DIY: A Wayne Theibald-Inspired Donut Hat

So I've been a-thunkin' about this for sometime: my wardrobe is missing something. The prob? I don't have a whole lotta real estate left on this here head-to-toe o' mine to bespangle any further. From the dresses I stitch to the shoes I paint, I've pretty much got the crazily-dressed territory covered. However, there is one last bit of unchartered territory that could use a lil bit of panache: the top o' my noggin. Therefore, when I heard that my fave local art museum, the Frist Center for Visual Arts,  was offering a hat making class, I jumped at the chance. Best part: a whole bunch of other art teacherin' buds decided to join the fun as well. Cuz nothin' keeps craziness crazy like good company, know what I'm sprayin'?

And, ya gotta admit, this here hat is pretty cray. As if you'd expect anything less coming to this here blog, amiright?!

I gotta tell you, the best part of the class was our instructor, Mark Sloniker. I mean, look at these hats of his! I think we were separated at birth as these are my kind of awesome sauce. Mark was so kind to walk us through just how each of these masterpieces were created. I love it when an artist is transparent with their thought and creative processes, aren't you? I love that Mark is a self-taught hat maker as that made us all feel at ease with our novice hat-making skills. It also opened us up to endless possibilities. 

I had one idea for a hat coming in to the class but when I saw Mark's hats, I was inspired to go much more fun and funky with my look. His creations totally put me in the mind of Wayne Thiebald so I decided to create a hat dedicated to him!

I love Thiebald's yummy looking works of art and I've never introduced his awesomeness to my students. What better time than the end of the year, right? In fact, tomorrow morning I'm popping over to Dunkin Donuts to scoop up some still life goodness for my students to work from. I can't wait to see their faces during art tomorrow! More on that later this week.

Of course, Peter Anton has some super yummy sculptures as well. I think he'll be a fun tie-in as well. And you better believe I toooootally just ordered some donut themed fabric for a brand new dress, y'all. Any excuse to buy fabric, kids. It's a disease, I tell ya. 

Oh! Here's a snap of Mark talking us through his hats. We all cheered when we found out were got to keep our mannequin heads...it's the little things, y'all. 

So I decided to create my hat around the platform of a headband. I created the "plate" for my donuts out of stiffened felt (found at craft stores) with a pattern of ribbon glued to it. A ribbon trim was added to the edge of the plate (by my friend Crystal. Thanks, buddy!). In the bottom of the photo you can see my three stitched and stuffed donuts in the making. 

Meanwhile, everyone else was also hard at work. I love the messy creativeness of each artist's work space. 

Once all of my donuts were decorated (my fave part) and complete, I was ready to begin assembling. My initial thought was to simply glue the donuts to the plate and attach to the headband. But when Mark suggested that I make the donuts look like they were flying off my head, I was sold. This required some sculptural skills on my part which I seriously lack. With Mark's help, he showed me how simply it was. Here's what I did: I glued a piece of aluminum wire to the headband. Then I wrapped the headband in ribbon to hide the wire. I cut a small slit in the plate and slid it down the protruding wire. Each donut also received a small cut at the top and bottom and were also slid down the wire. 

This may or may not have been when I was trying to sweet talk Mark into finishing my hat for me. I'm tooootally one of those "can you do it for meeeee" students, y'all. P.S. check out my super cute friend Crystal in her palette hat!

So, if you can imagine, there's a wire coming from the headband up through the plate and all three donuts. Faux strawberries and a wee doily were added to balance out all that donut-y goodness. 

Meanwhile, all my buddies were making totally classy and sophisticated hats. Some of 'em even managed to make two hats in the time it took me to create one. In fact, I was the very last hat maker to finish with my buds Virginia (seen above in the peacock feather hat) and Crystal (seen above the flowery palette hat) helping me along the way. Thanks, ladies!

Here are just a handful of the finished masterpieces that were created that day. I love them all! And I'm so stoked to introduce hat making to my students. I just wish we had the time to do so this school year. 

I did wear my hat today and the kids loved it. My head, however, did not. I brought Mannequin Mary to art so she could wear it when I could not. 

