Busy, Busy, Busy!

My goodness, it has been a long time since I was able to blog about what I've been up to mostly because I've been very busy! One of the classes that I've been taking this semester is a Millinery class. Millinery is the art of hat making here are pictures of the hats that I've made this semester.

Some of the class wearing their Regency bonnets



This is my bonnet It was made from an old straw hat that I wirerd and cut into the brim shape and then added a fabric crown.



This is a Cavalier hat made of felt, made by taking a felt hood (kind of a "blank hat with no shaping or sizing) then I wet it with water and blocked it into the shape, wired the brim then we stiffened it with sizing.



This is my Buckram Cavalier hat. it is made from a stiff material called buckram. I patterned the shape then cut out the individual pieces, wired them then covered them with fabric then stitched the pieces together.


This is my Medieval Hennin. It is made in the same process as the Buckram cavalier hat. I did make the large braided trim that goes around the top of it. I made a long velvet"snake" then braided it with several pieces of contrasting trim to give it the right scale and interest.

Showing off our Hennins on the day of the final.

One of my other classes is Scene painting This is my final project for that class, It is a translucent drop, which means you paint it in a certain way so that it can be lit from behind so it can change looks. Some will change from day to night mine just glows. I chose a vintage corset ad for my project. These pictures show the work in progress.





This is the finished project lit from the front (it's a little shinny because it was still wet when I took this picture.


And this is what it looks like lit from behind it doesn't show up so well in a photo but the stars glow and the the highlight on the lady glows. I get to take this one home and I'm planning on hanging her in my bedroom.

So there is a sample of what I've been working on this semester. Now I have to get back to cleaning my house.