PabloElFlamenco
Practically Family
- Messages
- 581
- Location
- near Brussels, Belgium
I'm a newbie with limited "do it yourself" ambition, given the (apparent) local lack of true craftsmen, I'm trying to learn step by step to do some things myself.
Stiffener. It's frankly impractical to order sprays from the USA or even UK, but over here, there has been stiffening "starch" on the market for shirts etc. since time immemorial. The starch is from rice or, in some cases, wheat (which reportably is particularly "stiff" stuff). Would this be the right product for stiffening hats, too?
Blocking. I'm scouring the net for a used block. Am I correct that this serves as a "template" to reshape the hat to the block shape? So you put the "water wet" hat on the block and...what then? Use an iron on it? Or just let it dry on the block? I would think I should buy a cylinder base with spherical top shaped block, shape the hat to this format, and then proceed with putting some sub-shapes (bashing?) into the felt...is that the correct idea?
Thanks any advice...
Paul
Stiffener. It's frankly impractical to order sprays from the USA or even UK, but over here, there has been stiffening "starch" on the market for shirts etc. since time immemorial. The starch is from rice or, in some cases, wheat (which reportably is particularly "stiff" stuff). Would this be the right product for stiffening hats, too?
Blocking. I'm scouring the net for a used block. Am I correct that this serves as a "template" to reshape the hat to the block shape? So you put the "water wet" hat on the block and...what then? Use an iron on it? Or just let it dry on the block? I would think I should buy a cylinder base with spherical top shaped block, shape the hat to this format, and then proceed with putting some sub-shapes (bashing?) into the felt...is that the correct idea?
Thanks any advice...
Paul
