Art Fawcett VS Hall of Fame

[Art Fawcett]

Casehopper, Thank you for bringing your story out in the open. A few of my closest friends know the story but until today, not the person.

Gentlemen, I have had a fair number of requests that have touched my heart but none more poignant than this one. What came out of the shop could not have had more effort or forethought put into it and is my best effort to honor two small souls that had not nearly enough time here. It's a good thing I can type because even now it's hard to talk about. My hat is off to Casehopper and his wife for the strength they exhibit. Congrats on the upcoming Sir

 

[casechopper]

Thanks for the kind words Art.

I've taken some more photos of my works of Art so here they are!

This is the "Max" hat in memory of my son Max

 

[casechopper]

The "Carlota" in memory of my daughter Carlota

 

[casechopper]

When I decided to get hats made for my twins I also decided to get hats for all of my other children as well. So far I've only got one more hat that is completed so I've got a few more to do.
This is the Hitchhiker by Art which I asked him to make to represent my 2nd oldest daughter Camilla. I chose the hitchhiker because Camilla is a spunky wild little girl with olive skin and the tough natural felt seemed like a good match. Of all of my Art hats this is probably the most versatile with the clothing that I wear (mainly casual). One cool thing with this natural felt is that it looks very light in the sun but indoors becomes more beige/grey. My wife commented that she'd initially thought I was wearing a panama when we were out in full sun.

I recently wore the Hitchhiker as my sole hat for a road trip from here in NJ to Omaha for my sisters wedding. It handled the rain, 100 degree temperatures and everything else with aplomb.
Here are a couple of pictures from the wedding. The first photo is with my youngest daughter Greta.

The girl that this hat represents:

 

[casechopper]

The twins' hats

My Art Collection

I'd like to thank Art for making these hats for me. The Max and Carlota hats are especially significant to me and are a great way for me to remember them.

 

[Landman]

Casechopper,

Those are all beautiful hats! What is the name of the felt used on Camilla's hat?

 

[bowlerman]

Incredibly thoughtful, incredibly touching, incredibly insightful. Nice work Casechopper and Mr. Fawcett.

 

[casechopper]

Thanks Bowlerman

Landman, the Camilla hat is the Hitchhiker model from Art. It's a natural colored nutria felt that I think he had made special from Winchester.

 

[Chepstow]

casechopper, outstanding Hats all of them. Really!

 

[Rabbit]

A very touching story, casechopper, and a wonderful way of keeping the memory of the twins alive.

Would you tell us which of Art's raised-hair finishes the Max hat is? There's the silk finish and the velour; not many pictures have been posted of either of these around here. Yours looks like it could be a silk finish?

 

[casechopper]

Thanks Chepstow and Rabbit.

Rabbit: The only raised hair finish that I know of is what I've heard called a "scratch" finish. I don't think he does velours as he doesn't have velour hat bodies to work with and that would have to be done at the body manufacturing level (if I'm wrong someone correct me). My understanding is that the finish on the Max hat is made by using a standard hat body that's been combed or scratched into a longer hair finish. Possibly silk and scratch are the same?

 

[Rabbit]

Thanks Chepstow and Rabbit.

Rabbit: The only raised hair finish that I know of is what I've heard called a "scratch" finish. I don't think he does velours as he doesn't have velour hat bodies to work with and that would have to be done at the body manufacturing level (if I'm wrong someone correct me). My understanding is that the finish on the Max hat is made by using a standard hat body that's been combed or scratched into a longer hair finish. Possibly silk and scratch are the same?

Yes, I think scratch finish and silk finish mean the same thing in Art's hats. He does the finish in the shop. There is also a finish called velour on his website, it's apparently not identical to the silk finish. However, this particular velour finish most likely has nothing in common with the velour hats of old. It's just a name for a slightly longer-hair finish.
The silk finish is done with a metal scratcher to raise some of the felted hair from the surface (I'm pretty sure about this part), then finished resulting in a longer-hair finish with the raised hair flattened to the felt surface again. I guess that's why it's also called scratch finish.

The two are slightly different methods of raising the hair and finishing the felt surface after raising the hair. For both finishes, Art uses the standard Winchester hat bodies, like you said.

