Gone Batt-y

Today I decided to finish off a project I promised to my friend Jic. These are, sort of, the first steps to hand making felt hoods sans shearing the sheep or taking care of them . I finally carded the wool I dyed and picked into nice fluffy batts. Whew. 2 pounds worth
I dyed and picked the wool a few weeks ago so now that he's out of town I've finished the project! I'm sure he'll be glad to know. Now that he won't be home to use them..




I was asked to post the inside and the back of the Crazy 40's Beret check it out Updated Photos Cristina!..
http://chapeaudujour.blogspot.com/2008/10/crazy-1940s-beret-block.html

The shoes are something I'm plotting out. This will be the second round with this idea. The brown shoe was my Moms, She had teeny feet size 2 children. The black shoe is mine and just to show how small her foot was I'm a size 6. My shoe looks like Big Foot or the Yetti's slipper compared. I'll be posting what I did with it in a couple of days..

Big Bonnet

This is a strange marriage of two 40's blocks. It's a Toque Crown and Asymmetrical Brim. It almost ended in divorce and a whole new hat. It started when I blocked the crown backwards, Front is back and Back is front. I wanted it to sit more forward than what the brim was intended for, not a Bonnet so I hand re-blocked the crown into a modified Fedora. The trim is a one piece hand made felt ball cascade. I made a few of those as head bands and gave them away for gifts. I still wonder if they ever wear them..

I Eye ManRay.. I Heart Him Too.

I've started to experiment with screen print.. I made a screen of ManRays Tears, I'm not sure of the title of the photograph.. Happy to report my screen worked on the paper Toyo Hood. I did a separate screen for the T-shirts. I did three Toyos and this turned out the best. The others are smeary. My next screens will be on felt hats. I also did a baby romper and T-Shirt from H&M.

PincushionTree, Feather Hair Dids and Beaded Felt Beads

I made this Pincushion Tree when I was recuperating from a really long illness 2006.. These are individual cushions made on golf tee's that fit in the hole of a spool of thread. I stuck them into a Styrofoam ball and stuck that hot mess onto a hat spinner. Someday I'll make something else to pose it on. The Feather Dids are from 2003 I sold these in a cute shop in PDX called Dragon Lilly.

Yeux Ojos Occhi Ogen Googly Eyes

This is my take on a Hypnotic Eye Hat. I met a super Gal in Portland Oregon 2002 that makes, yeah you guessed it, Prosthetic Eyes!! Rena H is amazing to say the least and looks (no pun intended) at eye making as a Yawn Job. What? Is she nutty or what? I see Artistes Par Excellent. She's given me a bakers dozen + of the precious little googly things over the years. I'm a really lucky gal when it comes to meeting peeps I see eye to eye with.
I made the Giant Fake Mannequin Glass Eye Hat 2002 or 03, for a Millinery Supply House. I was told it got into a newspaper article but as I recall I didn't get credit for it, so I'll give credit to myself. There you go self. Here's looking at me.

Wicked

These pictures do not do this hat justice, sorry about the lighting. That's my excuse for me taking crummy photos and I'm sticking to it. Ignatius Creegan made me this hat and it's my most favorite hat ever. Ignatius is a supernova on a Millinery Machine what a guy! He sews straw braid that's 1/4" wide into the most fantastic shapes. If every person in the world owned and wore an Ignatius Creegan and Rod Givens Hat there would be no wars!! We'd all be too busy admiring our reflections and each other. Word.

Shibori Who? What? You Mean Tie Dye? Whatever, GrassHopper

I did some shibori or tie dye, whatever term shakes your berries and twigs. I first made the hoods out of merino wool batts that I did on my Patrick Green SuperCarder. Then I felted them using the "Hat on the Ball" method invented by the renowned felt artist "Beth Beede". HAZAH BETH! I dyed them using the method that Chad Alice Hagen developed, if you have the chance to take a class from the Hagen don't pass it up. She is a hot mess of fun! But, Surprise! couldn't sell one Shibori Hat in Denver Colorado 1997. I was Shi-Buried... I noticed after I did this weird sale that there were people running around with tie dyed bucket hats made out of cotton duck. It looked liked Micheal's did a "Tie and Dye" workshop close by. Foiled again! I did manage to sell all the blue and white ones someplace at another time, I just don't remember who? where? what!. The first picture has the red/black/white hood turned inside out so If you were thinking I was redundant in photo placement, No.. in everything else, Yes.. The flowers are all made out of the left over roundings from felt I make. See I told you redundant. I'll get around to reblocking the hoods someday.