CHINA PAINTING HAIR
This tip is from Seeley with some variation from my teaching.

1st firing:
Mix your paint with Line Medium or Ultra Fine Line Medium to a consistency mixture, that when you run your pallet knife thru color moisture comes back together. Use a moistened Super Doll Sponge to apply color starting at the crown. Stipple and pat the color gently, starting at the crown, then blend and fade the color towards the hairline. Smooth with Large China Mop #8. Fire.

2nd firing:
Use a Fan Brush to create individual hairs. The Fan Brush is constructed of synthetic hairs spread apart in a fan design. The synthetic hairs are stiffer than natural hairbrushes and tend to give a sharper line. It is designed for painting groups of thin strokes to simulate hair on dome head dolls such as baby and boys.
Trimming:
To create more individual hair strokes the Fan Brush can be easily trimmed using a pair of sharp manicure or embroidery scissors. Support the ferrule and bristles with your finger then carefully snip away bristles at the base until the desired thickness is achieved. Trim only one hair at a time to avoid costly mistakes. It's a good idea to keep one brush untrimmed for thicker hair strokes and one trimmed for the finer hair application.

Paint consistency:
The paint must be mixed to a thin creamy consistency, similar to that for painting eyelashes. If the paint is mixed too thick, it will drag, coming out of the brush making it impossible to paint long groups of hair strokes. If the paint is mixed too thin, you will be able to paint hair strokes but they will be very faint and tend to fuzz out and flow together.

loading:
Dip your Fan Brush into water. Dab off excess water on the edge of your water container. Pull a small amount of paint aside and begin working it into the brush. The small amount of water you add will thin the paint to an ink consistency allowing you to paint finer strokes. It will evaporate fairly quickly preventing the paint from having time to fuzz out like it would if mixed too thin with media.
Load the bristles evenly and be sure to fully, load the brush to allow you to paint the longest strokes possible. Fully loaded means the bristles should be completely coated with paint. Do not load so much paint in the brush that you will have a puddle of paint as soon as you touch the head. Continue to swirl and work color through the brush on the tile until you achieve the color density that you want on the head. The paint consistency should be that of water color constituency, very thin, liquid and translucent.

To paint hair strokes:
Hold the brush almost perpendicular to the head. Support yourself with your little finger so you will have free movement with you brush. Begin painting at the crown using quick smooth strokes. Work away from the crown following the natural direction that hair would grow. Over-working the paint will end up with solid areas of paint rather than individual hair -like strokes. If this happens, remove the paint with a damp super doll sponge, allow the area to dry and repaint. The strokes will look more natural if they are not uniform in size and spacing, so don't worry if some areas of the head are left unpainted. For baby dolls with fine hair, one application is enough. For older or boy dolls, apply the hair strokes in two or more firings instead of trying to apply it all in one firing.

Hint:
Watch out for our newest brush coming out soon called the Small Hair Brush, a wonderful complement to your hair painting brushes. The above technique will be great for this new brush. More information to come!