It is now to be placed upon a block, pressed and dressed as indicated in the wood-cut (p. 119). The number of curls is immaterial, for the hair may be arranged in three upon each side, or there might be as many as a dozen.
In addition to the kind just described, there is another way of proceeding so as to introduce a patent silk, or skin parting. These fronts can be made very light, and seeing that there is no net and but little galloon, ventilation does not suffer impediment. Proceed as follows:—Set up the weaving frame as shown in Fig. 21, but instead of nine silks there are now to be twelve. Tie them in threes as before, and intertwine a piece of straight, twelve-inch hair according to the following directions:—Hold the root end, pointing downwards, firmly between the thumb and finger of the left hand, and also the lower silk. Push the long hair through, pass two silks, and bring the hair to the front again. Then pass three, push the hair through, and pass three more, draw it forward, pass two, and over the top one. The hair plait (for plait it is) is now to be continued downwards, but the movements are to be reversed. I will describe this in another way. Say that you are holding the hair in the manner set forth above, together with the first lowest silk—now—over one, under two, over three, under three, over two, under one, and over the top, reversing the order of plaiting up and down till the length of hair is all used. You must “manœuvre” or work it a little, so as to get it tight, firm, and regular, and fasten off as previously instructed. Take three-quarters of an ounce, or an ounce, of ringlet hair of the required length, say ten or twelve inches. Separate the curls, putting all those which turn one way together, and do the same with the other lot. Bear in mind that curls should always turn to the face. Weigh the two portions, so that you may have an equal quantity of hair to work with. Make four inches and three-quarters of weft on the lower silks; four-and-a-half inches of weft on the next group; a like quantity on the group above, and five-and-a-quarter inches of weft upon the top. There is to be a vacancy of a quarter of an inch (near the plait) in the second and third rows, and this will explain why they differ from the lower one. As there is to be a patent parting, a space of an inch and a-half (but this depends upon the width of the parting) must be left in the centre to which you have now arrived; the top row forming an exception, and that is to be woven right along, without any break whatever.