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labricoleuseHat blocking is a technique that many theatre costumers avoid because of a number of misconceptions--folks are concerned that it'll be too difficult or complex, that it requires a collection of expensive hat blocks, that it means learning a new skill that will take too long to figure out. Our next project in millinery class is going to involve some hat blocking, so i have done a couple of examples and have process shots to share.
You can block with a variety of different materials--wool or rabbit fur millinery felt, Fosshape thermoplastic felt (using a modified technique), traditional or paper straw, raffia, or vegetable-tanned leather. Not all of them block equally well--some are more flexible than others and thus able to take more extreme shapes more easily.
My students are allowed to choose any blockable material for this project and either create a blocked hat or create a hat with a buckram or wire foundation that *looks* blocked. Thus, they either are taking a risk by trying a totally new, unfamiliar technique, or adapting a now-somewhat-familiar technique (pieced foundation hats) to include a new material. I give them guidance so they aren't attempting the impossible, but it's intentionally an exploratory crapshoot of a project. It's also kind of a trick: those who choose to block their hats usually complete the project in much less time. (This post itself is another--any of my students who follow the blog will know all of this information before class tomorrow, when i conduct a live hatblocking demonstration...)
Some blockable materials come in flat sheets or yardage. Sinamay straw is sold this way--sheets or by the yard--as is raffia cloth, and leather obviously comes in hides or by the square foot. You can also buy millinery quality felt in flat yardage.
Hatbodies, on the other hand, are preformed vaguely-hat-shaped units intended for blocking. Felt and straw are also sold this way, and can be purchased singly or in bulk (dozens or other multiples) from a range of sources. They are sold in two basic forms, hoods or cones (which look like floppy thimbles) and cartwheels or capelines (pronounced "KAP-uh-leens", for larger-brimmed styles). Capelines look like floppy cartoon-hillbilly hats before blocking and sizing.
For my demonstration for the class, i've used a type of straw hatbody called toyo, a Japanese paper-based product, in a fairly coarse weave. I picked up some of these on sale by the dozen from Judith M Millinery for exactly this purpose. They came in black and white, and i bought a split dozen--six of one, half-dozen the other. (Ha, i've been waiting to genuinely use that cliche for YEARS!) The exciting thing about toyo is that it's dyeable, so those six white hatbodies have the potential to become any color i require!
White toyo hatbody...but not for long!
Look how it takes to that dark brown dyebath!
This is common Rit dye with a half cup of salt added to facilitate the process.
When it's dry, I'll be able to block my newly-brown hatbody!
Think of the cool effects you could get with ombre on these...
Black toyo hatbody, before blocking.
This is one i'm blocking in advance of my class.
Cute pointy wooden crown block (covered in foil), property of Randy Handley.
Some of this demo is done on this block.
Tools used, left to right: wooden brim block (eBay, $15) and aluminum foil,
sturdy cotton-core nylon rope, Poly-Block polyurethane crown block (Frank's, under $20),
home-made tolliker (1 lb. of Sculpy from a craft store)
My finished sample hat was made on these blocks.
A tolliker is a puzzle-piece sort of shape that aides in blocking hats with crown divots. This one was made by student B. Daniel Weger as part of this project the last time i taught this class.
In addition to the above supplies, you also need some sturdy steel drafting pins or T-pins, and i use a small hammer to knock them into the block sometimes. I always cover my blocks with foil. I have no idea if it really protects them that much from heat/sizings/pinning injuries but i figure it can't hurt.
The first step in straw or felt blocking is impregnation of the blocking medium with moisture and heat via steam. You can do this with a steam iron or clothing steamer--you can create a makeshift steamer with a bit of water in a teakettle. For particularly stubborn and difficult to permeate hatbodies, you can use a steambox, which is easy to rig with a standard hat or clothing steamer, as below.
Makeshift steambox at Cha-Cha's House of Ill Repute
Here I'm steaming my toyo hood with an industrial clothing steamer.
Once the hatbody is nice and pliable, you position the center wherever you want it on the block (some straw hoods have lovely ornamental center "buttons") and pull it down over it as taut as you can. You secure the hatbody to the block with a sturdy narrow rope and drafting pins, thus:
close-up view of center back rope overlap area
If you have a block shape that includes a tolliker, you use it to help you get your crown dimple, either pressing by hand with it as you block, or clamping it after you secure your rope. (or, both).
I almost always make that overlap area my center back, just as a general matter of quality. You could overlap your rope elsewhere, but it leaves a noticeable join in the rope-line (a little ridge left in the hatbody when you remove it from the block), and any flaw or anomaly in a hat is best located at center back or under a pile of trim. Use your judgment accordingly. Many blocks have a little channel carved into them for the rope to sit easily down into, but if your block doesn't (the Poly-Blocks don't, for example) you can pin into it at center front and along the sides as well for securing the rope.
