Cake~Tin Hats: NUNO FELTED BOW TIE

Conrad Beaubien's bow tie ~ Nuno felted merino on silk chiffon

Way back in April Conrad Beaubien asked me to felt him a bow tie. Here it is...finally finished and he still hasn't seen it! He (perhaps unwisely) left the colour choice up to me. I'm hoping he likes pink and purple! Given his charmingly charismatic personality I think it will be perfect. This one's for you Conrad! Now... I just need to get it to Wellington...

Well, as is so happened, a few days after I wrote this post Conrad came to Picton because he was very keen to see his new bow tie. Here he is looking tres chi chi at Miss Lily's Cafe. It certainly turned out to be the perfect bow tie for him and he even loved the colours! I am really happy about that. Conrad is an accomplished writer who likes hats as much as I do. In fact he recently wrote a fascinating article called 'Hat Trick' about the Lanning hat company which is located very close to us in Belleville Ontario. Read it here: http://www.watershedmagazine.com/hat-trick/

Conrad looking grand in his felted bow tie

FANTASTIC FELTERS

And here are the fantastic results from the June 29th hat felting workshop I taught at Rosehaven Yarn Shop in Picton. Once again I spent a great day with six delightful students who worked hard and had fun creating their own unique wet felted hats. This was the very first time wet felting for four of the ladies who all created very lovely and successful hats. Everyone made perfect style and colour choices and I hope they are all as thrilled with the results of their work as I am.

Jodie's robin's egg blue beauty

Love those pleats

Heather's great 'northern lights' cloche design

The other side of 'northern lights'

Marianne's lovely lilac and plum flapper hat

What flair!

This hat has such a beautiful shape

Pat shaping her gorgeous green cloche

Sher bravely cutting the brim of her beautiful earth toned hat

Marlene's photo of her beautiful finished Rosy Cloche

Marlene in her rosy cloche ~ So perfect and pretty

Marlene (working below) took her hat all the way home to Ohio where she added some wonderful finishing touches. She made the flower from the little bit of fibre she had left over from her hat and found some lovely cord to use as a band. This is a perfectly lovely hat creation!

Marlene perfecting her fibre layout technique

Jodie and Pat laying out and 'patting the bunny'!

Heather ready to begin laying out side two

Marianne wetting out the fibres with warm water and olive oil soap

Heather's 'northern lights' fibre layout

Once the felting is finished the initial shaping, styling and cutting of the brim comes next followed by a little more felting to 'heal' any cut edges. The hats are then rinsed in warm water to remove the soap, left to soak in a vinegar and tepid water bath for about 10 minutes and rinsed one final time in cold water to remove the vinegar. This is where three sinks come in handy! Then the fun really begins with the final stretching and shaping which can take some time and ingenuity. Marlene used plastic bags to shape her brim and make it stand out from the base of the hat. The bags will stay there for a day or two until the hat is completely dry. Buckets are a great way to safely transport the still wet hats home for drying.