creations of 2020
hello lovely ones!
it has been a long, long time since i’ve said hello… the world is a different place now, isn't it? i hope you and your loved ones are navigating all the twists and turns well, while staying healthy, safe and hopeful.
At the beginning of 2020, my desire was to create unique hats for my shop each month, while pausing my beloved customs orders to make room for some creative exploration. Of course it didn't really unfold that way. When the world started shutting down, i turned all of my resources towards homeschooling my two girls and caring for our flourishing little homestead. Our isolated days were filled with spelling, math and chickens, leaving little time or emotional energy for my lonely wee studio in the basement. But there were moments, precious, tantalizing moments, when i could escape into a world of wool. And five very different hats emerged...
werifesteria honey bee witch
Bees of all varieties were a source of educational curiosity and wonder during our days of homeschooling. We spent afternoons watching our mason bees, observing them busily working in the fruit trees, and making hypotheses about their nesting habits. With bees on the brain, i wondered how i could recreate the wax comb of the honey bee - with its beautiful, precise geometry - using wool. This hat is the result of that laborious endeavour. While the bees are the genius, i was also inspired by the work of Aganetha Dyck, who, using pheromones, coaxes honeybees to build wax comb on abandoned or broken relics, transforming them into pieces of wonder. The bees have certainly transformed this old grandmother tree, bringing colour and life to her aging surface. Where sap once flowed, she is now filled with honey. Where life used to emerge as a mantle of green needles, life now haloes her with the hum and buzz and golden flurry of pollen collected from all over the forest. She always was and still is a home to many.
material: 19 micron merino wool (ethically sourced), silk chiffon (hand-dyed with natural materials)
technique: wet felt, needle felt
size: 22.5” (can be adjusted to fit smaller head size, or stretched to fit up to 23.5”). you can learn how to measure your head circumference here
price: $1100CAD
birch bark wren
The day my girls were able to return to school, i had no plan for what i would begin during my first full day in the studio. i walked out into my garden and found a rhubarb leaf, just starting to turn. The colours were so vibrant, i was enamoured by the thought that if i was to recreate it exactly as it was it would look fake, absolutely unreal. Isn't that wonderful? Nature is so wondrous, we can't recreate her without looking outlandish! So i proceeded to make the bones of a leaf hat, much toned down from the inspiration... and i failed. A happy failure, but nonetheless, it didn't work out. After a moment of self-pity, i sat in the emptiness and wondered what to do next. This is what was born, a birch bark wren hat. Using the pattern of the unborn leaf, she emerged as one of those effortless-feeling creations that becomes a favourite. Unplanned, born of failure and a pure joy. And, bonus, now i know where i went wrong with the leaf hat, so maybe next time she'll make her debut.
material: 19 micron merino wool (ethically sourced), silk chiffon (hand-dyed with natural materials)
technique: wet felt, nuno felt
size: 22.5” (can be adjusted to fit smaller head size, or stretched to fit up to 23”) you can learn how to measure your head circumference here
price: $625CAD
forest floor brimmed hat
Winter's icy fingers are transforming the world outside my home into a monochromatic vision of empty branches and cold, grey skies. This year, the pandemic makes this transition particularly daunting to me. Do you feel it too? I needed to remind myself that spring always returns, and that the deep rest and decay of winter nourishes the flourishing in nature as it does in my own spirit. And so i created this hat to harness the beauty of winter and to connect it to the spring to come. All creatures celebrate that first green bud, and i'm one of them, but in the meantime i'll do my best to absorb all this winter has to offer.
material: 19 micron merino wool (ethically sourced), silk chiffon and cotton lace (hand-dyed with natural materials), adjustable/removeable band made with raffia wrapped wire and creeping virginia vines
technique: wet felt, nuno felt, dry/needle felt
size: 22.5” (can be adjusted to fit smaller head size, or stretched to fit up to 23”)you can learn how to measure your head circumference here
price: $875CAD
amanita brimmed hat
This year’s autumn was bursting with a cornucopia of fungi… i’m not sure if it was because the conditions were perfect or because my eyes were just more poised to see them… either way mushroom hunting made for a wonderful covid-friendly activity with the littles. You just can’t beat the combination of fresh air, feeling restored and alive, AND searching for treasure! From happy clusters of graceful and perky little brown mushrooms to stately grandfather shelf fungus as big as my head, the sheer variety and character of each finding filled us all with a sense of whimsy and inspiration. I couldn’t help but become obsessed, yet again, with making a mushroom hat. While my work often incorporates little felted mushrooms dancing around the hat band, exploring the technical aspects of creating an actual mushroom hat keeps me up at night. Sculpting the felt fibres in such a way as to keep the gill-laden brim strong and buoyant, keeping bossy red fibres from infiltrating the gentle, pristine white, creating gills that are seamless and balanced - all of these queries bounced through my brain while my fingers negotiated with opinionated fibres until finally this hat was made! And i am so happy with the results!
material: 19 micron merino wool (ethically sourced)
technique: wet felting
size: 22” (i can stretch this to fit 22.5, but not much more or less 22” as it is a double wall-constructed hat)you can learn how to measure your head circumference here
price: $750CAD
acorn beret
Sometimes, when there is so much upheaval and uncertainty in life, we need to return to our comforts… and this acorn beret is my creative safe-place. i am eternally fascinated that, by using the language of wool, a flat piece of felt can transform and emerge as a multidimensional shape full of life and character. It fills me with wonder and satisfaction each and every time and i hope it does for you as well.
material: 19 micron merino wool (ethically sourced), silk chiffon (hand-dyed with natural materials)
technique: wet felt, nuno felt
size: 22” (can be adjusted to fit smaller head size, or stretched to fit up to 22.5”) you can learn how to measure your head circumference here
price: $375CAD
mushroom hair combs
i just couldn’t help myself. i’m just so delighted by the idea of having mushrooms popping out of my hair. little browns, chanterelles, oyster, turkey tails, and, of course, amanitas…
material: 19 micron merino wool (ethically sourced), copper wire, wire hair comb
technique: wet and dry felt
price: each hair comb is approximately $45CAD
And that is the majority of my year as chronicled through wool. Like many, i’m hoping that 2021 is maybe, you know, a little less tumultuous, and that our attentions can be more clearly turned towards the preservation of our natural world and justice for her creatures. In a small gesture of support and hopefulness, i will be donating ten percent of the sale of these 5 hats towards causes and organisations that give their energy and resources towards seeing these goals realised. Every little bit helps. If you are interested in purchasing one of these hats, first of all thank you! and they’ll be up for sale on my website on Monday, December 14, 2020, at 10am PST (and i really apologize to those that find the timing inconvenient!!). Please do feel free to contact me if you have any questions before the sale date - lalabughats@gmail.com - and i’ll do my best to answer them!
Sending you and those around you a whole lotta love and blessings for a healing new year.
xo
rena