Cloche Block Skill-Trade Results
Well, we're snowed in around these parts--7" is a lot of snow for the Carolina Piedmont, and it's all turning into a thick layer of ice right about now. Luckily, i have my studio for outsourced millinery work right in my house, so i've been pretty productive.
The project i'm writing about today began over a year ago, when I approached a colleague with a millinery proposal: would she be willing to trade carving me a hat block in exchange for a custom hat blocked on her finished product? Laura Merola was a 3rd year graduate candidate in technical production at the time, and bravely took me up on the offer despite having never carved a hat block before.
I knew i wanted a cloche block, but i didn't much care the details of it--as the woodcarver, i let Laura determine the headsize of the finished piece and the finer details of the shape. We worked out the specs for a sort of buckety-crowned cloche block and off she went. The original hope was to have the block in time for students in the millinery course to possibly block on it for their final projects if they chose.
Then Laura got delayed by her actual work-related and academic responsibilities, like TDing a huge mainstage show and finishing her thesis and such, and the block didn't wind up completed until the end of her final semester. (That's ok, it was never anything with an actual deadline, just a fun barter project!)
Laura was in town this weekend, ostensibly for the opening of All My Sons at PlayMakers, except the blizzard canceled the show; we were still able to meet up before the snow hit to hand off the finished hat! Bravo!
Here's the block, ready to go.
Laura gave me this image as an example of the kind of decor she wanted.
(No idea the source on this, or who the original milliner may have been.)
Front view of finished cloche.
Side view with trim pinned into place for approval.
Laura wearing her finished cloche!
Laura's hat is made from a navy velour wool felt hood. The band is composed of the same navy velour felt and a heathery gray wool tissue felt that was made for Dior in the 1970s. The flower garniture is also of those two felts--two scalloped layers of the grey and strips of velour worked into petal-shapes--with two vintage buttons comprising its center.
This block fits a 23" or 23 1/4" headsize best, but could be sized down. It wouldn't work on much smaller than a 22 1/2" head though, without looking cavernously wrong. If you'd like a felt hat from this block, shoot me a PM or email!
The project i'm writing about today began over a year ago, when I approached a colleague with a millinery proposal: would she be willing to trade carving me a hat block in exchange for a custom hat blocked on her finished product? Laura Merola was a 3rd year graduate candidate in technical production at the time, and bravely took me up on the offer despite having never carved a hat block before.
I knew i wanted a cloche block, but i didn't much care the details of it--as the woodcarver, i let Laura determine the headsize of the finished piece and the finer details of the shape. We worked out the specs for a sort of buckety-crowned cloche block and off she went. The original hope was to have the block in time for students in the millinery course to possibly block on it for their final projects if they chose.
Then Laura got delayed by her actual work-related and academic responsibilities, like TDing a huge mainstage show and finishing her thesis and such, and the block didn't wind up completed until the end of her final semester. (That's ok, it was never anything with an actual deadline, just a fun barter project!)
Laura was in town this weekend, ostensibly for the opening of All My Sons at PlayMakers, except the blizzard canceled the show; we were still able to meet up before the snow hit to hand off the finished hat! Bravo!
Here's the block, ready to go.
Laura gave me this image as an example of the kind of decor she wanted.
(No idea the source on this, or who the original milliner may have been.)
Front view of finished cloche.
Side view with trim pinned into place for approval.
Laura wearing her finished cloche!
Laura's hat is made from a navy velour wool felt hood. The band is composed of the same navy velour felt and a heathery gray wool tissue felt that was made for Dior in the 1970s. The flower garniture is also of those two felts--two scalloped layers of the grey and strips of velour worked into petal-shapes--with two vintage buttons comprising its center.
This block fits a 23" or 23 1/4" headsize best, but could be sized down. It wouldn't work on much smaller than a 22 1/2" head though, without looking cavernously wrong. If you'd like a felt hat from this block, shoot me a PM or email!