Yes, you guessed it, I am back again with another steampunk project.  I have wanted to try and make a steampunk hat for a long time now but had no idea where to start.  I was recently cleaning out my shed and found this empty bucket that I used for storing bits and bobs.  Straight away a steampunk hat popped into my head, so I thought I would give it a try.

I recently made a mixed media steampunk lamp which turned out great, but I thought I would try and join the two projects together.

How to Make a Steampunk Hat

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To make this hat I used mainly recycled material that I had at home.  You will need to find a small plastic bucket or a similar container to start. Because the hat will be having a mixed media makeover, I started by adding some layers and textures to the bucket. Using cardstock, you can cut some square shapes and stick them to the bucket.  This will act as a base for all the embellishments to stick too.  I was not too sure how well they would stick directly to the plastic. Add some mod podge to the bucket and stick the cardstock down.  This step does not need to be perfect and overlapping in fine.

Because I had decided to add the hat to my lamp, I cut a hole in the centre of the bucket for the lamp to go through. You can ignore this step.  I used a hole saw to cut out the hole.

Add some texture to the hat

To add texture using stencils and texture paste is the best way to go in my opinion.

Randomly place the stencils over the bucket and add the texture paste with a spatula.

Remove the stencil straight away and wash them before the texture paste dries. I repeated this step using a few different stencils.

The gear design on the top of the hat was made with a Cricut vinyl cutter.  I cut the gear multiple times on thick cardstock and glued them all together.  Here are some tips and how to make your own mixed media supplies.

I used a few common items to add extra texture.

• Mesh from a vegetable sacks
• Corrugated cardboard
• Christmas beads
• paper packaging
• Braid trim tape
• Burlap fabric

You can randomly add this texture using tacky glue or hot glue for the heavier items. My personal style in mixed media is to add many layers and texture so there is lots of detail.  As you can see it does not need to be placed perfectly.

Adding the embellishment

Once you have the base all done it is time to add some embellishment.  Because I do a lot of mixed media projects, to keep my projects cheap I buy the silicone mould and use resin.  I make all the embellishments and when I am ready to use them, I heat them up with a hairdryer and they softener and can be moulded around a surface.

To add the resin embellishment, I use tacky glue.

Add charms and beads

The last embellishments to be added is the small charms and beads. These can be glued on top of the bigger embellishments to get a layered look.

Here are a few links for some of the embellishments that I used. I bought a bulk pack of each one and use them in all my projects.

• Steampunk Charms
• Craft Charms
• Decorative buttons
• Bead chain
• Decorative studs
• Peacock beads
• Filigree charms
• Hinges
• Clock mechanism

I added all the smaller charms, and as you can see this does not need to be perfect either. lol

You can zoom in on the image to see what items I used and how they were placed.

Close up of the detail.  I did try and pull off all the strings of glue once I was done.

Making the brim of the steampunk hat

To make the brim I cut a circle from a cardboard box, leave a 5 cm overhand for the brim. The bucket can be a guide for the inner circle. Using a craft knife cut the middle circle in slices like a pizza and bend them up in one side.

I used some faux leather to cover the brim only because it was what I had at home; any fabric should work.  Using some mod podge or craft glue, glue the fabric to the bottom of the brim.  Cut slits into the leather like the image below.  This will help keep the leather tidy once folded over.

Start overlapping the leather over the brim and glue it down as you go along.  This image below is how it will look once completed.

Decorate the brim in the same way you did the top.

To fit the brim to the bucket, I used some hot glue on the inside then pushed the cardboard into the hot glue.

Painting the hat

Next, you need to paint the hat completely black using gesso.  You can use acrylic paint, but I find gesso has better coverage and finish.  If you are anything like me, you look at this and go what a mess.  I know, I always feel the same about mixed media projects.  But now the magic happens.

For this project, I used a metallic copper wax paste to highlight the gesso. Using your finger, dip the tip into the wax and rub it over the raised surfaces of the embellishment.

Try not to cover all of the black, this will give you a better effect. Next, using a small brush and a tiny amount of wax paste, add some colour to the gaps.  Move your brush lightly in a circular motion to get the correct effect.  I have circled how it should look in the image below.

The wax paste will now need about 12 hours to cure.  To seal the hat, you can use acrylic spray.  This will make the copper paste stand out and prevent any fading in the future.

Making the stand

When I was adding the acrylic, I had the hat sitting on a lazy Susan which gave up its life to become my stand.  Right place, right time.  Because I recycle old furniture, I always have a large stash of doorknobs and other accessories. I used some old drawer pulls as legs for the stand.  I painted the stand with gesso and highlighted it with the copper wax to match the hat.

The stand was also sealed with the acrylic spray.

Add some accessories

If you just wanted the hat you can stop here. You can buy some steampunk goggles and add some feathers for added effect.

Joining the two projects

To join the two projects together I removed the base from the lamp and screwed the base plate into the new stand.  The lamp was put through the hole in the top and screwed into the base plate. I did have to remove the plug to get it through the hole in the base.

The hat was then glued to the base using a hot glue gun.

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