Hat Sculptures

I teach an enrichment class called Create and Innovate to 5 through 11 year old kids. I am always searching Pinterest for class ideas and inspiration.  When I came upon this project I just knew I had to teach it! I have never seen anything like them before- and I just love the concept of "hat sculptures"- they are sooooo fabulous!!

When I went to the designers website to find a tutorial I was a little bummed because, I had found an AMAZING blog... but it was in another language... and also another alphabet! I suspect if I spent a few minutes with google translate, I would have been able to change it in English but my artist juju was tingling so I grabbed my scissors and started cutting.

I highly recommend you visit and search this website http://zu4ki.livejournal.com (I wish I could tell you the name).  The artist is really a creative genius!

This hat was my prototype.

 

I wore my hat to last Wednesday's class at Booksin to get the kids thinking and filled their workspace with tons of materials so they could create their own interpretations.  i will be teaching the class again on Monday at St. Tim's and I am excited to see what they do.

These two little cuties from Booksin elementary (last Wed.) decided to turn their hats upside down and they wore them like headbands. They cut embellishments out of construction paper and they added ribbon to the frill. Here are the basic instructions:

• The base for the hat comes from 16" (tall) butcher paper. You can measure the child's head and add a few inches to determine the width.
• Fold one of the horizontal edges over twice (about 1.5") to create the band. Now staple the band on both ends and in the middle so it stays secure.
• Fold the paper in half and then in half again (vertically) making sure that the band is on the outside and visible versus on the inside and hidden from sight. This will make the width divided into quarters and will save you a lot of cutting.  
• Cut strips about 0.5-1.0" wide from the top and stop once you reach your folded band. DO NOT START YOUR CUT FROM THE BAND SIDE  OF THE PAPER.
• Once you are done cutting, open the paper into its full width and cut the larger strips (at the folds) into smaller strips.
• Now you are ready to decorate.  You can use markers, crayons, paint, glitter or glue paper onto paper if you want to add color to your strips.  Be sure to keep in mind that if you use wet mediums to add color your paper, the strips will likely tear if you try to curl them with scissors.
• Since the strips flip every which way, you might consider decorating each strip on both sides.  I am glad I did but it was double the work.
• Cut out flowers, hearts, fish or any other embellishment you'd like to add to the band or on the ends of the strips.
• If you want to get spooky, roll strips of black paper into tubes to make snake bodies, glue a pitch forked tongue sticking out of one end, add eyes, and attach the tubes to the band to make a Medusa looking sculpture hat.
•  Add curled ribbon to switch up the texture.
• You can cut the strips different lengths to add interest.
• Attach a paper plate to the band and add strips on the top.

  

• Fold strands accordion style to get lift and whimsy.
• Skip the strips and go "freestyle".

• If you want to curl your paper strips, practice with the same kind of paper before approaching your hat because the strips tear easily.  I found children scissors to work best and I didn't do the curl all at once.  I worked on sections slowly. It took me a while to "feel" the right angle and pressure to curl without ripping the strand. 
• Switch the direction of your curls from strand to strand!
• Layer circles to make dimensional flowers- staple or tape them onto the band.

 

• Use heavier paper like Dollar tree poster paper to get stronger strips that offer more height.

• Have fun!!