This one is my personal baby, my very first full-sized steampunk hat, made from a yoga mat.
It's nice and easy, and you can make one too! (I got the pattern from Lost Wax. He has a ton of amazing patterns and tutorials!)
The hat on my head is the final result! (Thanks to my pal, Ronnie Rabena Photography for the sweet pic!)
I made it with the following:
• a yoga mat (because let's be honest, you know you want to carve it up anyway);
• hot glue or contact cement;
• 5 minute 2-part epoxy;
• crafting foam;
• a hairdryer for shaping the foam;
• black acrylic paint;
• Silver and Gold wax paste (Rub 'N Buff or something like that)
I cut the yoga mat into the 3 shapes from the pattern and assembled as per instructions.
I used the hairdryer to shape the mat into a shape I liked a little better, Then, with the crafting foam, I cut them into small squares, and glued them onto the hat all over the place!
I cut the excess off around the inside of the hat, and then used the epoxy to create "rivets" using a pinhead/match. (I used nail head to give some of them the more worn/aged look)
From there, the first coat (of at least 2) of black acrylic paint went on. (You can see the rivets a lot better here)
The final step is to lightly apply the wax paste to it. There's a bit of a learning cure with this stuff, so test it out on some scrap before you apply it to your finished piece.
Remember, art is the expression of the artist, so if you want to leave it all kinds of colours, go crazy!
I hope this helped some of you out there. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to leave a reply and I'll get back to you!
Until next time!