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There are two ways that one can place hair on an otherwise hairless item. One is known as laying hair. This involves gluing hair to a surface, skin or rubber. This is handy when one has to cover great surfaces in a short time. However, when one is creating dummy heads or masks that need to look natural, most opt to punch the hair. The hair is imbedded one strand at a time. This is tedious work, however, the results are well worth it. Punching hair is far easier in soft surfaces like silicone, foam, or gelatine. Latex is much harder due to its tear strength. The needles used can be very brittle and you may need to make a bunch up due to breaking. I use an ordinary sewing needle of a rather small size. I cut the eye of the needle in half. This results in a mini pitchfork. I then cut one of the forks down to almost the end so one fork is much longer than the other. I then carfully bend the tip of the long end inwards.

This modification and the following punching is made easier if the needle is put in an exacto pen knife. The hair is taken in a small bundle and wrapped around the middle finger, on the nail. The hair is kept pinched between the fingers and kept as lose to the work as possible. I then am able to pull of a strand at a time.

The bend in the needle allows one to select one "loop" of hair off the finger, and punch it in. You would then have two hairs coming out of the hole. This is not a big deal as no one has ever noticed. When punching, it is easier to punch five or six "loops" in one area move on. Rather than punching a "loop" and having to re position. I will clip the five or six hairs with hair clips and move on up the hairline.

Hair must be punched in the direction it grows. If you punch hair in the wong direction, it looks fake. Also, be aware of the growth pattern. Look at your eyebrows for example they start in the center of the forehead growing toward one another, the hairs then shift to grow upwards. As the eyebrow progresses to the temples the growing pattern changes again. You must punch exactly like this or it will look unnatural.

You should also be aware of the color of hair. Hair is, for the most part, not one color. There may be a few colors of various shades. You should by hair with a multitude of colors in it. Once the hair is punched, you will need to set it in place. Because you are punching it in, it WILL come out. Therefore, you should apply a glue to the underside of your piece. If you are punching into Latex, brush latex onto the loops of hair on the underside. If you are using silicone, use silicone caulking. This way, none of the hairs will come out during use. Once you have the hair punched, you will need to style it. I find that steam is the best way. I bought one of those steam cleaners called " Turbo Zapper". I cut the hair and begin to comb it into the desired style. I steam the hair into place and let it dry. You can add some hairspray if you like. Check out the Blade 2 DVD for some footage of punching hair. The folks at Edge FX were kind enough to show us how its done. This is a differed method than that shown here. Also see Tom Savini’s Grande Illusions 2 for more info. Dan Kurz is currently a student of Dick Smith and is building a portfolio. Dan is located in Canada and hopes to be working in some facet of the SFX industry. He would be happy to answer any questions, about pretty much anything... except math. Visit his website by clicking on the banner below.

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