Notes on Wig Dying
Hey everyone!
Just popping in to give some notes on the color formula I've uncovered for wig dying for Silver hair. XD
I've been ordering from Arda wigs their Silver 063 for a couple of costumes (Angela from Kuroshitsuji and Firion from Final Fantasy II/ Dissida vers.) and I find it to still be too bright white for my purposes. Usually, instead of a bright white silver, these characters have more of a gradient to them (almost a 70% grey or something).
Tonight, I uncovered the secret of perfect silver-grey... add about 2 shots of a blue or aqua to every cup of rubbing alcohol.
I've had good results from the Rubbing Alcohol/Acrylic ink dying process.
Tools needed:
-70% rubbing alcohol, about 1 bottle per wig to be dyed.
-90% rubbing alcohol to strip for screw ups (Be wary of stripping! I'm pretty sure this is what fried my Kuja wig, it got stripped twice due to screw ups and frizzed the hell out.)
-Measuring cup (any kind will do)
-Stainless steel spaghetti pot (or any other large cooking pot, I like a spaghetti pot because they usually have very tall sides to help prevent splashes)
-Stirring stick
-Acrylic INK (You'll likely find it near the calligraphy section of your favorite art supply store. I use Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Ink)
-If your ink doesn't have a dropper with it, you'll need some pipettes.
For the perfect silver, you'll need: Black, White, and an additive color (blue, aqua blue, ect.)
The basic formula is about 8 droppers per cup of alcohol. BUT feel free to mix and match colors and amounts until you find your perfect formula. For Firion, I used 2 droppers of black, about 10 droppers of white, and 1 dropper of aqua blue per cup of alcohol. I start with 2 cups and make more as I need them.
-*- Remember that your mix will ALWAYS be darker than the final color and you can always go DARKER but never lighter. -*-
Pour your rubbing alcohol/ink mix into the pot and then saturate your wig all over. Squeeze out the excess and then rise out the mix with water, let dry and check results. Repeat until desired color is achieved. Strip with 90% alcohol ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO. If you strip, you will have to start all over again.
-Additive Colors-
This is just me making observations, but here are the colors I'd recommend for some of the silver-haired men:
Warrior of Light - Blue or Aqua
Firion - Aqua
Cecil - LIGHT Aqua (Cecil's probably the only one that is actually bright white-silver)
Kuja - Lavender (this one is actually a mix of white, black, red, and blue, just to make sure you get it right, you might even do this one in two separate dunks. As a note, you CAN dye feathers with the alcohol/ink process!)
~ Feel free to get creative on working with Rubbing Alcohol/Ink combinations on other colors of wigs as well. This is why my Cloud wig looks so good because I took a basic ash blonde wig and shaded it with an ink wash. More often than not, wigs are usually very basic colors. By adding washes of color you can get them to have more life and better colorations. ^_^ ~
I'll post up some photos of my Firion wig after he dries fully.
Just popping in to give some notes on the color formula I've uncovered for wig dying for Silver hair. XD
I've been ordering from Arda wigs their Silver 063 for a couple of costumes (Angela from Kuroshitsuji and Firion from Final Fantasy II/ Dissida vers.) and I find it to still be too bright white for my purposes. Usually, instead of a bright white silver, these characters have more of a gradient to them (almost a 70% grey or something).
Tonight, I uncovered the secret of perfect silver-grey... add about 2 shots of a blue or aqua to every cup of rubbing alcohol.
I've had good results from the Rubbing Alcohol/Acrylic ink dying process.
Tools needed:
-70% rubbing alcohol, about 1 bottle per wig to be dyed.
-90% rubbing alcohol to strip for screw ups (Be wary of stripping! I'm pretty sure this is what fried my Kuja wig, it got stripped twice due to screw ups and frizzed the hell out.)
-Measuring cup (any kind will do)
-Stainless steel spaghetti pot (or any other large cooking pot, I like a spaghetti pot because they usually have very tall sides to help prevent splashes)
-Stirring stick
-Acrylic INK (You'll likely find it near the calligraphy section of your favorite art supply store. I use Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Ink)
-If your ink doesn't have a dropper with it, you'll need some pipettes.
For the perfect silver, you'll need: Black, White, and an additive color (blue, aqua blue, ect.)
The basic formula is about 8 droppers per cup of alcohol. BUT feel free to mix and match colors and amounts until you find your perfect formula. For Firion, I used 2 droppers of black, about 10 droppers of white, and 1 dropper of aqua blue per cup of alcohol. I start with 2 cups and make more as I need them.
-*- Remember that your mix will ALWAYS be darker than the final color and you can always go DARKER but never lighter. -*-
Pour your rubbing alcohol/ink mix into the pot and then saturate your wig all over. Squeeze out the excess and then rise out the mix with water, let dry and check results. Repeat until desired color is achieved. Strip with 90% alcohol ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO. If you strip, you will have to start all over again.
-Additive Colors-
This is just me making observations, but here are the colors I'd recommend for some of the silver-haired men:
Warrior of Light - Blue or Aqua
Firion - Aqua
Cecil - LIGHT Aqua (Cecil's probably the only one that is actually bright white-silver)
Kuja - Lavender (this one is actually a mix of white, black, red, and blue, just to make sure you get it right, you might even do this one in two separate dunks. As a note, you CAN dye feathers with the alcohol/ink process!)
~ Feel free to get creative on working with Rubbing Alcohol/Ink combinations on other colors of wigs as well. This is why my Cloud wig looks so good because I took a basic ash blonde wig and shaded it with an ink wash. More often than not, wigs are usually very basic colors. By adding washes of color you can get them to have more life and better colorations. ^_^ ~
I'll post up some photos of my Firion wig after he dries fully.