Steampunk Cereal Box Hat (pic heavy)

[mieljolie]

On a tight budget, but need a unusual hat for an event?  Well, I did.  



This is a hat I made for the last weekend of our ren faire.  We went steampunk for "Day of Wrong".  It's painted to look kinda like an old trunk.  It's made entirely out of painted cereal boxes, except for the ribbon scarf hatband that hangs to my knees.



I used a "family-sized" Frosted Flakes box to make the brim all in one piece.  The crown was pieced together out of smaller boxes.



After gluing everything together and smoothing out some seams with paper mache, I covered the hat in wrinkled up tissue.  Then, I painted it with waterbase acrylic paints.



I glued on the hinges and other doodads on last and ran the scarf through the loops around the crown.  The nails are just painted on.  The long scarf was an idea inspired by the HBO series "Deadwood".  A character named Joanie Stubbs wears a similar scarf on her grey top hat.



Sadly, it doesn't open.  Wish it did.  If I make another, I may attempt to make it actually function.



Thanks for lookin'.  Any feedback would be well received.  I share more about this hat with more pics on my blog here.

[SewMuch4Kids]

Wow!  That is just amazing.  Really nice work!

[Costurasdeacero]

This is awesome! couldn't have guessed you made it from cereal boxes at all. It's really pretty 

[wickedfae]

five *'s for ingenuity! not to mention that it looks fantastic
I've gone and bookmarked this page for future reference

[HolaKitty]

I am totally in awe! 

It looks unbelievable! You've done an amazing job on it!

[sheepBlue]

That hat turned out awesome!!!! I totally thought it was made of wood at first. Great job!

[mieljolie]

Thanks, everyone! 

mystical, I'm glad you couldn't tell.  If you could, I probably wouldn't have worn or posted it.  Hehe  Though, I wouldn't say never. 

billiemarie, you're very kind.  I aim to please and inspire.  Hope you'll visit my other works.

sheepBlue, so happy you guessed wood.  I was going to make it like leather (hence the wrinkled tissue).  But, then I changed mid thought, and went for a wood look.  You can barely see the texture under the paint.  If I hadn't put the tissue on, it would have been much smoother.

[beaotch]

Very cool, lady! I made a Slash (of Guns and Roses) hat one Halloween from construction paper, but this blows it right out of the water!  Kudos and thank you for sharing.

[mieljolie]

...I made a Slash (of Guns and Roses) hat one Halloween from construction paper...

SLASH'S TOP HAT in construction paper!! That's something I'd LOVE to see!    Bet it was super cool!  Was a wig involved?  

[nellyeagle]

I love this hat! It so awesome and steam punk looking!!! Awesome job!!