How to Make Paper Wigs for Costumes

Making paper wigs is a fun craft that both children and adults will enjoy. You can make beautiful costume wigs using paper. The wigs are great for Halloween, school plays or just for dress-up fun! And you don't need any fancy supplies to make paper wigs. All you need for a simple wig is newspaper!

Here are some examples of paper wigs to give you an idea of what you can make: These are long wigs made using newspaper (click here for the photo then see the link at the end of this article for a short video on how to make these actual wigs). This is a nice example of a curling ribbon wig (click here). If you want a straight hair short wig, you can use this photo as a guide (click here).

To make a paper wig, all you need is some sort of paper, a head form, a wig cap, and other craft supplies like scissors, glue, tape, etc. For paper, you can use newspaper, magazine pages, brown paper bags, construction paper, or any kind of paper that you can cut into strips. You can also use curling ribbon but that can get a bit expensive if you are making an entire wig using curling ribbon. But, you can add some curling ribbon to a paper wig for added color and more style.

You will need a round, heavy object to use as a head form. A head of cabbage is a good item to use. You can also use a balloon blown up to the correct size, but you will have to find a way to keep the balloon steady. You can always have someone hold the balloon for you while you make the wig cap. You can also take the very easy way out and buy a baseball type cap at any dollar store. Then just cut the brim off the cap and you just made a wig cap!

If you want to make your own wig cap, drape a plastic grocery bag over your cabbage or balloon then wrap it with masking tape. Then trim the cap so it fits nicely on your head. The video link at the end of this article will show you exactly how to do this step.

Once you have your cap, all you need to do is cut your paper into strips then start designing the wig. You will build the wig starting at the bottom of the cap then work your way up to the crown. You can attach the strips of paper to the wig cap using double sided tape or glue.

Newspaper is the cheapest paper you can use, and it's a great way to recycle newspaper. You can also use colorful magazine pages. If you have a paper shredder that shreds paper into strips, those narrow strips make awesome paper wigs!

You can also curl your wig by curling the strips of paper. You can even curl newspaper strips! Just curl the strips before adding them to the wig. If you want barrel curls, you can attach a long strip to the wig cap then roll the strip and secure with glue.

Once you start making paper wigs, it will soon be a favorite activity for a rainy day. Your kids can make fun wigs using all sorts of paper and also items like yarn, wire, fake flowers or whatever! You can also spray paint the wigs once they are complete to stiffen them up and to add color.

Click here to see a video by Martha Stewart on how to make the masking tape caps and long newspaper wigs. You may have to watch a short ad first, but it's worth the wait since you will see how easy it is to make a paper wig.

For more fun crafts, please see these articles!

Crafts for Kids: Christmas Milk Jug Night Light

Crafts for Kids: Homemade Japanese Kokeshi Dolls

Crafts for Kids: Paper Plate Panda

Source used for this paper wig craft:

www.marthastewart.com