Crafting a White Walker: Hair, Eyes, Clothes

Intro - Face - Arms - Spear

Hair, Eyes, Clothes - Wearing and Final Notes

Items needed (hair):

• Wig
• Grey and/or preferably white hair color spray

Items needed (clothes):

• Leather/pleather jerkin/jacket
• Leather belts
• Brown (or make kleenex leggings like arms)
• Brown bags
• Anything else that will work from thrift stores
• White spray paint

Hair

Buying a Wig

I went to a place that sold wigs. They also had a bargain bin. You can find a decent wig for $20. I've bought another wig for $13, and it was really hard to work with.

My wig was curly and red. I would avoid very dark wigs because it may make it difficult to bring it to the light color you want.

This is the wig I started with:

Shaping the Wig

As I mentioned, my wig was curly.

I put it on a wig stand in the bath tub. If you can, make sure the surface of the wig stand is smooth. My stand held the wig with a thin piece, which indented itself into the shape of the wig.

I heated 3 large pots of water on the stove. When the water is very hot, but not yet boiling, pour it onto the wig. The heat will loosen the curl, and the wig will straighten.

Do not use any sort of iron directly on the wig. Most wigs are made of a synthetic material which will melt under too much heat.


Here is the wig after I experimented with some grey hair spray, then straightened it with the hot water method. It still has some kinks, but those could be fixed by repeating the hot water technique:

Coloring the Wig

Look for silver and white hair color spray. This can be difficult to find. Many places do not carry white. Be careful not to accidentally buy the silver "glitter." This is just glitter, and not color. Silver was easier for me to find than white. I used 3-4 cans.

When spraying the wig, if using any silver, use it first so you can save the white for the top coat.

When spraying the ends, keep something against the back of the hair. The force from the spray of the can will blow them back and keep them from receiving the color. If you have something against the back of the ends, the color will build on them better.

Eyes

I went through my eye doctor for contacts and got Freshlook Brilliant Blue. They are definitely bluer than what is natural, but still a bit subtle for a white walker I think. I was trying to find toric lenses (for astigmatism), and this was the only brand I could find that carried colored toric lenses. However, it turned out that they did not have them for Brilliant Blue.

I learned that toric didn't make that big a difference for my astigmatism. For the time I was wearing these, I noticed no difference, actually.

What I will say about the contacts, is that if you are not used to wearing them, you need to practice.

Wear them for a couple hours, and each day increase this duration so that your eyes are used to them.

Also know that different brands of contacts will feel different. I got a sample pair from my doctor that I was able to preview.

I heard lots of people talk about how they got contacts for their costume but didn't like wearing them. It took me a few weeks of daily wear to get used to wearing soft contacts, and this is after being used to RGP contacts.

Clothes

For the clothes, I found all my clothes at Goodwill. Look for leather or pleather jackets that have fur on them. Even if you don't want to use the whole jacket, you could use the fur piece from one as a piece on another. You may need several trips to several different places to find something that will work for you. Shop early. Shop smart. Shop S-mart.

Keep an eye out for brown leather belts and bags too. You'll want to have some utility in your costume. This means pockets or satchels or bags that fit into your costume but allow you to store things you'll want to carry.

Brown leather belts make a good accessory. Add them where they fit. If they attach something to you (a satchel or weapon), or look like they are holding your clothing, even better. Form follows function. Thank you, Louis Sullivan.

Lightly spray the clothes with white spray paint so it looks like they've been dusted with snow.

Intro - Face - Arms - Spear

Hair, Eyes, Clothes - Wearing and Final Notes