#32 Whimsical Hats

Sorry it's been so long between posts. I meant to get more on top of things but stuff keeps coming up and getting in the way.  Also I am a bit scatter brains so forgive any typos..

So anyway...Hats!

I wanted more whimsical shapes than I saw at the store.

I saw some online but they were quite expensive!

 So as usual I decided to make my own.

So I had some ideas in my head but I always do an internet search first to see if anyone has tried this and what they did. 

I found a few tutorials right away. 

The one I liked best was by Thread Bangers on youtube. 

Here are the links

This one is for the oversized mad hatter hat

http://youtu.be/zKcbk6xnSz4

This is for the mini hat.

http://youtu.be/z3Nx0igPai4

I used both here and only made a couple modifications.

The red silk hat.

Supplies...

• poster board
• piece of cardboard big enough for about 12" round circle  ( could use cardboard cake rounds they sell at craft stores)
• fabric a yard or so, or just scraps if making a mini hat
• wire 14 guage
• sash, ribbon, flowers, feathers... whatever accessories you want
• bias tape and or trimmings

 Other stuff... 

• hot glue gun
• fabric glue
• scissors
• masking tape
• needle, thread, and pins 
• circle compass

So first I did the Mad Hatter Hat.

Starting with a piece of poster board rolled into a cylinder I did mine 10" high but the height is optional. Use masking tape to secure it.

 Make the sure it fits around your head with a little room for hair.

Find a sturdy piece of cardboard. Make sure it's is pretty strong.. don't want an old piece that the fibers are broken down that bends too easy.


Out of this cut a circle I did mine about 12" round. 
These don't have to be exact measurements though. 
I used a circle compass to trace it out first.

Hot Glue the poster board cylinder in the center of cardboard the circle. 

Now the next part is different than the videos.

I found it hard to get the fabric to look right just doing it loosely like they show. I am also a little anal about these kind of things. 

So I measured and cut a piece of fabric first to fit.

 I did this by rolling the cardboard piece on the fabric, following and marking the natural curve as it rolled

This is just some fabric I found at goodwill by the way.

Keep gradually tracing as you roll it. You should end up with curved shape something like below.

Make sure you get enough fabric to go around by marking a spot on the cardboard, rolling it until you get back to that same mark again.

You can make a pattern on craft paper first, like I did here with my red hat. Make sure to give a inch or so extra fabric all around.

After I cut out this piece I pinned it all around the top edge with as well as the bottom inside to make sure it was all even. 
For pinning the top I stuck the pins directly into the cardboard itself right around the edge (see in the picture of my black hat below). Pull the fabric very tautly as you go around. 

The poster board doesn't like being pinned, so I only used a couple just to hold it in place roughly. I hurt my finger a lot on those stupid pins. Any puckers or wrinkles can be worked out at this point by removing and reposition pins until you get it just right. I would say focus on getting the top more perfect.. because the bottom you can eventually cover with the sash, or a flower, a feather or something.

This next step would have been good to have a pic of. Unfortunately I just spaced out. Basically this is the same as in the video... you are just hot gluing the top on and then the bottom. 

Starting on top...I glued the fabric just near the edge. go slow don't use to much glue, don't want lumps on top when it's dry. 


Next glue on the bottom fabric inside really pulling it taut.

Looks like a lamp shade. I wonder if you could use an old lamp shade for this hmmmm?

I was kind of anal about how the back was looking as (where the needs met up). I tried gluing it but it didn't work so I decided to just sew it together real quick with a needle and thread. This helped pull it together much better, fixed a few wrinkles too.

On another piece of fabric trace a circle piece to fit on the top of the hat and just glue it on. 
Trim the excess off... just like in the video.

                                       Top

                              ^ Bottom

Now the Brim pretty much exact as in the video.

 I used 14 gauge wire can be found at any home improvement store.

You need a string wire for this. Coat hanger wire would probably work fine.

Just like the Thread Banger video, place the hat on another piece of your fabric, bottom side down. 

Trace a circle to match the opening. Cut out a small circle at center of that. 

