Wolfbrae Custom Hatters

[belfastboy]

This was a week of millinery work. In addition to the Festival Hat, here are 2 fashion hats for a classy lady that never leaves the

house without a hat on her head. This is a refurbished 1960's Oleg Cassini design, made by Byer Rolnick hats. I took off the trashed ribbon and replace with a Vintage French silk ribbon in black with shiny copper coloured dots. She may centre dent it or leave it open crown.

 

[belfastboy]

Here is the second millinery creation: A lighter weight midnight blue felt from Tonak. Almost 4" brim and another vintage French silk ribbon. Single back bow with tails. Silk is much harder to work with than good vintage cotton/rayon grosgrain. But it sure does look good.

 

[Rmccamey]

Most excellent, Rober. You are growing quite a diverse line of hats.

Here is the completed "Festival Hat" for a lady headed down to California to attend the "Stampede Festival"....the country & western Coachella. FEPSA rabbit in commando green, deconstructed Balenciaga silk tie, orange leather cord, skull concho, and 1/4" leather thong on the wrap. It is a size 51cm...smallest hat I have ever made. A true collaboration with the client. View attachment 509495 View attachment 509496

This was a week of millinery work. In addition to the Festival Hat, here are 2 fashion hats for a classy lady that never leaves the View attachment 509498 View attachment 509499 house without a hat on her head. This is a refurbished 1960's Oleg Cassini design, made by Byer Rolnick hats. I took off the trashed ribbon and replace with a Vintage French silk ribbon in black with shiny copper coloured dots. She may centre dent it or leave it open crown.

Here is the second millinery creation: A lighter weight midnight blue felt from Tonak. Almost 4" brim and another vintage French silk ribbon. Single back bow with tails. Silk is much harder to work with than good vintage cotton/rayon grosgrain. But it sure does look good. View attachment 509500 View attachment 509501

 

[belfastboy]

Most excellent, Rober. You are growing quite a diverse line of hats.

Client just picked up her two hats. One of the hats is flying to Greece tomorrow (on her head). Both hats fit which is always a blessing. Woman are harder to fit than men as women have lots more hair.......sometimes they wear it up, sometimes down, sometimes in a bun or scrunchie....always a bit of a crap shoot. But today I won!

 

[Rmccamey]

You should post a few head shots (with permission).

I know, I know..."I don't have any makeup on!"

Client just picked up her two hats. One of the hats is flying to Greece tomorrow (on her head). Both hats fit which is always a blessing. Woman are harder to fit than men as women have lots more hair.......sometimes they wear it up, sometimes down, sometimes in a bun or scrunchie....always a bit of a crap shoot. But today I won!

 

[belfastboy]

I get busy and I neglect to take pics and post. But this time I remembered! Here is a hat that was fun to make. Western weight FEPSA beaver/rabbit blend in Bone.

5 1/2" crown, 4" brim. Trimmed with vintage silk Sari material I import from Mumbai, finished off with a brown leather braided cord. The sari silk has wonderful intricate embroidery and bead work.

Client has an antique silver cigar cutter that she wanted mounted to the band but of course she wanted it removable so it could be used. The silk band provided zero support so I had to get inventive. I came up with a way that works. Anyone want to venture a guess HOW?

 

[belfastboy]

Here is snappy fedora/trilby in FEPSA 95 gram beaver. Black vintage cotton/silk grosgrain ribbon. 4 1/2" crown at the pinch, 2 1/2" brim

 

[belfastboy]

Here is the companion hat to the Bone. Both this hat and the Bone colour are off to the Calgary Stampede. This one in Ukraine rabbit blue steel is my country Gentlemen's model. A little bit city, a little bit country. Black bridle leather band with a black braid leather accent wrapped in blue leather cord and an ancient West African trading bead. A modest pencil curled brim to complete.

 

[hambone71]

I get busy and I neglect to take pics and post. But this time I remembered! Here is a hat that was fun to make. Western weight FEPSA beaver/rabbit blend in Bone.

5 1/2" crown, 4" brim. Trimmed with vintage silk Sari material I import from Mumbai, finished off with a brown leather braided cord. The sari silk has wonderful intricate embroidery and bead work. View attachment 516477 Client has an antique silver cigar cutter that she wanted mounted to the band but of course she wanted it removable so it could be used. The silk band provided zero support so I had to get inventive. I came up with a way that works. Anyone want to venture a guess HOW? View attachment 516475 View attachment 516476

My initial guess is that you affixed the ribbon to a piece of leather. Then I thought maybe the top and bottom of the ribbon is reeded, so to speak.

 

[Rmccamey]

A beautiful one-of-a-kind! Love it, Robert.