I'm fairly sure the above information is correct, but please correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[casechopper]

I think the velour is a new addition that came out after I ordered the Max hat. I think we'll have to wait to here back from Art on what the difference between Velour and Silk is.

The finish on the Max hat is very nice but I wouldn't choose this for a hat that will be anywhere near dirty or dusty conditions as this finish feels like it would soak up dust and you'd never be able to get it out later. The furriness of it also makes it seem like a more insulated hat that one would use in the winter rather than in the heat of the summer. This may be more my perception than reality but the idea of sweating in a fuzzy furry hat just doesn't seem right.

 

[Rabbit]

I think the velour is a new addition that came out after I ordered the Max hat. I think we'll have to wait to here back from Art on what the difference between Velour and Silk is.

The finish on the Max hat is very nice but I wouldn't choose this for a hat that will be anywhere near dirty or dusty conditions as this finish feels like it would soak up dust and you'd never be able to get it out later. The furriness of it also makes it seem like a more insulated hat that one would use in the winter rather than in the heat of the summer. This may be more my perception than reality but the idea of sweating in a fuzzy furry hat just doesn't seem right.

Thank you for the information on the furry-ness. I was wondering about that. Say, are those raised hairs "sticking" to the surface or are they really fuzzy?

 

[casechopper]

The texture is very different from the velours I've seen. I have a Huckel velour hat and also a Selentino velour hat. The Selentino is very long haired and a bit textured while the Huckel has a very uniform mid length hair that looks dense and plush. Art's hat is much less hairy and the hair are much finer than the Huckel or Selentino. Where the Huckel and Selentino feel silky Art's hat feels a bit more fuzzy. Art's hat is also his standard dress weight so it's a much lighter hat than either of the other two.

I'm finding it hard to describe these but maybe later I can take some pictures side by side to show what I mean.

 

[Rabbit]

The texture is very different from the velours I've seen. I have a Huckel velour hat and also a Selentino velour hat. The Selentino is very long haired and a bit textured while the Huckel has a very uniform mid length hair that looks dense and plush. Art's hat is much less hairy and the hair are much finer than the Huckel or Selentino. Where the Huckel and Selentino feel silky Art's hat feels a bit more fuzzy. Art's hat is also his standard dress weight so it's a much lighter hat than either of the other two.

I'm finding it hard to describe these but maybe later I can take some pictures side by side to show what I mean.

That would be very helpful, thanks. In fact, your description is quite helpful, too. I'm really interested in seeing the differences in these finishes. I know how the Hückel velours look like, but I haven't handled Art's silk finish and I'm not sure I could tell from the pics that I've seen so far on the Lounge.
Of course, the two cannot be compared, really (vintage Austrian/German velours and the VS silk finish, I mean). Still, it's a good point of reference.

 

[mayserwegener]

Selentino and Hückel are TONAK. I actually have a TONAK sample felt book but cannot locate it. TONAK have a wide variety of Velour finishes (some not available in retail hats) but they are Rabbit / Hare based. Old Austrian Velour was the finest and IMO J. Hückel Söhne was the finest of the finest. As far as I know pre 1945 JHS used Rabbit / Hare and maybe a touch of Nutria for their Velour finishes. I am not sure what happened (move to more mechanized processes? change in fur types? ??) into the 50s but you just don't see the same Velour finishes and qualities. This is an example (JHS 1930s) of a Velour finish and color you will not see today.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4710377722_9fa5dfe698_b.jpg

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Wanted to update that Eric SBG is this month's Featured customer on Vintage Silhouettes.
Congratulations Eric and Yea USA women's gymnastic team for their gold metal win.

us-womens-gymnastics-gold-medal-team

You Are The Silhouette

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

That is a sweet velour Steve would love to get one someday.

 

[mayserwegener]

It's one of the finest (maybe the finest) hats in my collection. The color is silver grey.

Also the recent old Mayser Velour I picked up has an amazing color. With the Velour finish it looks like the fur of a European Mole which is actually the model name of the hat in Italian (Talpa). At close inspection you can see it is a mix of few different pre dyed furs. You just can't find anything like it today.