Lesson 27: Christmas Tree

You'll have to take this one as food for thought.  I had a general idea of what I was going to do here, but after I had tried it, it didn't look as good as it did in my imagination!  And most people couldn't tell it was a tree until after I told them.  My husband said, "Lime green, huh?"

Start by putting the front section into a piggy.

 Divide the tail into two equal sections.  Do a hawser twist in each with a temporary clip.  Attach them each to a section of hair with a part above the ears, leaving a triangle open between the piggies.

Here is the part that was trial and error that I would change next time.  The idea is to bring the shape of the piggies into a corner like at the top of a Christmas tree.  I divided the triangle section in half, but decided I didn't like the part showing.  It was taking too long to undo and go back, so I just left it and did something different on the second section.

Twist the tails again and secure them temporarily.  Repeat as above, but this time make the piggies on the side smaller to make the tree shape become wider.

This time instead of parting down the center, I made a diagonal part parallel to one of the twists.  Then the parted sections from the center triangle will cross, one over, one under.  Secure them to make the second set of corners.

Twist again and secure with the last sections of hair on the sides.  Combine everything at the bottom into the last pony (trunk of the tree).  I added a yellow clip like a star at the top.  If I had a long green ribbon, I could trace the shape by tucking the ribbon into the hairbands, or I could wrap the whole shape like hair taping.  This would all take a lot longer, but it would outline the shape better.

I would be interested to see if anyone can take this idea and make it better.  Send me a picture if you like.

Lesson 26: Rick Rack Braid

This braid is done with the same basic technique as a regular braid, but to begin you pick three strands, two of equal thickness and one thin.  This picture doesn't show it as well as it should, but the two right strands are equal and the left strand is thin.

Braid down to the end.

Next hold the thin strand tight and slide the other two strands up along it.

Push some of the "bumps" up higher to even them out.  Slide them up as high as it will go or just as high as you want.  Then secure it all with a hair band.

Lesson 25: Hawser rope (twist braid)

Hawser rope is a kind of rope used to tie up or tow boats.  Beginners look at this and think there is no way it will stay without falling out straight.  The trick is to twist the strands and then wrap them together in the opposite direction.

For today's style, I gave Belle a zigzag part in front.  A straight middle part would work well.  If I were to do a straight side part, there would be a thicker rope on one side than the other.  Since Belle has a cowlick in front, it doesn't work well to do a middle part, but the zigzag gave me an even amount of hair on both sides.  Make a straight part from ear to ear and tie the back section into a ponytail.

 Begin by dividing the hair on one front side into two equal sections.

 Twist the sections each in the same direction.  I twisted the the left.

Now twist them together in the other direction.  I twisted them to the right.

Continue twisting them together, making sure the strands are twisted as you go.  If you twist them together without twisting the individual strands, it will just fall loose at the end.

The tighter you twist the strands, the better the rope will stay together.

Continue down to the end.  Put in a hair band.  (I actually just used a temporary clip for this style.)

The twist will probably loosen up a little when you let go.

You can tighten it up again by turning it if you are going to stick them into another section of hair.  This is an idea for a hairstyle here, if you do hawser ropes on both sides and them attach them to the ponytail with another hairband.

I didn't want to do that today, though, so I let the ropes fall while I parted the back into pigtails.

Next I tightened up one rope and stuck it in with the opposite side pigtail.

And repeated on the other side.  You can see this leaves some shorter tails in the piggies.  You could curl them, braid them, or do another hawser rope on the ends.  I just left them today.