Steampunk Top Hat

January 25, 2018

Steampunk Top Hat

The other night we introduced Alice Through the Looking Glass to the kids. One part of the movie shows the Mad Hatter's hat collection on the wall. My husband told me I should make one. I had been tossing the idea around for a long time. But I didn't want to commit.

Well, I was at Joann's (spending my birthday money) and all of Tim Holtz products were 40% off. I swear there was a bright light above my head by the time I decided okay, a Steampunk Top Hat will be my next project. However, I didn't want to follow the Alice in Wonderland type theme so I just kinda rolled with it.

Along with the Tim Holtz products, I grabbed (6)sheets of Milkshake (brown) cardstock from Bazzill and some fabric for a banner on the hat.

After weighing my options for wings in my library, I decided to just design my own so that I could get exactly what I was looking for. Took me two days to get what I envisioned, but hey I got there eventually!

I didn't want just plain white wings. I wanted rustic, dirty, aged wings. The best way to achieve this, a q-tip, some Tim Holtz Walnut Stain and Vintage photo ink.

The first layer I did the darker ink, Walnut Stain.

Then I floated in the Vintage Photo ink to give a softer edge. Unfortunately I have used almost all of the Vintage Photo ink so it took me a bit longer to work with the dryer ink.

I simply curled the edges. No real method to it, just what I felt was good.

Then came the fun addition. The Tim Holtz pocket watch, some mini gears, and a print and cut clock face from the Silhouette Store.

I wanted the gears to move in the watch, but more of a floating kind of movement. Not flat up against the background image.

After I got the clock and wings situated, I got to work on the top hat.

After cutting my pieces out, I grabbed the Walnut Stain and inked the edges on all the elements of the hat.

Now the fun part, decoration...

My husband suggested I put a cutout somewhere in the hat to display what would be the inner workings of the gears. I didn't want it to just look like a hole in the side of a hat. So I ruffed up the edges of the contrasting paper (Tim Holtz Lost and Found stack) with some fine grit sandpaper.

Once I got past this part, everything flowed quickly together.

Front facing

Right Side

So the stand has gears on it. I simply grabbed a 3D cake stand from the Silhouette store and welded gears randomly on it.

Back showing the transition from Bazzill paper to the Lost and Found paper

Light her up!

I decided that I needed to do these goggles. I used Recollections black and rose gold paper for them and added a few gears to move inside one of the lenses.