Ruffled in Darkness

Well hello there lovelies! I have been on a hat making kick and am going strong with so many designs. You all will probably get sick of me posting these. Hehe! I have wanted to make a totally black and soft hat featuring a more elegant gothic feel and so I decided to play with lots and lots of feathers. I was inspired by all of the beautiful ravens that are cawing around my neighborhood. Here is the finished design. Enjoy!

I started with the usual foam. I used the taller black top hat for this feathered design. The shorter white hat will be featured at a later date. 

I glue my hat together and the grabbed a load of black feathers. You can dye your feathers using food coloring if you would like to make a certain color. The draw back is, the lack of certain colors in food coloring, and it makes the feathers more of a light color. But anyway, it is a fun thing to try!

As you can see in the picture above, it was a feathery good time! Those feathers ended up everywhere! Each feather was laid exactly where I wanted it and surgically glued into place. I didn't want any of the stem to show so there is a lot of overlap. The feathers were bent and curled to fit the curve of the hat.

The skull and wings were given a special treatment and then I added some dark blue rhinestones to it. The circle under the beak was inlaid with Prussian blue paint and highlighted with glossy accents. I added some soft black lace around the base of the hat and also tied some black leather into knots to give it more texture. It is hard to see in the picture.

The sides of the hat feature a TH skull and crossbone. The eyes are ice blue rhinestones from Xanderous Crafty Stash. Those little gems are so little and were very interesting to work with. The eyes were glued in with glossy accents as well. I did trim off the loop at the top of the skull.

The back of the hat showcases the large lace bow and another skull and crossbone. The lace is extra long to give the hat a nice added form of elegant goth. I do hope you enjoyed this journey with me! Thank you for looking! Carpe Diem!

I would like to share this hat with these challenges:

Rhedds Creative Spirit-Anything MM Goes

Altered Eclectics-Anything MM/Altered Goes

Eclectic Ellapu September-Flora/Fauna and/or Nature

With so many ravens about in my neck of the woods, I thought this would fit into the Nature part. 

Sisterhood of Crafters-Anything Goes 

Creative Artiste Challenge #30-Anything MM Goes