An unexpected return to Middle Earth :)

I had a lovely email from a gentleman in the US who loved my Radagast hat, and wanted to know if I could make one for him.  Of course this was the perfect excuse to make the Radagast #2 :)

This hat needed to be bigger as it was to fit a mans' head, but it also needed to be a more masculine version than the first hat.. more like the one in the movie.  So the crown needed to have a lot more to it.. so it could be wrinkled and crumpled on top of the head.. and the brim needed to be much more chunky and less dangly.

New resist.. a simple bell shape.
Liberally scattered with silk caps

I used three fine layers.. the first is dyed merino
The second is natural brown merino which is a little coarser / hairier.
On top of the second layer I scattered lots of tussah silk fibre in browns and black

The third layer is dyed brown merino, with a little green merino
and quite a bit of tussah silk fibre and silk caps plus a little white flax fibre

I must of gotten carried away with the felting.. I forgot to take photos for a while.  But I worked it, and worked it.. a LOT!  When it was fully felted and had shrunk down by half, I cut a wedge out of the front (where the face will be) and created the front flap separately.

Healed all the edges, and set the hat on the block to dry.  The sides
and back are folded up and there is plenty of hat on top :)
I let the front flap dry slightly crumpled.

Once it was dry I stitched that widest edge of the flap
to the front of the hat.  Then stitched the felted quills in place and added a couple of buttons

Love this one!
I think the new resist shape is the way to go with this

I got the worn, weather beaten look I was going for :)  Its nice and soft and snuggly.. not heavy or stiff 'cos the layers were laid down really fine.  Hope it's new owner is as happy as I am when it arrives.

I had a little fun with the box that I posted it in :)

I thought that a fellow Tolkien fan would like to know that it came from 'his neck of the woods'.
Trouble was my laptop battery was about to dye and I didn't quite have time to get the wording right (it shouldn't read 'and found' should be 'he found' .. never mind)

Next time.. the last of my current scarf posts :)

xoxo