I let the hat sit on the block sometimes as long as overnight with felts, to make sure all the steam evaporates out of it. I then apply sizing to the hat (still on the block--if you take it off and then size it, some materials will shrink up and you don't maintain your desired headsize). The more toxic sizings should be used in a spray hood, outdoors, and/or with repiratory protection. Gelatin and non-toxic water-based sizings can be used as well. The advantage of the toxic sizings is the swift drying time and a bit more longevity of wear, whereas the non-toxic ones are differently advantageous because they won't mutate your babies or make you crazypants from fume exposure.
Then i take the hat off the block, cut it down if need be and trim it up and voila!
Not counting drying time, this hat took me about 4 hours of labor over a span of three days.
So, you can see that if you get fairly confident at blocking, you can bust out handmade customized hats using the technique, whereas trying to get a similar effect from a pieced hat would be difficult and time-consuming.
Antique wood hatblocks are lovely and wonderful if you can get them, but are hard to find. Modern new wooden hatblocks are costly and heavy to ship. However, you can make your own from any number of materials, or commission them from local woodworkers (or, ask your scene shop about carving/turning them in barter for something like dyework or scrim stitching).
You don't need "official" wood hatblocks in order to block hats though--you can block them on dolly heads, unusually shaped bowls or vases, you name it. You just need some creativity and ingenuity and a working knowledge of how it's done. You can buy less-expensive alternatives like the Poly-Block shown above, or you can block on anything that's a shape you like--i've even had a student block a big domed brim on a yoga ball! (Clearly she didn't pin into it to do it.) I've always got an eye out at flea markets and junk shops and secondhand stores for wooden bowls in cool shapes--they can be great brim blocks for period shapes. I have even seen someone do a huge late-Victorian brim shape on a wooden toilet seat. (No, really.)
Just "think outside the block" and you can amass some shapes quickly and inexpensively, and add blocking to your repertoire of millinery techniques!
(I'll have some pictures of the brown hood blocking and the pointy-crown hat coming off the block after tomorrow's class.)
So there's my blocking overview: not so daunting, after all.
You can block with a variety of different materials--wool or rabbit fur millinery felt, Fosshape thermoplastic felt (using a modified technique), traditional or paper straw, raffia, or vegetable-tanned leather. Not all of them block equally well--some are more flexible than others and thus able to take more extreme shapes more easily.
My students are allowed to choose any blockable material for this project and either create a blocked hat or create a hat with a buckram or wire foundation that *looks* blocked. Thus, they either are taking a risk by trying a totally new, unfamiliar technique, or adapting a now-somewhat-familiar technique (pieced foundation hats) to include a new material. I give them guidance so they aren't attempting the impossible, but it's intentionally an exploratory crapshoot of a project. It's also kind of a trick: those who choose to block their hats usually complete the project in much less time. (This post itself is another--any of my students who follow the blog will know all of this information before class tomorrow, when i conduct a live hatblocking demonstration...)
Some blockable materials come in flat sheets or yardage. Sinamay straw is sold this way--sheets or by the yard--as is raffia cloth, and leather obviously comes in hides or by the square foot. You can also buy millinery quality felt in flat yardage.
Hatbodies, on the other hand, are preformed vaguely-hat-shaped units intended for blocking. Felt and straw are also sold this way, and can be purchased singly or in bulk (dozens or other multiples) from a range of sources. They are sold in two basic forms, hoods or cones (which look like floppy thimbles) and cartwheels or capelines (pronounced "KAP-uh-leens", for larger-brimmed styles). Capelines look like floppy cartoon-hillbilly hats before blocking and sizing.
For my demonstration for the class, i've used a type of straw hatbody called toyo, a Japanese paper-based product, in a fairly coarse weave. I picked up some of these on sale by the dozen from Judith M Millinery for exactly this purpose. They came in black and white, and i bought a split dozen--six of one, half-dozen the other. (Ha, i've been waiting to genuinely use that cliche for YEARS!) The exciting thing about toyo is that it's dyeable, so those six white hatbodies have the potential to become any color i require!
White toyo hatbody...but not for long!
Look how it takes to that dark brown dyebath!
This is common Rit dye with a half cup of salt added to facilitate the process.
When it's dry, I'll be able to block my newly-brown hatbody!
Think of the cool effects you could get with ombre on these...
Black toyo hatbody, before blocking.
This is one i'm blocking in advance of my class.
Cute pointy wooden crown block (covered in foil), property of Randy Handley.
Some of this demo is done on this block.
Tools used, left to right: wooden brim block (eBay, $15) and aluminum foil,
sturdy cotton-core nylon rope, Poly-Block polyurethane crown block (Frank's, under $20),
home-made tolliker (1 lb. of Sculpy from a craft store)
My finished sample hat was made on these blocks.
