Creative Clipper Designs Made Easy is the first product from Scerbo Video Productions. Released early in 1997 it aims to show how to create designs (such as logos, school emblems, etc.) in hair, by cutting the designs using electric clippers.
The videotape runs for almost 40 minutes and shows five designs being cut. The soundtrack on the tape is music only, no talking, but a useful color leaflet is included which describes the important points about each of the five cuts shown.
Creative Clipper Designs Made Easy is aimed at both the barber, experienced in clipper work, who would like something new to offer his or her customers and also to the home barber, especially someone who cuts the hair of a school kids or a sporting team that would like to have a team or school image cliped into their hair. The designs are all cut on the back of the head. The technique used is to cut away the hair that is not part of the design, leaving the logo or image to stand out.
The designs shown range in complexity. Two of the designs are more text-based, using a corporate logo that is a "styled" word. The other designs are more graphic and artistic in nature. Someone buying the tape, who has not done this sort of cutting before should start out with a simpler, text-based design and then build up to the more artistic designs as they gain experience. The range of cuts shown on the tape would be helpful to beginners and experts.
The clipper work is done freehand, without any stensil, with one exception; a round plastic lid is used on one design (a yin-yang) to get the basic circular shape of the design.
The first design shown is a text logo for a popular brand of sport shoe. This is the only cut on the videotape that shows the hair at the back of the head being prepared for the cut. In the other segments, the hair is already basically prepared, or was already very short. In this first segment, the subject's three to four inch hair at the back is clipped down to half an inch. Two parallel (guide) lines are clipped across the back of the head and the design is cut between those two lines. This is a quite simple design that is very effective.
An interesting feature of this first segment is the way that the rest of the hair, on the top, front and sides, is styled. It is a combination of a bowl cut and a high and tight and is a great modern look that would suit many kids and teenagers. The hair across the back of the head (with the exception of the logo design) is clipped to the skin. The line between the clipped hair and the longer two to three inch hair on top, runs from the crown, diagonally down the sides ending in quite long bangs, parted to one side, that come down near the eyebrows. For someone who wants buzzed back and sides contrasting with longer hair on top and covering the forehead, and who has thick, manageable hair, it may be a very good cut.
The second design is much more artistic and features a sporting organization logo within a map of the USA. The design is temporarily colored using safe food coloring that is applied with a cotton tip. This design is not one that should be tried by a beginner. It does however show a potential business success that could be realized by a barber with an artistic eye and an appropriate customer base.
The third design is a yin-yang. The cut starts by using a round plastic container lid to clip a circle that will be the basis for the design. This is a very effective design, especially for a person with black or very dark hair, as the subject in the videotape has.
The fourth design shows the cutting of a simple star. This is interesting because it can be hidden underneath the longer hair of a bowl cut. The hair at the back of the head is clipped quite high, but without cutting the long locks of hair that cover the clipped area. (This is an under cut.) The design is cut into the area of the head that is covered by the longer hair. When the longer hair is brushed and held out of the way, the design can be seen.
The fifth design is another text-based logo. It is also cut to be hidden underneath a bowl/under cut. This design is a simple one, yet it looks effective because of the three dimensional style of these designs.
In summary, the tape shows some interesting effects that can be created using clippers. The designs, of course, like any clipper work, requite caution from the person doing the cutting. The tape may be useful to a varied audiences of barbers, parents and sporting teams.
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