The Steampunk World's Fair was this past weekend and, like most participants, I was looking for a special accessory to show off.
I found it at this tutorial created by Lost Wax.
Once I purchased the (cheap!) tutorial I made the base out of an old yoga mat. While Chris recommends a "bumpless" base mat I couldn't find anything and had to use what was available.
Here's the hat with some of the "metal plates" glued on:
You can see some of the purple yoga mat underneath.
Here is the brim from the underside. I left the inside plain but found after spray painting it all with a Krylon dark brown, the inside remained "sticky" so I lined it with some crushed velvet remnants I had around. You can see a "plate" being clamped on in the upper right hand corner. (chip clips!)
You can see the dots are two different types. I tried using the 5 min. epoxy as recommended in the video but, of course, it dries quickly and tends to "thread". Instead I used a craft glue that had an applicator tip. Super fast and easy! You have to do a section at a time. Since I used big dots the glue dried "crinkled" and ended up looking a bit like screws rather than rivets. Next time I might try a puffy paint with an applicator tip. This would probably look more rivet-like.
I cut out the base hat on a Sunday and spent about 3 hours or so glueing and cutting/pasting plate sections. I started using Gorilla Glue and went through 4 packages of "syringes" and ended up using E6000 at the end. You need a LOT of glue. It's a slow go. Cut plates, mix glue, spread glue (thin!), wait 5 minutes, test, stick, repeat. Helps to have a timer and a book to read in between.
I then glued plates on each morning and night for Monday AM/PM, Tuesday AM/PM and Wednesday AM. The brim sections needed to be clamped to curve around the outer brim and that took 3 different sessions. And all the dots had to be dotted and fully dried prior to painting. One note - since I had to cover the base mat to hide the bumpies the hat was heavier than it probably should have been. Consequently it slid down a bit while I was wearing it. I'm going to add a bit of braided cord to the inside to tighten the brim. I would suggest cutting the brim slightly smaller than recommended if you have to do a lot of covering like I did. You can always cut it a tiny bit larger since the brim and the crown don't meet exactly (at least they didn't for me!).
Wednesday PM I spray painted the inside of the hat (Krylon dark brown, it's what I had around) and Thursday AM I did the outside. Krylon is VERY bad to breathe in so do it outside or in a very well ventilated area.
Thursday PM I used Rub 'n Buff in Grecian Gold to decorate. You don't need a lot and it can be pretty messy and still look good. Remember less is more! You can always add but if you add too much you'll need to repaint your base color and start over. It's supposed to look like rusty metal, not a gold burlesque hat.
Here's the final hat:
I was constantly stopped for pictures and questions so I would call this a BIG success.
Watch the video; I would recommend purchasing the tutorial. It's inexpensive and the pattern is invaluable. I was just on the Lost Wax website and found a new tutorial for goggles. Can't wait to try them!