A tolliker is a puzzle-piece sort of shape that aides in blocking hats with crown divots. This one was made by student B. Daniel Weger as part of this project the last time i taught this class.
In addition to the above supplies, you also need some sturdy steel drafting pins or T-pins, and i use a small hammer to knock them into the block sometimes. I always cover my blocks with foil. I have no idea if it really protects them that much from heat/sizings/pinning injuries but i figure it can't hurt.
The first step in straw or felt blocking is impregnation of the blocking medium with moisture and heat via steam. You can do this with a steam iron or clothing steamer--you can create a makeshift steamer with a bit of water in a teakettle. For particularly stubborn and difficult to permeate hatbodies, you can use a steambox, which is easy to rig with a standard hat or clothing steamer, as below.
Makeshift steambox at Cha-Cha's House of Ill Repute
Here I'm steaming my toyo hood with an industrial clothing steamer.
Once the hatbody is nice and pliable, you position the center wherever you want it on the block (some straw hoods have lovely ornamental center "buttons") and pull it down over it as taut as you can. You secure the hatbody to the block with a sturdy narrow rope and drafting pins, thus:
close-up view of center back rope overlap area
If you have a block shape that includes a tolliker, you use it to help you get your crown dimple, either pressing by hand with it as you block, or clamping it after you secure your rope. (or, both).
I almost always make that overlap area my center back, just as a general matter of quality. You could overlap your rope elsewhere, but it leaves a noticeable join in the rope-line (a little ridge left in the hatbody when you remove it from the block), and any flaw or anomaly in a hat is best located at center back or under a pile of trim. Use your judgment accordingly. Many blocks have a little channel carved into them for the rope to sit easily down into, but if your block doesn't (the Poly-Blocks don't, for example) you can pin into it at center front and along the sides as well for securing the rope.
I let the hat sit on the block sometimes as long as overnight with felts, to make sure all the steam evaporates out of it. I then apply sizing to the hat (still on the block--if you take it off and then size it, some materials will shrink up and you don't maintain your desired headsize). The more toxic sizings should be used in a spray hood, outdoors, and/or with repiratory protection. Gelatin and non-toxic water-based sizings can be used as well. The advantage of the toxic sizings is the swift drying time and a bit more longevity of wear, whereas the non-toxic ones are differently advantageous because they won't mutate your babies or make you crazypants from fume exposure.
Then i take the hat off the block, cut it down if need be and trim it up and voila!
Not counting drying time, this hat took me about 4 hours of labor over a span of three days.
So, you can see that if you get fairly confident at blocking, you can bust out handmade customized hats using the technique, whereas trying to get a similar effect from a pieced hat would be difficult and time-consuming.
Antique wood hatblocks are lovely and wonderful if you can get them, but are hard to find. Modern new wooden hatblocks are costly and heavy to ship. However, you can make your own from any number of materials, or commission them from local woodworkers (or, ask your scene shop about carving/turning them in barter for something like dyework or scrim stitching).
You don't need "official" wood hatblocks in order to block hats though--you can block them on dolly heads, unusually shaped bowls or vases, you name it. You just need some creativity and ingenuity and a working knowledge of how it's done. You can buy less-expensive alternatives like the Poly-Block shown above, or you can block on anything that's a shape you like--i've even had a student block a big domed brim on a yoga ball! (Clearly she didn't pin into it to do it.) I've always got an eye out at flea markets and junk shops and secondhand stores for wooden bowls in cool shapes--they can be great brim blocks for period shapes. I have even seen someone do a huge late-Victorian brim shape on a wooden toilet seat. (No, really.)
Just "think outside the block" and you can amass some shapes quickly and inexpensively, and add blocking to your repertoire of millinery techniques!
(I'll have some pictures of the brown hood blocking and the pointy-crown hat coming off the block after tomorrow's class.)
So there's my blocking overview: not so daunting, after all.
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FYI
Date: 2008-09-15 04:14 pm (UTC)Re: FYI
Date: 2008-09-15 04:30 pm (UTC)I also liked that one she did making a block for patterning on from Plasticene. I reckon you could adapt that using air-dry clay for blocking, as well.
Her blog is one of my favorites--it's hard to find other milliners writing about their work.
Re: FYI
Date: 2008-09-15 04:38 pm (UTC)Re: FYI
Date: 2008-09-18 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 10:55 am (UTC)I loved the tutorial, and I would enjoy to see a second part on how you made the brim. I don't have much experience with straw, and I always find it difficult to shape the brim because straw is not as giving (and forgiving) as felt.
About plasticine, it can be used to make a block, although it tends to lose it's shape if you pull too much, and it cannot be used for complicated shapes. The problem with clay that dries is the shrinking factor, and the fact that it's not easy to pin anything on it, but still, why not!