New directions
09/12/2010 12:04
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” (Dr. Seuss)
Yuzz-a-Ma-Tuzz Tea Cozy. 100% Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz/Fiffer Feffer Feff blend fiber. Wubbulously wet felted, dyed, sanded, painted, shaved and varnished.
NYC Skyline Lampshade. Merino/Silk blend fiber wet felted, varnished and painted.
Taking these to the Big E. Stay tuned...
Yuzz-a-Ma-Tuzz Tea Cozy. 100% Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz/Fiffer Feffer Feff blend fiber. Wubbulously wet felted, dyed, sanded, painted, shaved and varnished.
NYC Skyline Lampshade. Merino/Silk blend fiber wet felted, varnished and painted.
Taking these to the Big E. Stay tuned...
The Evolution of Dan’s Hats
04/16/2010 09:14
Last week I made a hat body out of Merino/Silk blend roving. (To see the process, click here.) I used the hat body to make a snuggly cap for my husband.
To complete this hat , I dyed it a different color, blocked it and trimmed the edges.
You may be asking, "What the hell is that?"
A few months ago, I needed a larger pin cushion. So I wet felted a stryofoam wig form with layers of Karakul and Norwegian C1 fleece. I let my felting needles, razor and imagination take over... It's a little bit luchadore. A little bit tribal. A whole lot SCARY! What can I say, I was moody that day.
This particular hat didn't need a firm block-- just something head-shaped to dry on. My pin cushion worked perfectly!
My felting has come A LONG way!!! Here is a comparison of one of my first hats to the latest. Novice felters tend to felt too thick and don’t fully felt items… The black hat is almost over a half inch thick and is probably 65% felted.
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah!
04/10/2010 17:02
They will be announcing the winners of each category that night. I can’t make the show, but am incredibly thrilled to be recognized. I am hoping some good Samaritan will snap a photo of my hat on the model and email it to me (address at bottom of page). It would also be cool to see all of the entries. Here's hoping that Hat Works can put together a slide show or at least post a few images on their website.
And because my hat made the shortlist of entries, and got into the show, it will also be exhibited at Hat Works Museum June 21 through November 28, 2010! That's five months in a hat museum! That might be the best news of all!
Coquimbo fish market hat
03/10/2010 07:59
I did some editing. The crab legs were too much. The colored beads were too much. I made a bow out the same ribbon as the band and put an old jade stone in the middle… it was too much. For the amateur that I am, I am happy with this hat. I think it looks like something from the ocean. Big thank you to my beautiful model (those eyes are show stoppers!!!) You are a good sport!
Here is a list of the materials I used:
Natural Grey Icelandic wool from The Lavender Fleece farm in MI
Grey Industrial Felt
Millinery wire
The top of a coffee-mate bottle
The lid of a glad plastic container
Packaging tape
Nylon thread
Cotton thread
Acrylic paints
Fabric stiffener
Russian veiling
Old beaded necklace
Clear elastic
Hair comb
Take the top half of a plastic bottle and tape it to the lid of a plastic storage container to form a hat block.
Cut a center hole in the lid to complete the block.
Make 5 fish tails out of Industrial felt and wire.
Stuff the proximal end of the fish tail into the neck of the bottle so that the tails are sticking out.
Make hat body out of Icelandic fleece by needling on a foam form and wet felting.
Put hat body over hat block (from the bottom up, so that the edge of the hat body is touching the proximal end of the fish tails)
Wet felt and needle felt it all together.
Let dry.
Paint tinted fabric stiffener on the hat.
Put veil on.
Put band on.
Sew beads on.
Put a patina on the beads.
Sew on elastic and comb.
Contests are cool because they give my mind a direction. And I like deadlines. Nothing gets the creative juices going like a deadline. I learned a lot through this experience. Mostly, that I want to give hat blocking a serious try. I have put holds on various books at the library to get a better grasp of millinery techniques. And would really appreciate watching Davyne Dial’s Millinery instruction videos, but can’t seem to get them!! I stumbled upon this great blog called the rantings of a mad hatter wannabe and now I am a Christine de Prada wannabe. Her hats and style are incredible!
Fish Markets in Chile
03/07/2010 18:17
And now the twist… the contest has a theme. The hat has to embody a central market place. I thought about our local farmer’s market, which consists of about 10 tents set up with various farmers, gardeners, artisans selling things. Mostly berries. It is small, cute and viable in this rural town… but doesn’t leave a dent in your memory. Not like the markets of Chile.
There is nothing like the Mercado Centro in Concepción and the fish markets of Coquimbo and Valdivia. Don’t get me wrong, there are some fabulous markets in the US. But there is an honesty to the markets in Chile that you don’t see here. For example, Minneapolis has a visually stunning and fun farmer’s market, but it is not so local-- you can buy bananas there. The meat is USDA inspected (which is a good thing) and packaged like it would be at a supermarket. And like our little farmer’s market in Keene, it’s a weekend gig.
In Chile, it is an entirely different experience. Next to the select meat cuts sold for the bbq you will find lopped off sheep and goat heads for sale. 2 cabezas for 1500 pesos, which is about three bucks.
Born 70 years too late!!
02/26/2010 13:05
