A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

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pinkfloydsgurl

A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by pinkfloydsgurl » Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:18 pm

Alright so I've been trying different ways of messing with yarn dreads to try and get that beautiful look of the KK. I think i found it by combining a technique learned http://randomsome1.insanejournal.com/35 ... rmat=light and another technique i learned on here (though the pictures were SUPER grainy...

Any who- I'm still trying to figure out the best way to tease the homespun because the bloody thing keeps comping apart :/ makes my life rather difficult. So i'm not sure what i should use to tease with any suggestions would be awesome. I use the removal of the support lines for my homespun.

ALSO! As i don't like the glue technique used in the affore mentioned link- does ANYONE know a better way to seal these bad boys? I am trying to make extensions; not just falls. Any advice would be crazy cool!

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MrsEss
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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by MrsEss » Sun Sep 30, 2012 8:50 pm

Can't help much but have you tried actual roving? you can buy natural & dye it yourself or there are some really funky colours blended together already.

Trouble with normal wool is it's normally already felted & spun making your job more difficult.
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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by pinkfloydsgurl » Sun Sep 30, 2012 10:08 pm

See the problem i have with roving is the cost. I can get the acrylic yarn at $4.50 USD. Which looks great on my budget. Each skein can make 30 dreads. Bam boom- two skeins and i got an entire set of falls for $9.00 USD. Its more attractive to me cause i has a new baby and well...unfortunately babies are oddly expensive considering their size :)

Maybe someone'll know what to do with acrylic yarn someday- who knows it may be me when i'm done with all this. So far they are looking GREAT and they are holding up well...i just need to seal them. I'm thinking of trying that flat iron trick i hear so much about, though I'm also tempted to try a diffuser hairdryer....we shall see!!

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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by brandalynn » Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:42 pm

Acrylic yarn is not going to seal anywhere near as well as wool or kanekalon. It will stay sealed for a bit, but get fluffy and undone in no time.
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pinkfloydsgurl

Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by pinkfloydsgurl » Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:09 pm

Okay- so first; brandalynn your icon is awesome and I love it and have thought so everytime i see it. :)
I tried a new way of doing stuff which is really weird but it seems to have worked wonders on the anti fluff department. I used the sanitizer bags you can get at walmart for like bottles and stuff. I guess going through steaming AND the microwave really helped. They didn't get puffy at all which normally it puffs a bit after it dries. I'm going to try to flat iron these and if it doesn't work then i'm going to use the glue technique and see if that helps at all. Heres to hoping.

Thanks again you guys for all your adivce its really launching my ideas! :D

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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by LittlePinkFaery » Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:15 pm

I would suggest you braid or crochet with yarn. It will never seal long term. I've worked with wool for 12 years and tried all sorts of things! I suggest a mohair wool, crocheted ( chain loop) and then brush the wool up with a wir brush for a more natural look :)

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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by MrsEss » Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:22 pm

pinkfloydsgurl wrote:See the problem i have with roving is the cost. I can get the acrylic yarn at $4.50 USD. Which looks great on my budget. Each skein can make 30 dreads. Bam boom- two skeins and i got an entire set of falls for $9.00 USD.

This is going to sound incredibly rude, offensive, elitist (delete as appropriate) but making something just because it is cheap is never gonna be a good idea. Well made dreads (with the right materials) can last a lifetime. Making what you can with what you have is fine, to a certain extent but the amount of time & effort you sound like you're putting in to these just seems a bit extreme considering what you're using is already felted so will unravel with time & if it was me, I'd feel like I'd wasted all that effort when I could have made something a lot longer lasting that would never unravel.

"Good dreads aren't cheap. Cheap dreads aren't good"
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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by pinkfloydsgurl » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:25 pm

DreadstarMonstar wrote:This is going to sound incredibly rude, offensive, elitist

At least you admit it mate. Takes a strong upstanding human being to acknowledge their shortcomings eh? I could never want these things to last forever, oh gods no. I'm going to acknowledge my adulthood at somepoint and realize in my line of work i can't always wear and do what I want. At a point we all have to stop what we want to do and look at what we have made for ourselves. At this point i'm looking for a hobby to do that is fun and produces pretty things without costing an arm and a leg and is a little different then just...crochet or knitting because to be honest I'm terrible at both of those things. So if i the bloody things come apart they come apart but at least i had fun on the journey and that is far more then i can say about other ventures people have made.

For the record i won't ever work with wool or kk because someone at my work does that- and she'd throw a comlete fit if i infringed on her sense of self. In that- i don't want or need that type of negative drama in my life (yup i'm a terrified little chicken sayit all you want.) and so i do what i can with whats left. ;)

Have a good one.

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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by brandalynn » Wed Oct 03, 2012 3:45 am

I think the link below is going to give you the closest results to what you are trying to achieve. Best of luck.

viewtopic.php?f=65&t=9791&p=163107&hili ... ps#p160509
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LittlePinkFaery
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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by LittlePinkFaery » Wed Oct 03, 2012 7:02 am

When I say crochet, it is a finger loop, incredibly simple... No fancy stitches, do with a crochet hook or your fingers. That way they are sturdy and if you use the right yarn are backbrushable.

Don't be afraid to try other methods just because someone else does them- since hen did she have the monopoly on what you can wear in your hair? Why not ask her for advice to include her if you are worried?

People here will offer advice, links etc... What is the use in asking about something and then saying you don't want advice at all? If you method works really well, why not make a clear tutorial and share? I find the idea of putting glue on the dreads awful when wool can make such attractive dreads when manipulated in different ways.

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Re: A new yarn technique needing advice on backcombing

Post by MrsEss » Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:49 pm

pinkfloydsgurl wrote:
DreadstarMonstar wrote:This is going to sound incredibly rude, offensive, elitist

At least you admit it mate. Takes a strong upstanding human being to acknowledge their shortcomings eh? I could never want these things to last forever, oh gods no. I'm going to acknowledge my adulthood at somepoint and realize in my line of work i can't always wear and do what I want. At a point we all have to stop what we want to do and look at what we have made for ourselves. At this point i'm looking for a hobby to do that is fun and produces pretty things without costing an arm and a leg and is a little different then just...crochet or knitting because to be honest I'm terrible at both of those things. So if i the bloody things come apart they come apart but at least i had fun on the journey and that is far more then i can say about other ventures people have made.

For the record i won't ever work with wool or kk because someone at my work does that- and she'd throw a comlete fit if i infringed on her sense of self. In that- i don't want or need that type of negative drama in my life (yup i'm a terrified little chicken sayit all you want.) and so i do what i can with whats left. ;)

Have a good one.

It's taken me a while to reply to this. OK, this is gonna go off topic, but it needs to be said. I'm not rude, nor offensive. I just say what I want & some people choose to be offended. I choose to not be.

Prithee tell what the "acknowledging your adulthood & line of work" is all about? We have plenty of people on here, who are indeed adults & that do have dreads, teachers, social workers, & various other career climbing professionals, there was even a police officer at one point. Dreads aren't limited to the unemployed, teenagers, or people that are experimenting/in a phase.

Personally, stopping doing something that you actually want to do because it's just the way it has to be seems a bit defeatist. My appearance has rarely held me back & those that cannot accept my choices of hair colour, style or appearance are not worth my time nor effort. You clearly have different beliefs to me. Which is fine, give in, give up, whatever.
*~*~*~*~*Saaaaaaspie-doo-be-doo-bedooooo is awwwwweeesoooooome*~*~*~*~*-ScarletLady

Socially awkward since 1982
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