 

So what does one wear with a donut hat? A pink gingham number with Frankenstein green tights, of course! That is, until a donut dress is created. I'll be back later this week to share those donut masterpieces my kids will hopefully complete. I'm off: Time to Make the Donuts, y'all!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #57

Crazy Hat Day: Where it just wouldn't be the same unless you had a Crazy Outfit to match. Go outlandish and tacky or go home, says me. hat and skirt: a DIY that I know you are dying to try, here; shoes: yet another Sunday afternoon project for you; blouse: gift from a friend; belt: Anthro; tights: Target

Greetings, kids! I come to you fresh outta Read Across America Week. The teachers and parents at my school put together all sorts of fun reading goodness including a book fair, a reading night and, my personal fave, thematic dress days. You can catch what I wore for last year's RAAW here, if you want a good laugh and sigh of relief that you don't have to appear in public looking as ridiculous.

And speaking of reading, I thought I'd share with you just a few of my fave reads this week as well. See how thematic I am? It's almost like I should be a teacher or something. Got a favorite book of your own? I'd love any recommendations of good reads. Muchas gracias and enjoy your week!

Are you familiar with this Canadian author? Apparently Robert Munsch started his career by just doing some improv story telling at his local library. His tales were so silly and strange that his young listeners soon were soon hooked. I am in love with all of his stories, but this tale of a young artist that colors herself "almost entirely all over" with "super indelible never-come-off markers" is a favorite with all of my students. I highly recommend it.

Show Your College Spirit Day: Why I'd love to as I do believe I went to the best college in all the land: Indiana University. I have so many wonderful memories of my 5-ish (ahem) years there that I try to make an annual reenactment with my buddies. And while I never acquired a t-shirt, I do have plenty of that Hoosier red and white in my wardrobe. sweater: vintage, thrifted; dress: from Germany; tights: Target; shoes: Fluevog

I have almost all of these Mike Venezia "Getting to the World's Greatest Artist" books because they are awesome. They are full of visuals with just the perfect amount of funny and factual. When reading them, I read the artist's first name (for example, "Claude") and have the students say the last name ("Monet"). By the end of the story, the kids know the artist's name as well as his/her life and work.

Words on a Shirt, er, Skirt Day: Since I wore my one and only shirt with words last year, I opted for words on a skirt this year. Although I did have to use the force all day long: (student) "Hey! You don't have words on a shirt!," (me) "That's right. Because it's actually words on a skirt day. Now move along, move along. This isn't the art teacher you're looking for." dress: created for last year's trip to Star Wars Weekends, diy here; tights: Target; boots: Anthro; blouse: thrifted

Did anyone else grow up loving Shel Silverstein's work? I have the world's worst memory but I can vividly recall my second grade teacher animatedly reading her copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends. It was one of my favorite things. As a kid, I was inspired to write poems and short stories thanks to Shel Silverstein.

Awesome.

Show Your School Spirit Day: Also known as Where This to Starbucks and Receive Bizarre Looks Day. When I told the hipster teen workin' on my soy-tea-latte that I was a teacher, he just looked at me with a "duh-lady" expression and said, "yeah, I thought so." t-shirt: designed by one of our fourth graders, tie-dyed and bow-dazzled by me; tiger tights: amazon. Yes, seriously; skirt: J.Crew, gift; shoes: Clarks

Another fave when I was growing up. I do believe I've read this book more than a dozen times. The illustrations are the best. Harriet's penchant for those black and white composition books is why I carry one myself. What? If you've read the book, you'd understand.

Dress Like a Storybook Character Day: I'm most definitely not "practically perfect in every way" but I do love me some Mary Poppins. Especially since she ties in so well with our study of the United Kingdom. I actually began reading Mary Poppins to my second and fourth grade students a couple of weeks ago while they were weaving. Little did they know there was a reason behind my madness. I'll share with you more details of that and the making of this lil outfit later this week. Until then...ruffly shirt, bag and black skirt: vintage, thrifted; sweater and boots: Buffalo Exchange; hat and gloves: vintage, gift from a friend; parrot umbrella: DIY by me

This summer I met Richard Sherman who, along with his brother Robert, wrote all the songs in Disney's version of Mary Poppins. He told us how Walt Disney had a very hard time convincing  P.L. Travers to allow him to turn her book into a movie. We are actually at the magical world of Walt Disney World this weekend on a little pre-birthday trip/any-excuse-to-get-outta-town vacay. And while I haven't seen Mary (yet!) I did manage to score a Poppins Pin! I'll be sure to share our trip with you in a future post.

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