How do you make a tophat?

Started by cindyt, January 24, 2015, 04:19:57 PM

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cindyt

I've seen people (especially at balloon conventions) with those big tophats with the large brims.  Can anyone tell me how you make those?  I'm assuming the main part is a basket weave and I can handle that.  But how do you get the brim to
1) stand out at a 90 degree angle  (is it just a matter of putting a pinch twist on the base of all the balloon tails before starting the brim?)
and
2) not flop all over the place if you have more than 1 or 2 rows in the brim?

Areyouhappydad

#1
You are right, it is a pinch twist at the base hat makes it stand out. Mr fudge, does a very good tutorial on this on you tube. I still struggle to get the length others seem to get out of balloons but in theory, you can make one of these with just 6 balloons (including brim) though I do sometimes add more if I am struggling for length.
Kindest Regards
Stuart

We all have our cross to bear, but some of us need more wood than others!

Areyouhappydad

#2
Kindest Regards
Stuart

We all have our cross to bear, but some of us need more wood than others!

cindyt

#3
I've seen Mr. Fudge's tutorial, but he only has one row on the brim.  I'm having problems getting the brim to stay flat, even with just 3 rows in the brim.

Areyouhappydad

#4
When I have done more than one row, the bubble sizing is important to keeping it flatter (even size all around). Have you got a picture of what you have?
Kindest Regards
Stuart

We all have our cross to bear, but some of us need more wood than others!

cindyt

#5
I don't have a good close-up but here's what I have.  (I made it for a birthday party whose theme was "magic".)  It has 3 rows in the brim.  The brim will stand straight out but it's not as stable as I would like-- the outside row has a tendency to slip off from the horizontal.  I've seen hats with at least 5 or 6 rows in the brims that looked stable and I know that if I added more rows to this one, it would become even more unstable.

cashmagic

#6
life is full of twist and turns i just twist it first !!!
http://www.twistandmake.co.uk

Areyouhappydad

#7
Hi Cindy, looking at the hat you have done, one layer may be a bit too close to the previous. This will force a bubble up or down a little and so distort the brim a bit. Try making the small spacer bubble between layers a little bigger to prevent this.
Kindest Regards
Stuart

We all have our cross to bear, but some of us need more wood than others!

cindyt

#8
I'll give that a try.

Thanks!

cindyt

#9
Who makes the "woven hats" dvd set?

Graham Lee

#10
Colin Myles has a weaving DVD and also Guido Clausen, there may be others as well though.
"Lets Improve Our Art"
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For Services to the Balloon Community.
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colin myles

#11
Thanks Graham,
to answer the question of the top hat brim each bubble on the row
must be four and a half centimetres larger than the previous row to
get the brim flat, assuming you are working with six spokes, Graham is
correct the full explanation is on my weaving DVD, which happily Graham
stocks
                                                 best wishes
                                                             Colin

cindyt

#12
Thanks!!!!

nippy99

#13
Some woven hat designs can be found here...

http://www.balloondvds.com/#!product/pr ... n-headgear

And a nice top hat PDF can be found here..

http://thetwisterscookbook.com/product/ ... k-top-hat/
Darren Atkins
MagicWorks Ltd


Twitter :
@magicworksltd

lowemagic

#14
Doesn't David Grist teach a top hat on volume 3?