Then cut flaps up to the edge of the larger circle 

Decide on how big you want your brim to be. I just eyeballed it. 
Mine ended up being about 15 inches round. 
Tape the wire to hold the circle shape. I used duct tape.

Cut out the fabric in a wider circle with plenty of over hang 

 Match up the opening of this piece with the opening of the hat and glue this piece inside.

\

Flip the hat over the wire circle.

Start pulling the fabric around the wire and pinning it. 


It can take a few minutes to get the hang of this. But it starts to make since as it gets tighter. 
Just have to keep messing with it as you go. 
I removed and replaced the pins several times until I got it right.

Here is the red hat pinned up

Now either hand sew or use a machine to sew it on.

Trim off the extra fabric underneath.

I spray painted it with some green paint I had lying around

Here is another view of my red hat. I used fabric glue to add some  gold trim to this one and covered the seam at the back with red ribbon.

The smaller hat is almost the same except on a smaller scale.
 Also you don't need to worry about it fitting over your head so the brim is a little different.

Instead of cutting a hole out for your head, just glue fabric around the wire rim.

Trim off the excess fabric

Lay it on another piece of fabric and mark and cut a circle to match. Glue it on the rough side

Cut a couple slits in the middle and feed a piece of ribbon through. 

Make sure it's long enough so it can be tied around your head. Glue it in place so it doesn't slide out.

                                                      Glue on the top.

I applied bias tape with some fabric glue around the edges to clean it up 

and some sparkly ribbon I found.

Just tie it around either under your chin, or around the back (like I did here).

I pinned the ribbon to may hair to hold it better too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Fun with eyebrows

I am a huge Vampira Fan! 

She is just so glamourous, bizarre, and so ahead of her time.

So many reason to love her.

Anyway I have a plan to go as her for Halloween. 

 I had my first serious go at those eyebrows today. 

Here are a few pics of how it turned out.

I figured out fast you can overcomplicate this and make them too much. 

I think I could go a little darker still. I also need slightly more dramatic false lashes.

I am thinking I will post a how too on this because well I learned a lot with trial and error 

This last one is my favorite.

More on this later........

Thanks for stopping by.

#31 Scarecrow

I have always loved scarecrows.

They are not that hard to make and can be practically free if you have some basic stuff laying around the house. Scrap wood, old clothes, hats, gloves, some burlap, tree trimmings, old sheets etc.... the possibilities are endless.

This is the guy I am making here!

One of my favorites scarecrows is from the movie Sleepy Hollow.
So simple, So classic, So Halloween!

sleepy hollow

The first scarecrow I made was after seeing that movie. I did it in an afternoon with some wood, old branches, black plastic, and a Funkin( fake pumpkin).

my guy

Ok my early work is not the most artistic, but it was last minute. I was very proud of him at the time. He stood 8 feet tall and got a lot of attention that night. Actually I kind of miss him.

May have to do a new version soon.

So I eventually stumbled across Pumpkin Rot.
A lot of people know him well. He is an amazing artist and The Scarecrow Master!!
If you haven't heard of him, go right now to his page ( should be in my links ) and look at his outstanding stuff!



So Pumpkin Rot has a scarecrow on there named Johnny Appleseed.
I love it so much. It instantly reminded me of the Jeepers Creepers 2 scarecrow. I remember wanting to make one too when I saw that movie. Only his has that signature eerie, rural, gothic Rot spin.

Jeepers Creepers 2

So my guy is.... inspired by them both.


I am not exactly sure how Pumpkin Rot makes his stuff, but this is how I decided to do mine.
Mostly with stuff I had on hand.

I have had a couple of these large plastic skulls sitting around for a while. I got them on clearance a few years back, never could figure out what to do with them. They are bigger than a normal skull not very realistic looking. So I decided to use one here.

Fist thing I did was build a thick neck.... I wanted that confusion "is that a person in there?" I did this by balling up news paper and building it up securing with masking tape. I just played with it until it looked right. Then I covered it with several layers of paper mache to make it very strong.

Neck built and taped ready for paper mache.

Sorry  I forgot to take pictures of the next two parts.

This thing needed to be weather proof so after the mache was completely dry I did two coats of DryLok.

