The Trials & Tribulations Of Making A Pair Of Goggles

So over a year ago I made a top hat for a steampunk event I was going to in the summer of 2015 (I completely started singing Summer of '69 then - didn't you?).

Well for the same event I also made some goggles, which I've been meaning to write a post about ever since (oh 'meaning to' what good intentions you do have).

So hopefully I can remember what I actually did to make these things, given it was so long ago.


1. Make a paper template. Unfortunately I do not appear to have a picture of my template - I think that's because I actually changed the shape once I started papier macheing so my template is now kind of irrelevant!. But anyway this is for the bit that goes on your face, like the 'surround' bit for the goggles (I don't know how else to subscribe it).
So it basically an egg shape with a circle cut out of it (the circle should be near the wide end of the egg shape), where the actually eye piece is going to be. And remember to mark where the slots will be to attach your fastenings (you need one at each end of the template - one to fasten acoss your nose and one to fasten around the back of your head). You only need one of these as you can use the same template for both sides. Measure it against your face to make sure it will fit.


2. Cut out 2 of the egg shapes in cardboard (if using corrugated cardboard try to cut the shapes out so the corrugated bits run vertically - it will make it easier to shape later on).

Plastic cup goggle... things

3. Put egg shapes to one side (you will notice I tend to jump back and forth between pieces on this project!). Chop off the bottom of two small plastic cups - to the depth you want your goggles to be (shape them to your face), and - only if you want a different coloured lense - cut the middle out of the very bottom of each cup.

 
4. If you are going to have different coloured lenses and have therefore cut out the middle of each of your goggle pieces then you now need to cut out a piece of coloured plastic to fit the end of your goggles (I used a plastic folder).


 *At this point I actually put a thin layer of papier mache on the plastic cups but I don't think it really matters whether you do this or wait until after you've attached the pieces together in the next step*


5. Bend cardboard to fit around the plastic cups (if you're using corrugated and you've cut so the corrugated bits run vertically this is where it comes in handy). Make sure you've got the the right way round, so the pointier end of the egg shape will be pointing towards your ear if you were wearing the goggles and tape the cardboard to the plastic cup. This can be a bit fiddly but perserve.

The purple ribbon is just a place holder

6. Start papier macheing! I just put a couple of thin layers of newspaper on the whole of the goggles, inside and out, to make sure the goggles and the surround are fully attached. Remember to keep the slots for the fastenings free - you could cut back through them later but they may be difficult to find. Then I went over with a layer of papier mache using kitchen roll/towel. You could also use toilet paper for this or just go straight to painting its up to you. This is the point that I realised that my surrounds was too big and trimmed them down (this was after the first layer of newspaper papier mache).

 
7. Paint your goggles. You can use whatever colours you want to use on your goggles. The way I did mine was I painted the inside of the goggles black. Then I painted the whole of the outside brown and then went over the actual goggle part in a copper paint. Then I used black paint to paint in the details - screw heads, stitching etc. There isn't any need for neatness as the messier it is the more worn it will look.

 
8. Stick the lenses in the end of the goggles - you might have to trim them down a little to get them to fit now due to the papier mache adding a bit of thickness to the goggles. I honestly cannot remember what type of glue I used - I think it might have been hot glue... but it could just as easily have been PVA.

 
9. Attach two pieces together at the nose. I used ribbon to attach my goggles together. When you have a pieces of ribbon that you think is long enough, thread it through both goggles and check that it fits across your nose - of course this doesn't matter if you don't intend to wear the goggles, I just had mine sat on my top hat for the entire event (mainly because the purple plastic I used made everything blurry).
I chose to sew my ribbon in place but hot glue should work just as well.


10. Use another two pieces of ribbon for the back fastening. Make sure you have enough ribbon so you can fasten the goggles round the back of your head and then sew/glue the ribbon in place.

Ta Dah!

