○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ by Kristina Tollefson ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ have been stored styled, and have been used several times since the original production. It takes us less than ten minutes to put all twelve wigs back in their original condition. The final major benefit is that they cost less than traditional wigs. The total cost of materials to create each wig was $48.00 if you include the cost of the materials we already had in stock. I chose to disassemble seven elastic cap wefted wigs, but have found that you could reduce the cost of each wig even further by purchasing the wefts themselves. Once the method was developed it took three to five hours to create each one, from base to styled wig. Tan had been using Fosshape for several years for millinery applications and suggested it would be the perfect product to use for the base of these "hair hats." Fosshape is a thermoplastic felt that becomes rigid and retains its shape under heat and pressure. It comes in two weights: #300 and #600 (the heavier material is thicker and twice as heavy, and usually twice as expensive). We used two layers of #300 Fosshape because we had it in stock. The two layers fused together nicely during the steaming and pressing process. TD & T W I N T E R 2 0 0 5 59