HATalk Competition Entry 2023

Wen-Ting Kuo

Maker
Wen-Ting Kuo

Country
TAIWAN

Name of Hat
Earthy Planet

Description

Earth is one of the classical elements of the planet Earth.

‘Earthy Planet’ is inspired by a combination of the two concepts: soil and planet. I view each head as an individual planet, surrounded by a planetary ring and asteroids; this resembles the fact that every person is an independent subject. There might even be numerous different styles of earthy planets revolving in multiverses. We must treasure the planet and its resources as we take care of our heads, and then the earthy planet will continue to function and bring hope.

I attempt to combine sinamay with plastic in order to create a hi-tech hat. Since the topic is the planet Earth, the overall colour is mainly earthy tones. For me, there is gold under the ground, and other colours represent growth and experiences.

Materials:

Sinamay
Comb
Wire
Horsehair
Plastic
Ostrich feather stalk Christmas decoration balls

Techniques:

To demonstrate the layering effect, sinamay is first dyed and produced.
Using the bias sinamay and blocking displays the one-piece-formed feature; the hem around the brim is made of dyed sinamay and horsehair.
Second, the floating balls are transformed from discarded balls; the sinamay is used to wrap the upper layer through blocking.
Combining ostrich feather and twill stripes of sinamay demonstrates star trails and other planetary rings.
Third, regarding the wearing structure, it is worn on the head by the structural combination of a headband with a deformed structure extended to three quarters of its circumference and a comb.

Note: Entries have been not been edited or proofread to protect the integrity of the maker's original meaning.