And there you have it after over a year I have finally posted about how I made my goggles. If you have any questions about the goggles please leave them in the comments and I will see if I can answer them (I'm not all that grand at explaining things like this - but if you understood my explanation of the template you can probably understand anything I try to explain - well done!)

The Trials & Tribulations Of Making A Top Hat: Part 2

For part 1 click here.

So this is where we left off with my top hat:

So I had the actual hat it was now just a case of covering it.

I dug around and found the black felt I had... and the sticky back black felt I also had.

First I decided to cover the top of the top hat. For this I decided to use the stick back felt as I felt it would be easier.

I used the template from my prototype (that I used to cut out the cardboard for the top of the top hat) and cut the felt a little bit bigger than the area I was covering so that I could.fold it over the edge like this:

That's probably the easiest bit of covering this hat... and not just because I used sticky back felt.

Next I decided to cover the underside of the brim, again using the template I used to cut out the cardboard.

This time I cut the brim slightly bigger both inside and out so again I could fold over the edges.

And I think I used the sticky back felt for this bit as well... but I can't quite remember.


But anyway, like so...

I discovered whilst covering this hat that you are better off cutting the pieces slightly bigger than you think you are going to need - there were a couple of places where there was very little to fold over on the outside of the brim.






So anyway on to the top of the brim. This is done in the same way as the lower brim apart from you won't be folding the outer edge under. Cut it slightly bigger by all means but you will need to trim it down as close as you can once it's glued on. The felt on top of the brim will cover the bit you folded over from underneath brim. However you won't have anything to hide the upper brim if you fold that under... if that makes any kind of sense...

I used my glue gun for this... I thought it would be easier to use non sticky felt so it wouldn't catch on the hat as I put it on. So you can cut the felt so it goes up on to the trunk (?) of the hat and then I slowly went round and used my glue gun to stick the fabric down a bit at a time. Don't rush - if you do it might go spectacularly wrong.

And naturally I forgot to photograph this particular step in making the hat.

So once that is done this is the point that you trim the edge and glue any unruly bits in place.

When it came to cutting the felt for the trunk (there's that word again!) of the hat I put the template round the cardboard hat to check the size. It's a good thing I did as I discovered that due to the cardboard the template was no longer fit. So to compensate for that I temporarily stuck the template to the hat and then used tape to fill in the gap.

Yes this photo is sideways

Then cut the template off again and it will now be the required size.




Again to stick this piece of fabric on I used a glue gun and went slowly, a line of glue at a time.

So it goes like this - line of glue, stick down, line of glue stick down.

This way your glue won't dry before you stick your fabric on and you can move the fabric slightly to fit better. (Be careful as you push the fabric down around the edges... if the glue seeps out it will be quite hot still... trust me I know)

Then I used a bit of sticky back felt to line half of the inside.

This is where I noticed that the hat was a bit tight... but I think it is to do with the hat being more solid that the prototype rather than because there was a layer of felt inside.

Lining - blogger preferred this photo sideways

So as I mentioned in part 1 if I made it again I would increase the circumference slightly.

So once the hat is complete you can decorate in anyway you want.

I opted to add a ribbon... which is where more problems occurred.

I'm led to believe that when you add ribbon/trim to a real top hat you can use hot water or steam to shape the ribbon on to the hat. However given that my hat is made of cardboard and the ribbon I had chosen had a wire edge I decided against that (and I've removed wire from wire edge ribbon before... it's not particularly fun).

So what I did was twist the ribbon over (on both sides of the hat) to make it fit the curve.

I used my glue gun again for this but only in strategic spots.

I wasn't sure if the glue would show through if I put it all over the ribbon. I lined the seam of my ribbon up with the seam of my felt... that's probably an obvious thing but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Here is a close up of how I twisted the ribbon on the sides of the hat.

It is at this point that you can moan as you sit and pick all the long strands of hot glue off your hat that have been left behind from using your glue gun :)

I hope this was useful to all you budding hat makers... or anybody who wants to cover cardboard with felt :)

The Trials & Tribulations Of Making A Top Hat: Part 1

So here is the post I promised you regarding the making of my top hat. I've decided to split the post in to two parts as otherwise it will end up as a very long post. So there will be this post that will be the making of the hat and then another post about the adding of the felt etc.

