I have a fantasy that when I am dead and gone a hundred years or so, some of my leather creations such as this "post apocalyptic steempunk" hat will end up in a glass case in a great museum and people will circle around and marvel at this primitive art and primal work. A Grandma Moses of cowhide I think the museum guide will say. At least that is how the fantasy goes.
Until then I get a chance to make one of these hats about every quarter. And here is the latest, finished a week ago. And I took lots of pictures while I was making it, so its time once again for an Armadilloman "How I Did That" photo blog.
It all starts with plain old unfinished 3-4 ounce vegetable tanned cowhide that I get damp and then stomp on in the gravel driveway, jump up and down on on a rough sidewalk and, as in this picture below, beat with a mallet against things like a rotting stump. All in the pursuit of the look, the feel, the texture I want.
Then I channel my inner expressionist and dribble, dab, drool and smack brown and red dyes on the still raw leather.
Then it all gets a good coat of high lite stain rubbed all over and....
...when dry a wet paper towel is used to take the stain off of the tops of the bumps and ridges, leaving dark stain in the crevasses and divets. Note the really nice texture that old stump gave me.
When I have have some big pieces of leather all textured and dyed, I lay out the pattern pieces, paying attention to what parts of the leather I have distressed looks best. Then cut out the parts and....
...clip the pattern to the part to punch the stitching holes in the piece. You have to make just the right number of holes and in the right place or you will find your life miserable when you go to stitch it up.
Here are all the parts for the crown laid out. I forgot to take the picture before I had riveted the top together. And speaking of these rivets...they are all hand distressed with sandpaper and many of them rusted and corroded a bit. I keep a glass of water with nasty rivet rusting pretty much all the time. Never know when you are going to need them.
And the pieces are all riveted together....
...to make up the crown of the hat.
And stitch on the top, which is about my least favorite part of the whole hat build.
I "sponge paint" the underside of the brim with 3 different brown tones and a touch of black.
I have made a brim out of heavier leather, beating it up and coloring it in the same manner as the crown pieces. The stitching holes are made using a rotary punch.
The brim is stitched to the finished crown.
Once the hat is all stitched together, the inside where the crown attaches to the brim and the brim is dampened and stretched onto my medium sized ( since I am building a medium hat) mannequin head and the brim is formed and given a bit of a roll on the sides.
Then all that is left is some touch up color work and a bit of work with a piece of sandpaper to make some of the highlights pop and put a bit more distress to the look. Then coat with clear semi-gloss acrylic finish, add the hatband belt and its done.
