(1) Class Reminder: Couture Millinery Fascinator Class, October 15th; (2) Learning from the Past: My First Bird-of-Paradise

Couture Millinery Fascinator Class Less Than Two Weeks Away!

First, I would like to thank those of you that dug your way through my wordy, confusing class registration instructions to pay and register for class.   I'll do better next time.  For those of you still having problems figuring out how to pay/register, here is the short and skinny.  If you would like to pay through PayPal, just email me at lduncan@hatstruck.com.  In the email, provide me with the email address associated to your PayPal account, and I will send you an invoice for payment.  If you are sending a check, email me for my address.  The check must clear before class begins.  You also have the option of paying by money order before the day of class start.  There are a few seats left; first come, first served.

Learning from the Past:  My First Bird-of-Paradise

I  know, you think I've taken leave of my senses, especially when I tell you that I've had an overwhelming urge to travel to downtown Los Angeles (California Millinery) to purchase these vintage broken, faded birds.  Well, some of you would think that I was "touched," but some of you would identify with this urge.  It is the urge to learn something new, the urge to grow my craft, the urge to improve.  I've felt for some time that I have been driving on a four-lane highway, with all of the cars horizontally lined up.  I've been feeling the urge to move forward lately; this is a good thing.  I invite these feelings.  

Although I give credit to my instructors and my millinery library for some of my growth, I have to give myself credit for having that itch that moves me forward.  How else would my skills have grown so much over the years.  I say these things to encourage you to move beyond that which has been taught you and that which will be taught you. These vintage birds are also my millinery instructors.  All of them have been made with different supporting materials.  All of them look different.  There is no one way of doing anything.  If you subscribe to this notion, your growth will be stunted.  

I love visiting California Millinery because there I can purchase and/or study artifacts that will never again be made with such skill.   I have heard some call these artifacts junk.  What a shame....  After all, this junk taught me how to make my first bird-of-paradise.

Fascinator Construction:  Buckram frame covered with black suede, and sprinkled with large vintage amber-colored rhinestones.