SPLASH

Annemieke Koenen

The Netherlands

• Biot Feather Bird Project by Lynn McMasters
• HATalk Issue 176: BES-BEN HATS: A Legacy of Delight – Behind the scenes with author Elizabeth Jachimowicz.

At first I was mesmerized by Lynn McMasters Biot Feather Birds and decided to include birds into my headpiece.

I was also very smitten by the lovely, quirky hats made by BES-BEN and wanted to go more into that direction, a 40's style fascinator.

This resulted into this little 'birdbath' hat, made with the use of a small fascinator block.

As BES-BEN did, I also included the Russian veiling and the use of fabric, beads and a 'splashing' bird made of feathers.

The 'concrete' birdbath, made of sinamay, is set in a gardenlike feature with rocks, grass, plants and some butterflies resting on the leaves.

• Sinamay
• Handpainted tule
• Petersham
• Lining
• Millinery wire
• Elastic
• Russian veiling
• Feather birds and butterflies
• Beads
• Peacock feathers
• Fabric leaves
• Tinsel
• Thread
• Spraypaint

• Blocked a base, and blocked a shape for the birdbath from sinamay.
• Sewn the feather bird on the rim of the birdbath and spraypainted it gray.
• Handpainted the tule fabric, shaped and embroidered it with tinsel and beads and put the coloured feather bird on.
• Then put in the petersham to the base, lining on the back of the birdbath shape, then sewn the two sinamay shapes together and sewn the tule in. Decorated the base with beads, the leaves, butterflies and made ‘grass’ from peacock feathers. Put the veiling on and finaly put the elastic and lining in.