How to Tie a Hat Blocking Cord; A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words; Felt Blocking Class

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I've been busy blocking some fur felts and a few buckram frames, so I thought I would share the felts with you.  Here, "a picture is worth a thousand words," is a great title for the image to your right.  When I visit a person's workroom on the Web, I immediately look around their workroom, and most of the time I learn something.  Here, not every blocking situation takes the same application.  So here is a little something for you to study.

My Upcoming Felt Blocking Class

Well my felt blocking class is a go!  I am so much looking forward to it.  I love to teach millinery, but as I mentioned more than several times, I hate setting up a class.  It just takes so much out of me; maybe it's the biting of tongue that gets me down.  Anyway I'm at a breathing point where the rent on the center and the materials  will be covered; that's more than enough for me.  If you are interested in taking the class, the fee is $325 minus a few discounts that you may qualify for.  You are free to contact me at lduncan@hatstruck.com if you are interested in taking the class; fees are now due.  For a few additional details, please see my previous post at http://hatstruck.blogspot.com/2014/02/hatstruck-couture-millinery-class-felt.html.  The class will be held on Saturday, March 8, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Garden Room B, Torrance, California, 90503.

Learn to Tie Your Own Blocking Cord

I know that I keep repeating over and over again that I don't nail/pin into my vintage sculptures (hat blocks), I'll leave that for my true work horses, my balsa wood utility blocks and my brim utility blocks.  My brim utility blocks are just brim blocks that conform to the average ready-to-ware hat brims.  If I can only get a few people to protect their vintage hat blocks from destruction, I would be so happy.  Just a little something you may want to think about; I don't think that I've ever seen a hatter (men hat maker)  nailing into her/his blocks, but yet they have some of the most beautifully blocked hats there are, even their soft hats.  I said hatter, as in a real hatter.  Anyway, if you don't know how to tie a blocking cord, I hope the following video I made for you will be helpful.  I don't know if all milliners tie their cords this way, but this method works for me.  By-the-way, it's more to blocking than tying or nailing materials to a hat block, just saying.

 Enjoy!

Hatstruck Couture Millinery Class: Felt Blocking, March 8, 2014

OK, I''m running behind; no excuses.  I still have two posts that I need to address, plus the person that won the silent gift contest has not come forward.  Getting those issues out of the way, temporarily, I thought it best to move on and announce my upcoming felt blocking class.  It's a one-day, eight-hour plus class; I've never been a clock watcher.  I know, I know!  I hate one-day classes because I can't give homework, and I can't give constructive criticism after a student has worked on her/his hat at home.  Well the world is moving faster than I am, so I have to be more innovative when teaching a class.  How? Actually it's quite simple.  It's a combination of teaching students millinery techniques and trying to teach them how to see.  If anything I've learned over the years is how much better off those are that can see compared to those that cannot see. This is true for all disciplines.

Have you ever noticed that some milliners never get any better.  Many times it has very little to do with the number of years a person has been a milliner or the person that the milliner has studied under.  Basically, that stuff can be saved for a resume.  Yes, it sounds impressive, but if you can't see, you can't improve your work.  Now we're not talking about style and/or design skills here; we're talking about technical skills.  There are fabulous designers out there with horrible technical skills and no one even notices.  Well, there are some of us that notice, those of us that are so cursed that we can't enjoy the designs because we're too busy looking at those pulling stitches, that blocking job that looks like cellulite, that covered brim with the falling underside, that brim that looks like it's flying in the wind even if there is no wind blowing, etc.  Yes, it is a curse.  I think I've written this before.  I definitely need to return to couture millinery.  For me that's frame covered hats.

So what are the barriers to seeing.  Today it's the teacher, etc., that passes out stickers to everyone because they don't want anyone to feel bad about themselves.  Sometimes I'm guilty of this.  In order to say something nice about horrible work, I'll find something nice to say.  For instance I'll say:  "What beautiful whether we have today!"  I love it when someone points something out to me that would helps me to improve.  This is much different than when someone points something out to me because I'm doing it different from how they would do it as in, "This is the correct way to do that." When I started out in millinery, if you didn't earn the sticker, you didn't get the sticker.  My millinery teacher, Mrs.  Eloise King, would make you tear your hat back down to the frame while telling you what was wrong with it!


What You Will Learn in the Class--I Hope

So, back on track--the class.  I'll try to teach you how to see; this can't be learned in a day; you really have to practice this skill.  Even I'm going blind or I'm loosing my perspective on what good really is.  You'll learn how to block fur felt so that no sizing will be needed, and you'll even be able to walk in the rain without your hat loosing its shape (that's Southern California rain).  You'll learn how to put in a head size band.  You'll learn how to attach a headband (outside) that hugs your hat without gaps.  You'll learn how to finish brim edges (various finishes).  You'll learn how to polish your felt, if needed.  You'll learn how to "drop a wire" in a certain type of brim...and no, a dropped wire is not sewn to the hat (in most cases)! It floats! What you will walk away with is a professional looking hat.

Email me at lduncan@hatstruck.com if you are interested in taking the class.

When:  March 8, 2014
Time:    10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Location:  Torrance, California

Bakelite Bangle Bracelets, Hatstruck's Newest Obsession; Plus, a Peak at One of the Plexiglass Hats I Made Recently

OK, I finally took the plunge and became the successful winning bidder on  this set of Bakelite bangle bracelets on Ebay.  Well, I hope they're Bakelite.  I picked up two tiny bracelets labeled Bakelite at my local antique shop earlier this year, but I don't think they really were the real deals.  I rubbed them until my thumb and forefinger almost blistered, but I still didn't get that pungent Bakelite small.  I rubbed them with a cotton Q-Tip dipped in WD-40, but still saw no discoloration on the cotton's tip.  The cost of the two little bracelets was hardly anything, and since I liked them, it was really no big deal.

What really pushed me over the edge was my visit to the book store last night.  While browsing the antique book section, a ran across a book on plastic jewelry; actually I was looking for a book on vintage plastic jewelry.  I was absolutely amazed at what I saw in the book.  So I took the fashion sketching book back and vowed to purchase it later.  After all I had pinned so much of the same stuff on my Millinery Sketches, Fashion Illustration, and Tutorials board on Pinterest.  But since I really love books, it'll be on my book shelf very shortly.

This was not the  first time I had an interest in plastic jewelry.  Several years ago I picked up a plastic jewelry fabrication book.  This led me to purchase several small sheets of plexiglass (acrylic--plastic) for the purpose of making earrings.  Well that plexiglass hung around until I recently made and entered a hat contest on Facebook.  The hat to your right is one of those hats.  The hats were made using the same tools I use to fabricate sterling silver, brass, and copper jewelry.  I'll talk about that at a later date, and I will also do a little tutorial on this very simple creation; stay tuned. Anyway, if you like Bakelite jewelry, let me know what you think of these bangle bracelets.

WOW, I guess I have two tutorials in the oven!

Note:  Check out this image from  Heather Sonrisa, Fairytale Dreams In Fashion.  It is a hat from the 1930s that has a plastic brim.  So you see, this is not a new concept at all.