Wig Wall

I have 6 wigs.
For 6 different characters.

Mikuru Asahina

Esmeralda

Shion & Mion Sonozaki

1)Shion (Higurashi no naku koro ni)
2)'Mion' (white wig) (Higurashi no naku koro ni)
3)Mikuru (The Melancholy of haruhi suzumiya)

Urd

4)Urd (Aa megamisama)
5)Jessica Rabbit (Who framed Roger Rabbit)
6)Esmeralda (The hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney version))

Jessica Rabbit

I've only worn the last two, and only to Halloween parties.

I have plans to dye and construct Mion's wig from the shorter white wig and wefting long white fibers.

I also hope to do a similar task for a wig for Yoruichi(bleach).
For those counting at home that is a total of 7 wigs. (I'm not even including the hairpiece I made when cosplaying Katara (Avatar: the last airbender)). For each wig I was trying to buy a wig stand at about $5 each, then I would need a table or something at least 3 feet off the floor and no more than an inch thick to attach it to. I was only able to have 4 wig stands at a time on the folding stand and shelf I have. So 7 wigs, 4 spaces by the pigeon hole principle I would need at least one spot with more than 2 wigs.
And thus my idea of a wig wall was born. I would take a piece of wood, attach hinges to it and attach the wig heads to that!

I was able to get a large piece of plywood from Lowes for about $12 and they were nice enough to cut it for me so I have 2 pieces about 24''x48'', one about 22"x72" and another squareish piece. The long piece went to stabilizing my futon (apparently after 3 years of sitting in the same spot it started to sink). I decided to use Extra Heavy 6" T-hinges from Harbor Freights(a wonderful place for cheap tools if they have it) each hinge was about $3. The styrofoam heads are about 10" tall and about 5" wide so I planned to have about 10" between the heads horizontally and 12" between them vertically. This meant on a 24"x48" board I could fit 10 different heads.

The hole in each head was just over 1/2" in diameter so I went again to lowes and got 5' of 1/2" diameter pvc piping for about $2 and cut it into 10 4" segments. I drilled a hole in one end of each pvc pipe segment and used machine screws to attach it to the end of the T-hinge so that it was perpendicular (which I later found out is not ideal). I then duct taped the pipe into position.

In order to hang the board and conceal the wood I covered it in fabric. Also since light will alter the coloring of the wigs I sewed on a sheet that would cover the wigs. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the board. (That part was fun)

Next I used metal screws size #8 1/2" length to screw the hinges to the board. I had to cut slits into the fabric and drill holes to screw into. All the screws cost me about $3.

After attaching the hinges to the board and threading through nylon string to use to hang the board I went to drill holes into the wall so I could hang hooks. I now have about 6 holes in one of my walls since it took that long to realize I couldn't drill into that wall. Every time I tried the plaster would just break and I wouldn't be able to go any further. That wall is the wall between my apartment and the one to my left. I have no idea why since I can drill on the other wall separating my apartment and the one two the right. Thus I had to drill into an interior wall.

The holes were drilled in a minute and I was able to place 2 hooks to hang the board which now, without any wigs, seems to weight almost 50 lbs. I added 2 hooks under the board to support some more of the weight. My next step was attaching the heads. I placed one on and immediately saw that the pvc piping had to angle in towards the board at about a 60deg angle instead of 90 deg. So I decided this could be fixed by more duct tape. Because it was sitting next to me. So after adding some more duct tape to properly angle the heads I now had 6 heads on my wig wall.

Out of the 6, three of them are fairly heavy so those were the first ones to start to slip. Without the 60 deg angle the heads started to slip after a few hours, with the new angle they lasted almost a day. All of the lighter wigs were able to stay put but the heavier ones were too much for the duct tape. Now I am trying to hot glue the pvc pipe in place. I squeezed a bit of glue on the screw then screwed it all the way in then lined glue between the pvc pipe and the hinge near the screw and dabbed a bit of glue on the screw inside the pvc pipe. I then let it sit overnight to set.

This held for several days for the second heaviest wig, however the heavier wig fell after about a day.
Next I tried to stabilize the wig from tilting backwards by placing a long nail through the bottom part of the pvc piping and angling it so that the nail would rest against the hinge as the wig tilted backwards. I have no pictures of this because it lasted all of 30 min. The wig then decided to shift to the side and fall diagonally.

So after several days of trying to figure out something else I think I finally found it. My original idea (when I first thought of the stand) was to have a slit in whatever material so it would sit on top of the hinge. So now I am using the saw to split the pvc pipe in half about 1 inch up from the bottom and drilling all the way through both sides to place the nail through the two holes and the one on the hinge. I am also drilling a hole in the top to lace through nylon thread and tie it to the next hole on the hinge.

Since I wasn't going to detach the hinges from the board or take it down(it's really heavy) I just detached the pvc pieces and re-drilled them then re-attached them to the board.
 Then I cut about a foot of string and threaded it through the hole in the pvc pipe and then threaded each end through the hole in the hinge and double knotted it under the hinge.

Now the wigs should stay in place. I'll check it every few hours for the next day or so and hopefully I am done with this project!