Asymetrical Half Hat

This is a sweet little block. I bought it from eBay a few weeks ago. I wasn't going to buy anymore blocks, you know where I'm going with this. But, I just couldn't stop myself from buying it.
The Pheasant Tail Feathers I cut and shaped then wrapped with a thin strip of the felt. I wasn't sure if I liked the way it looked on the hat, so I tried a small curled Ostrich Feather in light gray. If I come up with another feather from the box that was just delivered from eBay I'll post it later. BTW eBay is a really good source for vintage feathers..

40's Surreal-ish

This block is really insane and I made it more so by blocking it in one of "those" wool felts. It's the one that I worked for days on.. Needless to say it was hard. It reminds me of a barnacle. If I block it again, I'll do it in a straw or in a velour that I'll drape with satin into a Turban. The veiling was a flesh tone, I dyed it black and in the process I tore 3 holes in it. I don't like to dye veiling.
I call it surreal, it is isn't it? Or it isn't is it?

Just Hat

I've been working on another difficult block for 4 days, it's been driving me mad. I decided to take a break from it yesterday and I blocked this Cloche. I just needed to finish something.
I tried to use every last bit of the capeline, and I almost did. There are the few pieces left in front of the mannequin. The last photo is what the leaves look like before they're sewn and the strip is what the vine was cut from.

Josephine and Louise and Michelle and Montez

I made these when I was into covering everything in felt and making long ropes. I met a neat gal, Michelle Shelton when we were in the last throes of life in Ann Arbor. She had these fantastic Braids, it was a new thing back then and I wanted them too. My hair just wouldn't do it so I made mine out of felt. The other was just a project in Portland Oregon, I covered a copper pipe, left over from ice machine hookup for our Fridge and handmade felt balls. Here's a close up of my first Label.. it's kinda sorry looking.

I updated some photos for "Quills and Spills"

Mad Cap Schiap

Three of these blocks look like they're 1930's Schiaparelli inspired. It's hard to see the hats themselves, of course I had to do it in black wool and I took pictures at night. . At any rate they're cute. They look like "not knitted" Mad Caps.
I'll trim the caps un-Schiaparelli like and repost.. The fourth block is a 1950's half hat, it looks more like a beret. That one was a little fussy I'll redo that one in velour and wire the edge next time.

Turbo Turban

This Hat looks like a Sea Shell, a Turbo Argyrostomus, that's what I found when I googled sea shell, sans the snail. I used a printed wool felt hood, next I'm going to block it with fur felt, You are right Cristina! Wool felt, complicated block? International Sign For NO insert here. The last photos are of what I did with the rest of the capeline I used for the Cocktail Hat with Quills. I used my old hand crank pinking machine. I love a good old machine with a hand crank.

Quills and Spills

I bought some ostrich feathers that were seconds thinking I would dye them. They were just too raggedy and the quills were very thick, so I striped them of all the fluff and boiled them in a 6 quart pot of water to soften them. While they were boiling I made a pattern out of a piece of wire the approximate length of the quills and bent it into the shape I wanted the quills to be. With the wire as a pattern I fashioned make shift jig with pins on an old message board. When they dried I got out the air brush, spilled paint and made a huge mess. One tip read instructions first, then push button. Eventually I got them painted and dried and sewn on the little cocktail hat. I wanted the edge or head-size of the hat to be rolled so I wired the edge and pulled one end of the wire until it curled under and sewed the grosgrain over the wired edge.
Update on the shoe, I can't get it to stick on my head how did Dali balance his?






























Hey I've added some photos of a re-block of this block. The headsize is 22" and the crown-side mid point is 24" the "Small Brim Theory" didn't work.. Sorry Nina! What did work and makes a Sixties-ish pill box is the tip pushed down. I'll use this block only for the tip..