Have you used a hat form before?

Posted on by under wet felting

 I recently got three hat forms from Hat Shapers to make more felt hats. In the past, I just shaped my hats with the washboard and fulling techniques. I would then put plastic bags inside to hold the shape while the hat dried. But to make a hat that is really specific, it works wonders if you have a hat form. The hat above was an experiment and was only partially successful. It was going to be a flat beret with a brim but it ended up looking really silly. So I turned it into a baseball cap with the help of a hat form. It still looks a bit silly but at least it doesn’t cause people to fall down laughing.

 This hat is a sample made using a Columbia wool from Oregon. It comes in these really nice tweedy colors. It doesn’t felt as quickly as merino but it’s very sturdy and works really well for hats. I used the fedora hat shaper for this one and it actually looks like a fedora.

I used flax and bamboo fiber to add a little embellishment to the brim. I’m still trying to work out where you put embellishments that will end up in the area of the hat band. It’s hard to determine that exactly because of the shrinkage and how the hat form works. I never thought I would like making hats but with the hat forms, they are really easy. I have no connection with Hat Shapers but I do like their products.

Inspiration Deck

Posted on by under surface design, swap

 In February, I found a blog by Jess Brogan called In Search of Dessert. She was hosting a inspiration deck swap which you can read about here. So I decided to join up and participate. I applied gesso to a deck of playing cards on both sides and then painted them.

 This is what they looked like after I painted and stenciled them.

 Then I printed out a bunch of inspirational sayings on white paper, cut them out and glued them down with a combination of gel medium and walnut ink. That way I glued down the paper at the same time as giving them a coat of walnut ink.

 On the back of the card I put my name and blog addresses. I hope no one was offended by this one but it makes me laugh.

 On Friday, I received these in the mail. A deck of 52 cards from different people with inspirational sayings. Now when I’m in need of inspiration, I can take out the deck and find some. I can also check out 52 different websites or blogs of people who made these.

 I am going to show a few of the cards that I received. Aren’t they wonderful?

I always think it’s great to see what other people come up with when they follow the same instructions. This was a fun swap and thanks to everyone who participated for making my cards. And thanks to Jess for coordinating and making up all these packs of cards. It was fun.

I’ve been felting for the last two days so more photos to come soon.

Learning to Felt a Hat

Posted on by under class, wet felting

 I had another felted hat class yesterday at Camas Creek Yarn. There were 5 students and we had a really good time. Each of the hats created was unique and they all turned out great. Here, Michelle and Karen are drawing out their resist shapes.

 Jason and Barbara are laying out wool for the bottom layer.

 Here is Zoe’s first layer for her hat.

 Barbara has her resist completely covered and is wetting it down completely.

 Here’s Jason’s resist covered with wool and completely wet down.

 Michelle is beginning to rub the outside layer.

 And Zoe, always enthusiastic, is rubbing her hat as well.

 Next up was rolling and Jason is rolling while Barbara is sopping up excess water.

 Here is Zoe rolling, rolling, rolling… It looks like Karen is doing a good job of supervising.

The resist has been removed and the hats are on the Hat Shaper hat forms. Barbara is pounding away to get the right shape.

 Jason made a fedora style hat and is shaping on the hat form.

 Michelle made a cloche style hat.

 Here is Zoe and her swirly hat, she’s working that pointy top to just the right position.

 Karen has her hat on the hat form and she got some wonderful folds on the top.

Here is everyone at the end of class. My hat that I made for demonstration is at the far right. What a wonderful group of people and look at those hats! Didn’t they do a great job?

And the winner is…

Posted on by under give away

The winner of the 400th post giveaway is Sandy! The random number generator picked number 4 and Sandy was the 4th comment. I’ve sent you an e-mail and as soon as I have your address, I’ll mail out the fiber goodies. Congratulations! Thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments and thanks for stopping by to see what I’ve been doing in fiber land 🙂