I then hollowed out the crumbled newspaper inside the neck, all the way up to the underside of the plastic skull. I DryLoked the inside too sealing all paper parts.

Next I got some scraps of burlap and dipped it in just plain elmers glue. I draped it all over the head, building features with the wet burlap. 

Thick heavy brows, stronger cheek bones.

 I left the eyes somewhat uncovered, built up the nose a little leaving nostrils holes, and left a gap for the teeth to bite through.
All the better for him to see you with, smell you with, and EAT you with!!!

The glue made the burlap a little brittle when dry, just in the hanging parts really. 

I probably could have used Monster Mud instead, I was just too lazy to make it. 

Anyway the next step made it strong.

After he was dry I did several coats of DryLok. 

I painted the whole thing with a brown house paint (again, gotta love the oops paint).

After the base color was dry, I washed it with watered down black paint.
Then I dry brushed on a light burnt siena/ yellow ochre mix, to highlight.

Sorry so blurry. This was my old camera hopefully my new one is better.

For the hat, I just cut  a circle of cardboard and cut out a hole for his head. 

I wanted a very tight fit so the wind wouldn't blow it off.

I covered the part of his head sticking out with plastic wrap, and then covered that with duct tape.

I used crumbled newspaper and masking tape to give the top of the hat the shape I wanted. 

The red (it's all I had) duct tape covered form

The hat got several layers of paper mache, a layer of scrap fabric dipped in elmers, 3 coats of dry lock, and paint (same base coat and black wash as the head but a taupe color on the highlights).
All of these drying completely between each layer of course . 

The hat before paint

So before all this, I had found the perfect trench coat at good will.
This is the key to the look I think. I actually see them a lot at good will. This one was particularly large, which was even better.

Again, sorry for the lack of images for the next part, but it's pretty simple.


I made a cross with two piece of scrap furring strips.  A longer one about 6' going vertically, and a shorter one, about 3' horizontally. Secured them with screws.

The top of the vertical piece came up about a 12" from the horizontal wood strip ..enough to fit his head on securely.

I played with the head a bit, deciding on the right position. I wanted it slouchy... like the inspirations.

I then marked the best spot and drilled a hole into the plastic underside of the skull. I had to cut it a little with and exacto knife to get it big enough to go over the end of the furring strip.

I put the jacket on the cross before going further.

I pulled the sleeves back so I could work with the arms.

I wanted the twig arms and body like pumpkin rots.
I like how this is confusing and more supernatural. I imagine coming upon it "Could that be a man? No it can't be. But it seems Alive!  WHAT THE HELL IS IT?!!"

The twig arms in place, sleeves pulled back for working.

So attaching the twigs is fairly simple. 

I just stacked and layered branches until I liked the way they looked.

 I used a combo of twine, floral wire to secure them.

 I then dripped hot glue in between the branches and all a round to really make it strong.

For the body kind of the same thing I used bigger twigs and branches and wrapped them up trying for a

vine like look. 

This pic was before I glued them. I removed the twigs and stained the parts of the furring strip that would be showing.

I noticed his shoulders (where they meet the neck) not looking thick enough.

If you look at the picture a few above (with both sleeves pulled back) you can see kind of what I mean.

So using some coat hanger wire I rigged a little something to beef it up. 

Much fuller shoulder line now. Just need some stain and his hat now.

So to secure him in the ground. this is very important so he doesn't become top heavy and snap.

I can't believe I didn't get pics of this important part!

I used a very long and thick wooden tree stake and pounded it the earth. It almost went up the whole way of his back.  A small cross piece was nailed to the tree stake where the bottom of his furring strip rested. I secured it with huge zip ties and screws it wasn't going anywhere! It's actually not complicated, but those directions are making it sound harder than it is. In fact anyone could probably figure out a dozen other ways to stake him down

(Ya know what, I am going to draw a diagram of what I did. I'll edit and add that here later.)

So anyway here is an image of him complete.

 I love how he rocked, just slightly in the wind, and his coat looked amazing flowing in the breeze. 

At night I had a red uplight shinning on him.

But still wind or none, day or night... he always looked very sinister. 

He was a wonderful spooky addition to our yard this year.





Thanks for stopping by.