Tutorial: The Anchor-Thread Method of Re-rooting

[Jellybean]

I was talking about this method in another thread, but I realized I still have this long html document about how to do it, which isn't online right now because my website has been offline for many years. I figured why not get the old images up together with the old text, so it's all in one spot in case anyone would like to try it?
This was made waaaay back in the day, when customizing was getting popular and before Youtube could show you how to do just about everything under the sun. So, the images are pretty gritty, lol! But I hope it's still useful!

Here we go, The Anchor-Thread Method!

For this method of rerooting you will need the following:

• Pony hair of desired color (of course) that, if loose fiber, is twice as long as you want the mane to be. You can also transfer hair from another pony neck directly into the new one, in which case it need not be twice as long, provided the loops have come out intact. You're gonna need those loops!
• Long, thin needle for squishy heads or curved upholstery needle for rigid heads (with experience you will learn what kind of needle generally works best for you)
• Extra-strong thread for quilting or upholstery (preferably white, so there is no chance of dye bleed). You want it to be very hard to break just by pulling it. In a pinch, I've had good results with unwaxed, unflavored dental floss.
• (May be optional) A pair of needle-nosed or bent-nosed pliers, or the like. (Very helpful in avoiding sore fingers. Be aware, toothed pliers will rough up your needle. You can wrap the jaws in some masking tape to help.)
• Scissors
• Glue that won't be brittle when it dries (I like Tacky Glue or other thick, gel-type glue that can be scooped up with a cotton swab). I personally prefer non-toxic, non-fuming glues as I don't know what the long-term effects of something as volatile as E6000 will be on the pony (or on me), and I don't plan on submerging my re-rooted ponies in the bath. Choose a glue that works for you!
• (Optional) An Exacto or other sharp hobby craft knife
• (Optional) cotton swab or narrow, cheap paintbrush for applying glue inside the head

As you can see, we're going to be using a lot of sharp objects, so little kiddies shouldn't try this unless under careful adult supervision.

Overview:

I'll explain each step below!

Preparation:

Remove the pony's head, and all traces of previous hair. If I don't intend to save the old hair, I find it easiest to cut the hair as close to the head as possible, and then use a grasping tool like pliers to pull out the remainder from inside. After the hair is gone, make sure the head is clean and dry inside. There may be a lot of grains of old glue from mane removal and this will get everywhere!

You may wish to use a sharp craft knife to carefully cut away the vinyl overhang on the inside rim of the opening into the head. This will widen the opening and make it easier to see the plugs inside. If you do this, be careful not to pierce the thin part of the rim; if it's too thin it can quickly tear and make it impossible to replace the head without gluing it on.

If another pony is donating its mane, do not cut the donor's mane off! Take that head off its body, and in whatever way you can, completely remove the last plug (or two) of hair from the base of the mane (you can cut those off, I won't yell at you , but try yanking them out first, in case you can use them). Because of the way ponies' manes are rooted, removing the last plug unlocks the adjacent plug, and you should be able to pull each one out as a unit (barring the presence of excessive glue inside). Be careful in selecting your donor mane: if it is badly mildewed inside, each harvested loop must be cleaned at the root, or the mildew will show on your newly re-rooted mane.

(Continued....)

 

[Twinkle-eye]

Aw, Jellybean! You legend!

 

[Jellybean]

Step One:

Thread your needle with a length of thread about six times as long as the row of plug holes, pulling one end through the eye just a few inches. If using loose hair, take a length of hair (about half the amount in a pony hair plug), and fold it in half so the ends touch and a loop is formed in the middle. Put the needle through the loop, and then tie the two ends of the thread together as shown. (You can also work with a single rather than doubled length of thread if the thread is a bit thick or tangles easily, but you will have to be more careful not to unthread your needle. For a single length of thread, thread your needle, then if possible pierce the thread you just fed through the eye, an inch or two from its end, and pull the long end backward, to lock your thread onto your needle. Then tie the other thread end to the loop of your hair bundle with 2 or 3 knots, and your starter plug is ready.)

If you are taking a plug from another pony's mane, the plug may come out in a fairly uniform loop, or all the loop ends may be scrambled together, in which case you need to find all the loop ends with the tip of the needle so that every hair folds over the needle and thread. Try holding the ends of the hairs with one hand, as shown to the left, and using the needle in the other to collect the loops. Using two fingers to pinch downward along the hair will pull any strays away from the group, where you can pick them up more easily with the needle.

Any hairs that don't fold over the thread will not be secured. If you miss 1 or 2, that's okay, but be careful not to miss too many or you will substantially thin the plug when you brush the mane. (Note: with this method of rooting, the loss of all the hairs of one plug will not affect adjacent plugs unless the anchor thread is severed.)

