The Hair Studio- Practical Week 6- Using a Prop to Create Shape- Elizabethan Heart Shape

In this week's practical with Lottie we were taught how to use a simple prop to create the extremely common Elizabethan heart shape.  The prop we used was called a 'rat', easily made by taking a suitable coloured tight for your sitters hair colour, and filling it with wadding.  By wrapping the hair around this it creates an interesting shape and gives the hair considerate volume, much like the Elizabethans desired.

Image Credit: Dial V for Vintage: Easy DIY: Make your own hair donut!. 2013. (Online) Available at: http://dialvforvintage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/easy-diy-make-your-own-hair-donut.html.  Accessed 11 November 2013.

Step 1:  Divide your hair at the ear line, pulling the front half forward, and the rear half back.  Clip the rear half back, you will be able to style this later. 

Step 2:  Take the loose hair in front and create a centre parting, this will give equal volume to each side and create a more realistic heart shape.  Pin one half to the side to keep it out of the way while you style the other half.  I personally curled the hair to give it a bit more texture, remember when curling to always start from the bottom and work your way up to the top. 

Step 3: After this, take a section from each side of the sectioned off hair and the back and create a small plait, pin this up onto the head, this is creating something slightly more sturdy for the rat to sit on and be gripped onto.  Take your rat and grip this onto the plait, first sliding the bobby pin towards you, then turning it and pushing it in the other direction, this will secure it in well.

Step 4: Take the hair at the front of the head, and bring this back over the rat, securing tightly with bobby pins, making sure these are also hidden.  If you model has long hair, don't just leave it hanging, use this to your advantage and bring it back over the rat to create a curly texture, secure this with hair pins.  

Hair simply pinned back over the rat.

Extra hair bought back over the rat, to give a curly, frizzed texture.

The Finished Look.