Microrooting a reborn doll

Dont forget to buy your reborn mohair before starting! You will also need some rooting needles (I use a 36, 38 and a 40 gauge), and some small scissors. Make sure you have a comfortable table to work on with a good light source so you can see what you are doing.

 

To start with, warm the head. There are a number of ways to do this. a blowdryer will get the job done quite easily, or you can put the head in a microwaave for a few seconds - however, both ways lose heat quite quickly so you will need to keep doing it. You can either use a flexible neck lamp directly over the head to keep it warm (start if off with a blowdryer) or you can use a rice sock inside the head if you do not have a lamp; Simply put some uncooked rice in an old soc, and microwave it for 2 minutes. Then place the ricesock inside the head.

 

Get yourself a small tuft of mohair. The amount you cut off should be nearly twice as long as you want it to be on the babies head, as it will be rooted in the babies head which halves the size (nearly).

 

Lay this strip of hair down flat onto the head - it is best to start somewhere towards the base of the hairline.  Bear in mind that the middle of the hair tuft is where the you will be rooting. If in doubt the hairline that is already on the head is a good reference point (although dont follow it exactly).

 

To root the hair, you will need your needle - Place it in the center of the tuft and press it into the vinyl until it stops.  Congratulations - your first rooting is complete! But you can’t stop there, you need to do the rest of the tuft - and the head yet! To root more hair, just keep poking away in the general area of the first one. To make the hairs lie flat, keep the neelde in an upward poistion at all times.

 

If you make a mistake, you can simply remove the root by pulling it out. If all is going well, continue poking until you have enough roots from your tuft - generally this is around 50 roots, but the top artists use more. To keep the hair looking natural, try to work in inch strip at a time, then move onto the next.

 

When you are done on your first tuft, hold the hair up, and gently pull the hair away - this will take the excess hair with it and leave your rooting, so you can see your work. If its not enough, reroot in the same place until your are happy.

 

Continue rooting the head - apply more heat after each rooting. You should work around the base of the hairline first, and then move in towards the top of the head. You can use the same tuft of hair 3 or 4 times before you need to take a new tuft from the mohair you purchased. If the hair is looking rough before this, despose of it and get a new tuft straight away.

A video is available for microrooting techniques. See this video.