair Studio - CRIMPING & HAIR RATS

Equipment used:

Crimper

Sectioning comb

Sectioning clips

Hair grips

Bobby pins

Hair rat

How to CRIMP HAIR with a HAIR RAT

Begin by crimping the hair that you want to create a shape with using the hair rat

To crimp the hair, make sure that the crimpers are on a high heat to get the best outcome

Section the hair cleanly and hold the crimpers close to the roots of the hair and press down

Move the crimpers along your section of hair and repeat this on all other sections until the hair is fully crimped

Once this is done, select the correct size and shape rat that you want to use

REMEMBER: use one that is a close colour match to your model’s hair colour

Wrap the ends of hair around the rat and roll the hair around it until into place on the scalp

Using hair grips and bobby pins, pin securely into place on the head, piercing the rat with grips and bringing them away before turning back to pin them into the head

Repeat the pinning action until securely in place

Make sure that there are no gaps in between the hair and that the rat cannot be seen

My Journey with the Elizabethans - Experimenting with my Designs

I tried this design out on my friends hair to see how it might work out.  It was quite simple and easy to do and didn’t take a lot of time either.  However the finished look wasn’t quite how I had imagined it to look.  The braids on the top of the head were the main problem for me, as they didn't appear as fully as I had imagine them too.  When creating them, I found that there wasn’t enough hair to make multiple, full plaits, and unfortunately they ended up looking more like corn row braids.  To make the plaits appear fuller, I could try back-combing the section under the plaits, and creating five normal plaits, instead of french plaits.  This would give the illusion of fuller plaits.  Also, french plaits tend to pull the hair tighter and make it appear flatter against the scalp.

I felt that this design was a bit too simple as well, and that there wasn't anything in particular that stood out to me to make me think that I should use this for my final idea.  I feel that I can be more creative with my hair, so I think that it's time to re-think this design or scrap it altogether.

I tried this second look out on my friend again, and it was also quite simple to achieve, however I did face some difficulties trying to get it right, as the only curling tongs that I had available were not the right size.  Because of this, the barrel curls on top of the head ended up too big compared to the rest of the hair.  Instead of looking like the barrel curls that I imagined, they turned out to look a bit like a set of invisible hair rollers that had been left on the head.  Apart from the faults in the curls, the rest of the hairstyle worked quite well.  I managed to create the bun well, with it being evenly positioned all the way round.  I also quite liked the added ribbon, as this just added an extra detail to the design.

To improve this design I would need to work on the barrel and spiral curls.  If I was stuck with the wrong equipment again, I could try creating the curl with the bigger tongs, but then wrapping the curls tightly around a smaller object, such as a pencil, before pinning into place on the head.  However, I still do not feel that this design tests my abilities, so I think that this design needs some improving.

When trialling out this design, I began by crimping my hair.  I then pulled my hair back into a high ponytail on top of my head and tucked the ends of the ponytail back under the hairband.  I split the bun in two and pinned the bottoms of the bow sections to my head.  Then I brought the loose end of the ponytail over the middle of the separation to the front and pinned it into place.  Having crimped my hair, I found that my hair was a lot easier to manipulate and create into a bow shape.  The crimped effect also helped the hair to hold it's structure, so not many products were needed to keep it held into place.
I really like this design and have been more passionate about it than the others from the beginning.  I think that this is because the bow is such a contemporary twist, but as it is an up-do it is still in keeping with the Elizabethan theme of hairstyles.  To further develop this look, I think that I will experiment with other varieties of textures that might work well with this look.

The Hair Studio - CURLING & HAIR RATS

Equipment used:

9mm curling irons

Sectioning comb

Sectioning clips

Hair grips

Bobby pins

Hair rat

How to CURL with a HAIR RAT

Begin by curling the section of hair that you want to use to create a shape using the hair rat

Once this is done, select the correct size and shape rat that you want to use

REMEMBER: use one that is a close colour match to your model’s hair colour

Put the hair rat in place on the head and using the hair grips and bobby pins, pierce them through hair rat and away from it, before turning back on it and pinning it securely into the rat once again

Repeat this pinning action until the rat is securely in place

Then take your section of curled hair and bring it over the hair rat and pin into place

Make sure that there are no gaps in between the hair and that the rat cannot be seen