How I made a YOGA MAT into a STEAMPUNK HAT! (And how you can, too!)
This one is my personal baby, my very first full-sized steampunk hat, made from a yoga mat.
It's nice and easy, and you can make one too! (I got the pattern from Lost Wax. He has a ton of amazing patterns and tutorials!)
The hat on my head is the final result! (Thanks to my pal, Ronnie Rabena Photography for the sweet pic!)
I made it with the following:
• a yoga mat (because let's be honest, you know you want to carve it up anyway);
• hot glue or contact cement;
• 5 minute 2-part epoxy;
• crafting foam;
• a hairdryer for shaping the foam;
• black acrylic paint;
• Silver and Gold wax paste (Rub 'N Buff or something like that)
I cut the yoga mat into the 3 shapes from the pattern and assembled as per instructions.
I used the hairdryer to shape the mat into a shape I liked a little better, Then, with the crafting foam, I cut them into small squares, and glued them onto the hat all over the place!
I cut the excess off around the inside of the hat, and then used the epoxy to create "rivets" using a pinhead/match. (I used nail head to give some of them the more worn/aged look)
From there, the first coat (of at least 2) of black acrylic paint went on. (You can see the rivets a lot better here)
The final step is to lightly apply the wax paste to it. There's a bit of a learning cure with this stuff, so test it out on some scrap before you apply it to your finished piece.
Remember, art is the expression of the artist, so if you want to leave it all kinds of colours, go crazy!
I hope this helped some of you out there. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to leave a reply and I'll get back to you!
Until next time!
A true expression of the artist ...! yoga mat...hmmm...this worked out sooo well. Nice one my dear. Keep it up
Thank you! I have made a couple since in various styles, but this one will always be my personal favourite - mostly because it was my first one ;)
yeah,,,trust me...more better ones are yet to come...you good in your art work
feel free to check my blog and read about a short family story...quite interesting ..thanks
WOWWWWW!!!!!!! I am in loveeee!!! That is sooo frekon awesome. And totally wearable too....Not just something that would sit by the wayside..... Soooo very, very cool! <3
Thank you! I love the big hats, but my best sellers have always been the minihats. I think it's the "cutesy" factor, or that I have done pop culture mashups with them (I put a couple pics of the mashup ones up on my introduction post - maybe I'll make another post showing them off). So wonderful and pretty easy to make!
This is great, but i'm dying to know what you did with the black patterned foam in the background of some of the pics.
If you look at my profile pic, that should give you a hint ;)
Well.... part of it, anyway. I still have a bunch that I am saving for my next big cosplay, "Darth Marr."
I made a few high speed videos of the initial helmet build process for Marr (mostly yoga mat/crafting foam for now).
Check this post to check it out!
I came across this while hunting for thicker foam options to make a hat from. Absolutely brilliant idea!
Thank you kindly!