Hat Block Dance of Joy!

I'm so happy!  Yesterday I found a hat block maker in Shakopee, Minnesota!  Until recently, the only hat block maker I could find was in England, and though it was very clear that his work is of the very highest quality, his cost and the cost of shipping made all purchases pretty much impossible. 

Finding someone in the States is a big deal.  Finding someone that I can afford is a big deal. 

Hat blocks are hard to come by.  Each shape of hat (and to a certain degree size) requires a different hat block. 

This block here will make a cloche that's slightly assymetrical.  It'll come down a bit over one eye.

Hat block from the collection of Eva May Design Studio.

So you see, in order to make a variety of hats, a milliner needs to have a whole bunch of hat blocks. 

Doing so, here in the States, is both easier and more expensive than it was in the past.  Ebay makes finding hat blocks easier, but since you don't have to go scrounging through antique stores and flea markets, it also means that every milliner in the country is looking to buy basically the same set of hat blocks on Ebay. 

Really basic styles are easy and cheap to find (round, bowler, sorta squarish on the top....), but the more complicated the block is the more difficult it is to get a deal. 

  Hat Blocks 
  Originally uploaded by the justified sinner

Obviously, the picture I found from a flea market in Antwerp is really about enough to make me hyperventilate. 

It seems that all the really cool blocks are either in Europe or Australia, and shipping is just a beast.  These are big heavy blocks of wood! 

I've been looking for a while for a pinch front fedora.... you know the basic "man's" style seen on everybody from Indiana Jones to Sam Spade to the Rabbi down the street.  When I show my hats, inevitably several men will ask me if I can make them one. 

I can, I just don't have the block.  It's a frustrating position to be in. 

I've started ordering the really beautiful block from the guy in England (who's name is actually Guy) several times.  It's just so expensive, I can't really get it done.

  Hat Blocks used to shape felt hats 
  Originally uploaded by denovich

 

Yesterday, I searched on Yahoo instead of Google.  Apparently there is a reason to keep Yahoo web searches around, because I found a block maker here in the States, just forty minutes from where I grew up, in a building I must have driven by more than a thousand times. 

I'm so excited I have done several dances of joy, and you've got to be certain that the check is in the mail.  Woo-hoo! 

 

I'm already making a list of all the other blocks I want.  The porkpie... that lovely block that flares at the top that's falling apart at Eva's...  a cowboy brim...  so many possibilities! 

I'm definitely going to have to plan a hat-related research trip to England and France now.  I can go make sketches at the Hat Museum...  just look at all those shelves of blocks.... what bliss!  And to France to buy ribbons...  (EM)

Comments

[GermanPerfection]

I found a hat block maker in PA, called Fredric Raab

[GermanPerfection]

http://users.erols.com/fjraab/