Tutorial: Using Hair Sticks Pt. 2 : The French Twist

My daughter and I were playing with putting our hair up the other day. I took pictures of her using the hair sticks I make, putting her hair up in a french twist. Here's a peek at how she did it:

First, brush your hair back into a pony tail at the base of your head.












Michelle is right handed, so she pulled the hair off to the right and started twisting it counterclockwise.











Keep twisting and bring the ponytail up to the top of the back of your head. This should create that neat twist look.











Keep twisting the pony tail into a rope, and then fold it down .












Tuck the folded over ponytail into the pocket created under the twist.












That first part takes some practice. It should look like this.












To secure the twist with the hair sticks, grab a stick and poke it through a batch of the hair at the top edge of the twist, facing away from your holding hand.










Let it poke through an inch or so until the tip bumps your scalp.












Flip the hair stick around until it is facing the other direction, scraping the tip gently against your scalp while you so.










Push the hair stick through the twist.













This will hold more securely with two hair sticks. Insert the second one a bit further down, just like you did with the first one.











Again, flip the stick around, gently scraping it against your scalp. Push it through the twist.











And there you go! Elegant, decorative, and quite secure. To take it back out, do the trick you see in the movies: pull out the sticks and shake your head. The hair will come tumbling back down.

Tutorial: Using Hair Sticks Pt. 1 : The Bun

I use hair sticks on a fairly regular basis, to put my hair up in a bun or a french twist. They work for me better than pencils or chop sticks, which I've also used. Used properly, they make for a very secure hair style that will last through an evening of dancing. Since I use them so often, I also make them and sell them in my Etsy shop.

I was asked if I would make a tutorial of how to use hair sticks. Since my daughter was home from college this weekend, I had her take a few pictures of me putting my hair up in a bun. Then I turned around and took some shots of her putting her hair up in a french twist. This is the series on the bun. I'll post the ones of her tomorrow, after I've had time to go through them.


I started the process by putting my hair up in a pony tail. You don't need to use the elastic, but I find it easier for the initial steps. (If you omit the elastic, you can do the sexy 'pull out a pin and shake your hair down' trick when it is appropriate. That is fun too.)










I twisted the pony tail into a rope...













...and then spiraled the rope around and around into a bun.












I tucked the last bits of hair under the bun.













Then, holding on to the bun with my left hand, I grabbed a hair stick in my right. (I'm right handed.) Imagine for a moment a clock face on the bun. I inserted the tip of the hair stick under a small chunk of hair at the edge of the bun at the 2:00 position, facing away from the center of the bun. I let the tip of the hair stick hit my scalp an inch or so away from the bun.







Then I flipped the hair stick over, gently scraping the tip along my scalp, until it faced back the way it came. That flip and scrape trick is the key to getting a strong, secure hold.











Now I pushed the stick through the bun and out the opposite side. I like to run it right along the elastic hair tie.











One hair stick will hold, but two will be more secure. You can insert the second hair stick parallel with the first, but I prefer a crossed X look. I insert the tip of the hair stick under a bit of hair at the edge of the bun in the 10:00 position, and let it extend an inch or so beyond the bun.








Then again, I flip the stick around so it is pointed toward the center of the bun, scraping gently against the scalp as I do so.











Push the hair stick through the bun until it comes out the opposite side.













And there you have it. Nice and secure, with a decorative touch.

Tutorial: Hair Sticks

I was making a batch of hair sticks today, and it occurred to me that I should take some pictures and show you all what I was doing.

Materials:
hard wood dowel rod
small screw eyes
head pins
beads
split rings

Tools:
saw
pencil sharpener
sand paper
awl
round nose pliers
flat nose pliers
split ring pliers
wire cutters




Here's a shot of the different pliers, in case you're unfamiliar with them. From the top, and going clockwise: round nose pliers, split ring pliers, awl, flat nose pliers, wire cutters.





Start with hard wood dowel rods from the hardware store.



Cut the rod to 5" pieces, and run the ends through the pencil sharpener.








Sand the sticks down smooth, and round out the point.












Like this. If you want to, you can stain and varnish the sticks at this point, but I kind of like the bare wood.












Use your awl to poke a starter hole in the center of the flat end of the stick.







Screw your screw eye into the hole.










It will look like this. You can put a drop of glue in if you choose.












Now, the fun part. Assemble your dangles. Have fun playing with different textures and color combinations.







Snip the end off of a head pin. Using your round nose pliers, make a loop in the end of the head pin.







Add your bottom dangle to that loop, and wrap the tail of wire around.







Add a bead, then make a loop in the top. Add your split ring to that loop, and wrap the tail around again. My finished dangles look like this, though you can experiment with other configurations.










Using your split ring pliers, open the split ring and put it on to the screw eye at the top of your hair stick.







Here's my finished batch of hair sticks! They work great. I have a pair I made awhile ago, and used them to hold my hair up in a bun and out of my face for my entire camping trip this past weekend. I'd put my hair up in the morning, take it down at night, and never worry about it in the meanwhile.


(EDIT: I put this batch of hair jewelry up in my Etsy shop, at http://www.etsy.com/shop/tangibledaydreams . So if you don't want to make your own, you can have one of these instead.)

Product development: socks and hair sticks

I tried the knee socks again, this time with the bigger cylinder I have for the circular sock knitting machine. I got the leg to fit nicely over my calf...but now the ankle and foot are too baggy. I'm not really surprised. My calf is, in fact, bigger than my ankle.

So, I dug back into the original manual that came with the machine some 100 years ago. (Ok, I don't have the original, but there is a copy on line that I printed out.) The directions for a high sock there suggest that you remove every fourth needle when making the ankle. Then, before the heel, you put back in the needles that will knit the underside of the foot. This makes a mock ribbing. I did a test run, cranking out about 90 rows of tube with every 4th needle removed, then slipped the tube on over my foot. It is noticeably tighter around than when I have all the needles in. So the theory is sound. Hopefully I can give it a try tomorrow--I'm a bit tired to be experimenting with something new tonight.

And just so this post isn't totally lacking a photo, let me show you what else I've been working on. I recently got a batch of bone hair sticks that had holes drilled in the top. I finally tracked down screw-eyes that would fit in that hole, and have started digging through my bead stash to make dangles. Here's the first set done:



Watch for a line of hair sticks and hat pins to be added to the Tangible Daydreams Etsy shop in the next few weeks! A pair of hair sticks will be running around $15.