So first and foremost here are the locations of my inspiration when it came to making this hat - a video by Pins and Things and a post from Lost Wax.

So I didn't follow these tutorials exactly. And now that I have finished the hat there are things that I would do slightly differently if I ever made another one (because who doesn't want multiple top hats?).

So first I followed the video however I made the hat out of paper first to make sure it fit. That way I could also check how tall the hat was going to be and if it looked alright on me. The main measurement you need is the circumference of your head. I think I made the hat 7 inches tall and then cut it down. I also used inspiration from the Lost Wax post to shape the bottom of the main part of the hat.

This is the part to work out your main problems - make sure the brim is going to fit the bottom of the hat given that the hat isn't just a flat oval (oh yeah I forgot to mention I made the hat oval shaped not round... but we are still in the prototype stages of this post). Now here is what I would have done marginally different if I made another one - although the prototype fits fine the finished product is a little bit tight on my head. So I reckon I'd increase the circumference by about an inch or so.

So once you have got the paper hat correct and how you want it you then have to take it apart again. This will give you your template pieces.

I started off by forgetting about the brim for a while. I made the main body of the hat and stuck the top on. I mainly used tape with a bit of white glue (although when I go to the felt stage I did zip round the inside with my glue gun just to be sure).

This is where the template comes in useful as I don't think I could have down the curve free hand and got it even on both sides.

So then we move on to the brim. I cut my brim so that the corrugated cardboard would roll with the hat (for want of a better description). So you want to cut it so the corrugations (is that what they're called) went across the hat. Because even cutting the cardboard in that direction the brim will fight you whilst you try to attach it to the hat - so I can only imagine what it's like trying to get it on if the corrugations (there's that word again) run the other way. Of course if you don't put the curve in I don't think it really matters which way you cut the brim. I then bent the sides of the brim up slightly to give it some more shape.

It was at this point that I decided the brim was too wide, so I trimmed about half an inch off it. In my opinion this made the sides, where I bent them look a little better.


So that is the actual hat finished. At this point you could just paint it or cover it in something. I chose to cover mine in felt, which we will cover in part 2 - click here for that.

Steampunking It Up!

A couple of weeks ago me and my sister all went to a local Steampunk event.

Steampunk?!?! What's Steampunk?

Well I'll give you a moment to go and find out what Steampunk is if you don't already know.

*whistles and twiddles thumbs*

Aah - you're back... so we went to a Steampunk event. Some people dressed up - I find people who dress in a steampunk manner always put so much effort in - corsets, bustles, top hats, goggles, the works.

But anyway it was fun. Me and my sister went around the event a fair few times trying to make our minds up as to what to buy... cos we had to buy something didn't we?

Before I show you what I bought I want to say cherry scone I had was scrummy. And from what I can gather these were made by Vintage Teas Of Doncaster. Some scones can be like rocks - but not these. And the bite of my sister's coffee (and walnut?) cake was delicious too.

Now I have photos of what I bought but didn't take any photos of the actual event... for some reason or other - my brain was clearly focussing on shopping not photography. But my sister has plenty of photos on her blog - The Novice Cosplayer.

So back to what I bought.

First up I bought these wrist warmer type things - not sure when I'll wear them but... they pretty!

Nightshades

Then I got these two hair clips and some wooden keys. This was after much umming and aahing. I'm not sure what I'm going to use the keys for yet... a necklace or two perhaps?

Cog O' Two

And the last things I bought were another hair clip/barrette thing and a necklace.

Skewwers Steampunk

There were loads of other stalls but these were the only ones I bought stuff from. My sister went to a couple of other stalls so like I mentioned earlier go and check out her blog as linked above.

This Tune Will Get Stuck In Your Head

You have been warned.