Brad Bowers
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,187
And now for something not completely different:
The color is almost exactly the same, though this started life as a raw felt body. The ribbon is a 19-ligne navy color, which makes the hat look even taller.
This is my first hat completed from beginning to end, and if I listed all the mistakes I made on it, we'd be here all night, so I won't go into details. I will say that, while I love these almost-white colored bodies, they are a darned pain to work with while avoiding getting them dirty. I had to naphtha this one good after I was finished pouncing. It's pounced within an inch of its life, which means it will probably taper in nothing flat, but I was curious to see how much it could take. Singeing it was panic-inducing, as there's nothing quite like watching your hat burn away in front of you. And then, trying to get the burned fur off... but it comes off, and the finish is the better for it.
I did learn sooooooo many things to NOT do the next time around, and I incorporated my lessons and tricks learned from the first Powell hat. I cut the brim with an X-Acto knife after measuring and drawing a line in pencil, and then trimming it down an 1/8" at a time. It looks okay from a distance, but you can tell it's not as even as it should be. Gotta find a rounding jack somewhere!
Time to take a break from making hats for a while.
Brad
The color is almost exactly the same, though this started life as a raw felt body. The ribbon is a 19-ligne navy color, which makes the hat look even taller.
This is my first hat completed from beginning to end, and if I listed all the mistakes I made on it, we'd be here all night, so I won't go into details. I will say that, while I love these almost-white colored bodies, they are a darned pain to work with while avoiding getting them dirty. I had to naphtha this one good after I was finished pouncing. It's pounced within an inch of its life, which means it will probably taper in nothing flat, but I was curious to see how much it could take. Singeing it was panic-inducing, as there's nothing quite like watching your hat burn away in front of you. And then, trying to get the burned fur off... but it comes off, and the finish is the better for it.
I did learn sooooooo many things to NOT do the next time around, and I incorporated my lessons and tricks learned from the first Powell hat. I cut the brim with an X-Acto knife after measuring and drawing a line in pencil, and then trimming it down an 1/8" at a time. It looks okay from a distance, but you can tell it's not as even as it should be. Gotta find a rounding jack somewhere!
Time to take a break from making hats for a while.
Brad
