Any day now

I want to say I love all hats but that would be a lie. This is not saying that I wont attempt to make or learn any hat but naturally like most people I dislike something I view it as the fall of my craft

for me this is cowboy hats

*yes I own one
*yes I understand why  people own them
*do I want to make one ....... do I want to throw myself from a bridge


perhaps this is extreme in my home town cowboy hats are a real thing and if you are good at them they will make you real money .....I would rather be poor

a cowboy hat is a marvel like any other work they come in all flavor and shapes; some shapes are better for people than others.....of course. I stand firmly on the ground that this venture is for someone else to be fantastic at and for me to watch.

but stranger things have happened I lived to see an action star become a governor. am I willing to say my mind might change on the great "hat of cow"

I think it is directly liked to the flying pig population
which based on my pay cheque is on the rise

There has to be another way

I do a lot of work with paper Mache
I have (in school only) worked with the standard set of hat maker materials
-buckram ($15 per meter)
-straw ($6-$15 per hat)
-felt ($12-$20 per hood)

Of cores all of these items have a high end version and if you really want to pay seal skin hoods are a good way to go.I on the other hand do not have the money to utilize these tool easily; let alone make a mistake with these precious priced items.

Looking for a way around my financial limitation I looked to paper Mache. To save on cost 70% of my fabric is recycled ...."I am not trying to be environmental" it is a lucky happenstance nothing more. Working toward making affordable hats for people using these two materials allows for lower over head.

This dose come with limitations..... would you want a paper Mache fedora?.
Naturally it wouldn't be very comfortable along with that it would show is quality quickly as people pushed it up and down on there head; hats are touched often as we adjust them every time they sit funny and strike our notice; but fascinators don't fallow these rules, they can be built tighter and tougher there is also no size issue.

my first day was a hard sell I had not worked with paper Mache since I was a young teen (principal is simple). I began covering my plastic fedora hat block. this was a purchase from Hat Shapers a great online find offering plastic hat blocks (mostly appropriate for felt/straw work). I didn't cover the whole block about half way with the intention to cut it to the shape I desired. it was a very long night waiting to see how it would work itself out "could I even pull it off the block"

it took some soft and patient work but the next morning I did in fact pull it off :)
there were  some issues; places I didn't make as tuff as others and I had cut the fascinator down to much. pulling out a glue gun I hesitated (glue is not hat making) but sometimes it is part of the show.

I pulled my hat together out of Christmas ribbon and an old cloth napkin.

frankly I was impressed

For the love of hats

  welcome to Canada...land of cows....land of oil...land of cold winters.... land were art go's to die

   I am not saying art dose not exist; but this is the last stop if it happens in Europe we will be waiting 4 years to see it... along with that luxury we will no be receiving the ralph Lauren version Europe once boosted... we will be viewing the sears order by catalog only in all its pastel, surplus, and one size glory .

   Being a fresh hat maker, having worked on and off out of my home and not yet completed more than 6 start to finished hats. it was not a life calling but something that came to me later and i have no complaints. it is not a career taken lightly like all art forms you wont be rich unless luck strikes you.

   I want to make different hats not stage different but something you would be proud to match to an outfit I don't think hats should be expensive unless it has 10 years in it

A lack of Canadian hat makers has created three problems-

#1 everyone thinks if you want a hat you need to "pay me for my time and I don't come cheap".
#2 if you want a hat to be comfortable you need to give me a months salary.
#3 this is Canada hats are for function only and anyone who thinks different makes so much money they can afford to be eccentric .

I intend to keep you up to date on my escapades and show you the rise and fall of all my hat ventures.