It all started with the yellow rhinestone flip wig. “If I hadn’t made that wig, I wouldn’t be here right now,” says Laura Plad.

The sparkly wig came about when she didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a look made by someone else. “I don’t do drag full time, but I do get dressed up to go out and have fun,” says the 25-year-old fashion and textile designer.

For Plad, “here” is the basement studio of the house where she grew up in Medford. That’s where she sews and makes wigs and where she stays up until 6 a.m. “rhinestoning.” It’s a workshop she’s outgrowing fast. “At some point I need my own space because the basement is filled with stuff,” she says. “I’m running out of room.”

By “here” Plad is also referring to the fact that she’s receiving some recognition for her creative work. Her wig-making skills have been very much in demand since she made the rhinestone-encrusted hamburger (and hand painted the outfit underneath it) for Plane Jane’s performance on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 last winter.

Plad is on her way to Provincetown. She debuted her wigs-as-sculptures in an exhibition here called “Wig!” last year at Dozen Studio Gallery. She’s returning with seven new sculptures for a show opening on Aug. 15.

Growing up, she was the creative kid, digging into sparkly headpieces in 2019 and making her first wig in 2021. She has always loved going out and watching people at clubs in Boston — the now-closed Machine and Jacques Cabaret and Legacy Nightclub have been sources of ideas for her. Plad graduated from Lesley University in 2022 with a B.F.A. in illustration. Her illustration teacher was Keith MacLelland, the founder and gallerist at Dozen Studio. It was talking with MacLelland that gave Plad the idea to try making wigs as sculpture rather than solely as wearable art.

The wig sculptures in Plad’s show are small and strictly for display. Made of glass rhinestones, acrylic paint, paper mâché, and polyurethane, these pieces are different from the wearable ones she makes for private clients and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants. Those wigs need to be flexible, durable, and strictly above the shoulders so performers can move their heads.

Plad begins with a sketch of a design on her iPad where she can erase things easily and experiment with color. There, she makes her decisions on the rhinestones, too. She sculpts the armature using tin foil and hot glue. “I get it to the point where I like the shape of everything,” she says, before she applies a thin coat of her own paper mâché clay over the foundational structure.

The clay dries rock hard and is impossible to sand, but a thick top layer of drywall joint compound produces a layer she can shape. Then she applies acrylic paint, with the glass rhinestones going on last.

Each headpiece is attached to a plaster bust made of polyurethane resin. She used to make her own, but she’s started having them made for her at Skylight Studios in Woburn, a place that otherwise specializes in commissioned sculptures, monuments, and architectural ornamentation.

Plad isn’t certain about the shape of things to come. She knows she wants to improve upon wearable wigs and move away from paper mâché into a more flexible material. She’s now a student at the School of Fashion Design in Boston where she is studying sewing.

Meanwhile, she peruses photos and fashion magazines for ideas. Vintage hairstyles are an inspiration. And the search for fun is, too.

“It’s more fun to paint wavy,” she says. “And I like curls, rolls and flips.”

Headspace

The event: “Wig! 2,” an exhibition of sculptures by Laura Plad

The time: On view through Aug. 26; opening Friday, Aug. 15, 6 to 8 p.m.

The place: Dozen Studio Gallery, 142 Commercial St., Provincetown

The cost: Free