When your looped hair is all on the thread, hold it with one hand so it doesn't escape all over the place, while you do the sewing part.

Step Two:

You may start from either end of the plug holes. Just remember what the color pattern of your finished mane will be! If you are using a donor mane that has a short forelock, and you want to use that in your new mane, start at the bottom of the new mane because a G1 (G3's too I thiiiiink?) donor pony's hair plugs have to be removed from the bottom up. If you forget you will either have to start over or not use the forelock. (I'm only stressing this because I have made this brain-lapse mistake before, and it's really annoying..)

Anyway, now you're ready to insert the first plug. Push the needle through the plug hole into the neck, and if you are using pliers grab the needle from the inside and pull it out through the neck opening. (Careful! You can really jab yourself doing this, so keep your other fingers out of the way, and point that needle tip away from you!) Pull carefully to get just the first half-centimeter or so of the hair fibers into the neck (you should hold the fibers so they don't get pulled too far in). The knot and thread tails need to be inside the neck as well.

Step Three:

This is a small step, but important. If you used doubled thread, you need to pull on your threads and adjust so that the knot in the thread is tucked nicely against or near the inside of the first plug. This prevents the knot from interfering with the threading of further plugs. Pull the hair plug gently back outward until it offers that bit of resistance just before it would pop back outside of the neck.

Step Four:

Looking into the neck opening, hold the pony's head to the light so that you can make out the plug holes, and find the next hole with the tip of the needle, and push through a little bit. This is where a long needle comes in handy, so that you can hold it from outside the neck, and still use your own fingers to aim and poke it through the plug hole. Turn the head over and check to be sure the needle tip is coming through the correct hole. If you're having trouble finding the hole at all, try squishing the pony's head so the hole becomes a little more perpendicular to your line of vision. If the pony's head is too hard, try soaking it for a while in hot water. If that still doesn't help and you're desperate, you can try carefully cutting a small round hole in the front of the neck flange (yep, where I told you not to pierce) and use this to pass the needle in and out for a more direct angle entering the hair plug holes. Use discretion about doing this, though, and get consent or use a different method if you are rerooting someone else's pony. Even though the hole won't be seen when the pony's head is back on, your client may object to your alteration of their pony.

Step Five:

Catch the next loop of hair on your thread and re-enter the same hole. Pull the thread to one side to avoid piercing it on the way in. Keep an eye on your threads to make sure they're not getting tangled together, because the last thing you want to do is pull through and find you've created a monster of a knot. Again, you can grasp the needle with pliers from inside the head to help it out through the neck opening.

Step Six:

Now, carefully pull the hair plug through the hole. As with the first one, it may resist a bit, but then it should pop through. Pull your threads straight as shown in the picture. If by doing this you've pulled the hair a little too far into the head, just pinch both plugs near the outside of the head and pull them both outward until their loop ends are snug against the inside wall. You'll want to do this periodically as tension pulls that starter loop inside.

(Continued...)

 

[Jellybean]

Step Seven:
As you go, it will be helpful and will keep things much more tidy if you occasionally gently brush the hair you've done and bind it with clips or twisty ties (whatever's handy). This will keep the new mane out of your way as you work. Repeat the previous steps over and over until you have gotten to the end of the plug row. From here you can either hop over to the parallel row and traverse the neck in the opposite direction, or you can start up the same way you came by poking the needle out of the hole next to the one you started with. I recommend the first way if the color/length pattern allows it; it uses less thread and will pull less on the plugs at the end of the other row. You can also hop sideways at any time if your pony has a third row for a color stripe. Just continue to monitor the situation inside the head and re-snug plugs that have drawn too far inside. Once all the plugs are happily situated, reach in with the scissors and snip your thread just shy of hanging out of the neck.

Step Eight:

Your pony now has a lovely new mane! It's time to seal it so that those hairs won't pull out. Apply a glob of glue to the tip of your applicator of choice. First run the glue toward you along the plugs, catching the loose thread in it so that it will lay cleanly along the plugs. Next, apply more glue to your finger or swab, and dab and rub into the loops and thread. You're trying to sort of stiffen the whole chain with glue. It doesn't need to be very thick, but it needs to be worked into the fibers a bit. If the glue is really sticky, pinch the last few plugs and hold them against being dragged by the glue.

Step Nine:
Let the glue dry for a good while. Once it's dry, check your glue job by pulling on a few individual hairs. If they come out easily, you should apply more glue. If they offer lots of resistance, you're good to go! Reattach the head and begin styling.

If you used a donor mane rather than fresh hair, you may have noticed that the hairs all have a little kink at the root. This is because they are sticking slightly farther out of the pony's head than they used to, so the bend has changed. If you have a small curling iron that can be turned down really low, try holding the hair out toward the side you want to train it to, and touching a bit of heat close to the head to straighten this out.

