Enigma Doll, Yarn Hair

 I've been adding yarn hair to my latest Enigma doll, working back and forth, stitching each pass of yarn in place. I love the look, but it takes hours. Sewing the yarn in place requires several threaded needles (simultaneously).

 This is one of my favorite wool yarns: Manos del Uruguay, handspun pure wool kettle dyed. The color is called granite, and has lovely variegations in color.

The first step was creating a more uniform surface on the back of the head. Needle sculpting the face creates indentations on the back of the head:

I cut some small pieces of fabric, stitched them to the head over the most prominent indentations and added a little stuffing to even things out:

I used an air-soluble pen to mark the head along the hairline, the part, and where the braids would exit the head:

Here's the first section of yarn. To prevent the braids from being overly thick, there will be only six strands of yarn for each braid. The rest of the yarn just goes back and forth.

The back view, first section on the left side. To keep everything symmetrical, I repeated the process on the right before continuing with the next section on the left:

First section (right and left) completed:

Back view, first sections done:

Second section:

Back view, second sections done:

All three sections completed on the right and left. 

Back view:

I considered three braid styles, but chose this. The buns are pinned for now, but will be needle felted and possibly glued in place.

Back view:

Here is a more recent doll, Enigma 514 (March 2024):