Yvonne O’Toole – Ireland

Hat In Balance

Description

A deceased relative, Paschal, a tailor by trade, taught me all I know about sewing/craft-work from the age of 4. His favorite word was equilibrium. His philosophy was that everything in life eventually comes into balance. Designing and making this hat is a tribute to his memory.

Hope he would be especially proud of my fully working Newton’s Cradle, where the challenges of putting it on a hat were overcome.

Materials

• 2 Polystyrene bases, 3 Polystyrene balls, and felt
• Sequins (for hand-made letters and balls)
• Embellishments for edging
• Food skewer, box, child’s block, and 2 figurines for seesaw
• Newspaper and sticky tape for small balls
• Lollipop sticks, cardboard, paint, sequins, marbles, drinking straw, and twine for Newton’s Cradle
• Hairband
• Variety of glues and sewing thread

Techniques

• Felt was glued onto both polystyrene bases, and embellishments were hand sewn.
• The two pieces were bonded together at 90 degrees.
• The letters were hand sewn using sequins, and glue together.
• A frame was constructed for the Newton’s cradle, from lollipop sticks.
• These were then painted and embellished with sequins.
• A drinking straw was cut into pieces and attached to marbles to facilitate the string to attach to them.
• The marbles were checked to ensure they all presented at the same level on cradle.
• The fully working cradle was glued into position on the block.
• A box was embellished with sequins, and a child’s toy was used to create the mounting for the swing.
• A skewer was used for the seesaw, and a figurine was glued to either end.
• The completed seesaw was then glued to the other side of the base.
• The polystyrene balls, one had individual sequins glued on, another was covered by decoupage, using newspaper, and the third was covered by small pieces of colored sticky tape, to give variety.
• A small base was covered with felt, and small pearls were hand-sewn to this.
• The balls were then attached to base.