I HIGHLY recommend a tool I've been using for this and other styling and frizz-fixing uses: a select-a-temperature wood-burning and soldering tool with a selection of changeable tips. The one I have is the Creative Versa-Tool by Walnut Hollow.

I can use the small flat round tip or the flat paddle tip as a tiny iron and set the temperature low enough that it softens nylon hair but doesn't melt it. The fine tips allow for super super precise mane straightening touchups, and even tiny curls with the help of some fabric or paper toweling. It was not expensive when I bought it years and years ago, though if you get this same model, note that it takes time to warm up, and I had to make a little cover for the dial by taping a square of clear, folded, plastic windowbox packaging over it, so I'd stop bumping the dial and changing the temperature by accident.

If all this was helpful to you, I'd love to hear! And as always, to each their own! Other methods of re-rooting work great too and may be faster and easier! With this method, you can enjoy using donor manes with very little waste and no loss of length, and creating clean, low-profile interiors for translucent ponies. You can even use it in restoration cases when you want to remove a mane, clean mildew out of the plugs, and re-install it, though in such a special case you may want to modify this method to emulate the original braid's chain-stitch looping. Have fun!

 

[Tak]

Umm… maybe this could be added to tutorials @MustBeJewel ?

 

[peaches2217]

This is amazing! It’s a complex process, and yet you make it sound so simple. I think I’ll be giving this a try. Thank you for this tutorial!

 

[Jellybean]

Thanks @peaches2217 ! I tend to overexplain to help people troubleshoot in advance, so it's a lot of reading. But it's really a simple process that's just repetitious. It's the kind of activity to do while sitting comfortably and listening to something.

 

[Tak]

This is amazing! It’s a complex process, and yet you make it sound so simple. I think I’ll be giving this a try. Thank you for this tutorial!

I’m going to give it a try, too!

Thanks @peaches2217 ! I tend to overexplain to help people troubleshoot in advance, so it's a lot of reading. But it's really a simple process that's just repetitious. It's the kind of activity to do while sitting comfortably and listening to something.

Thank you again.

 

[Twinkle-eye]

I totally printed this out today

 

[Jellybean]

You're super welcome! If you have any questions I didn't thoroughly pre-answer feel free to ask!

 

[PastelPeachy]

Wow jellybean your tutorial is next level. These images are incredible. Can’t wait to try this.

 

[Jellybean]

Wow jellybean your tutorial is next level. These images are incredible. Can’t wait to try this.

Thank you!! I should amend to add a helpful thing I've more recently been doing. If you can get ahold of a sturdy, curved upholstery needle that's large enough to reach from the plug holes through the neck hole, you can poke the sharp end through the plug hole to widen it, then carefully poke the eye end in through the plug and partway out the neck, where you can quickly feed a loop from the free end of the anchor thread through it, and pull the needle back out of the plug, letting the loop pop free. I may have to illustrate this because again, a pic is worth a thousand words. It's just a lot easier than trying to sight the plug hole and aim at it from inside the neck.

 

[PastelPeachy]

Thank you!! I should amend to add a helpful thing I've more recently been doing. If you can get ahold of a sturdy, curved upholstery needle that's large enough to reach from the plug holes through the neck hole, you can poke the sharp end through the plug hole to widen it, then carefully poke the eye end in through the plug and partway out the neck, where you can quickly feed a loop from the free end of the anchor thread through it, and pull the needle back out of the plug, letting the loop pop free. I may have to illustrate this because again, a pic is worth a thousand words. It's just a lot easier than trying to sight the plug hole and aim at it from inside the neck.

Thank you so helpful! I’m taking my last final in the morning then I am having a month break and their WILL be a pony spa lol

 

[Maplemeadow]

My goodness what a lot of (satisfying!!) work!! I don't have the dexterity in my fingers for this anymore but I am super impressed with the results you've shared here. Makes me want to try it anyway, even if it fails. Thanks for all the hints @Jellybean

 

[Jellybean]

My goodness what a lot of (satisfying!!) work!! I don't have the dexterity in my fingers for this anymore but I am super impressed with the results you've shared here. Makes me want to try it anyway, even if it fails. Thanks for all the hints @Jellybean

Aw, you're super welcome! It can be a challenge but you can find ways to adjust the process to make it easier. Different needles, different thread, different things to grip a needle. A blunt-tipped tapestry needle might even be nice because they won't pierce the wrong part of the plug hole, and typically have a larger eye for threading. But, there's nothing wrong with the method of poking a mane in through the outside with a rerooting tool if that's going to make you more likely to finish the job!