I get busy and I neglect to take pics and post. But this time I remembered! Here is a hat that was fun to make. Western weight FEPSA beaver/rabbit blend in Bone.

5 1/2" crown, 4" brim. Trimmed with vintage silk Sari material I import from Mumbai, finished off with a brown leather braided cord. The sari silk has wonderful intricate embroidery and bead work. View attachment 516477 Client has an antique silver cigar cutter that she wanted mounted to the band but of course she wanted it removable so it could be used. The silk band provided zero support so I had to get inventive. I came up with a way that works. Anyone want to venture a guess HOW? View attachment 516475 View attachment 516476

 

[chivaceae]

Here is snappy fedora/trilby in FEPSA 95 gram beaver. Black vintage cotton/silk grosgrain ribbon. 4 1/2" crown at the pinch, 2 1/2" brim View attachment 516478

I guess the color of this FEPSA 95g is ebony. If you have seen or worked on a Charcoal color FEPSA 95g body, is it similar to the Charcoal from Winchester?
I am in need of a Country Gentleman hat for formal attire events (for whcih I dress in dark colors), and a 'plain black' hat does not attract me as much as Charcoal.
Thanks,
Raul

 

[belfastboy]

I guess the color of this FEPSA 95g is ebony. If you have seen or worked on a Charcoal color FEPSA 95g body, is it similar to the Charcoal from Winchester?
I am in need of a Country Gentleman hat for formal attire events (for whcih I dress in dark colors), and a 'plain black' hat does not attract me as much as Charcoal.
Thanks,
Raul

I just received some of the FEPSA 95gr in Granite. It is a dark grey....more what I would call Charcoal. Not like the Winchester Granite colour at all. I have not seen the FEPSA Charcoal. Ebony is darker than a charcoal....it is black(ish)....but not quite a real dark 00 black.

 

[chivaceae]

I just received some of the FEPSA 95gr in Granite. It is a dark grey....more what I would call Charcoal. Not like the Winchester Granite colour at all. I have not seen the FEPSA Charcoal. Ebony is darker than a charcoal....it is black(ish)....but not quite a real dark 00 black.

Thank you!

 

[belfastboy]

It is Friday afternoon and I need a beer. It has been a hectic but productive week. Shows what I can do when I get out of my own way. Here is the last hat to complete this week.

Ukraine beaver in Pecan with a slightly darker tone on tone binding. Brim is 2 1/2" with a medium flanging. Crown is an even 4". Bridle leather band/buffalo nickel concho accented with a round reddish brown leather cord.
The shiny silver disc to the right of the concho is a rare earth magnet embedded in the leather band. This is to be a outdoorsy/hiking hat and the client wanted to mount small 'budgie' knife to the band. This is my solution.......stay tuned.

Weird that I received two requests in the same week to have heavy(ish) objects attached to the brim with the ability to remove them easily. If it works I likely will never get another request......ever! I could not decide between this yellow ribbon and a smaller

red one so I included them both.

 

[belfastboy]

Here are a few pictures to show the evolution of a hat. The client came to pick up the hat and decided she wanted it a bit more 'country'.......so we added a braided horse hair band w/ tassel. The colour of the tassel hair matches the felt colour exactly....it was made to be a match! She also decided the open crown a bit too high, a bit too prominent so we added a deep centre dent. So now it is off to the rodeo next weekend.

 

[Creekster]

Robert also finished this one recently.
My first custom hat arrived last week from Wolfbrae. Robert worked with me to do a simple hat after my Campdraft but with better materials.
Photos as received and after messing about with it a bit. You can really see the chameleonic nature of the granite beaver felt.

 

[belfastboy]

My initial guess is that you affixed the ribbon to a piece of leather. Then I thought maybe the top and bottom of the ribbon is reeded, so to speak.

Rare earth magnets...one inside the hat under the sweat and a smaller one under the silk band. They hold it solidly inplace.

 

[hambone71]

Rare earth magnets...one inside the hat under the sweat and a smaller one under the silk band. They hold it solidly inplace.

That is genius! I knew it couldn't be as simp!e as I was trying to make it.

 

[belfastboy]

That is genius! I knew it couldn't be as simp!e as I was trying to make it.

The next hat I made the client wants to mount a little budgie knife. I thought of a little leather sheath but decided to use the magnets as well. Hat has a leather band with the magnet embedded in the leather.

 

[hambone71]

The next hat I made the client wants to mount a little budgie knife. I thought of a little leather sheath but decided to use the magnets as well. Hat has a leather band with the magnet embedded in the leather.

Very interesting. Creative and resourceful!