How to Make a Paper Hat

 Thanks so much to everyone for your enthusiasm for Argyle the hobo sock doll and his story! Dad would also be tickled to know that there were paper hat-making requests. 

If you missed the story about Argyle and his hats, you can read it here.

So, Stanley Bear and I got up early today and made a few videos.

The first video is a longer step by step video for Substack. In this version I use a magazine page which fits a very small bear or doll. It fits Odile Bunny, for instance. The magazine paper is very squeaky, so you might prefer to watch the film with the sound off. I’m not speaking in the video, so you won’t miss anything if you watch it silently.

I also made a shorter video for Instagram and Facebook which adheres to their three minute time length, you can see it here, too! In that version, I use a tabloid size newspaper. 

Here’s the real-time version using a page from a magazine. 

Here are some things to keep in mind. The size of your hat, in other words the head that it will fit, depends on the width of the bottom of your piece of paper when you start.

The crown – the very top of your hat – will be the color of the paper that’s facing you when you begin. The brim of your hat and the inside of the hat will be the color of the paper that’s inside when you begin.

It would be nice to make a version with paper that I’ve colored or painted on both sides to see the colors more distinctly! 

Keep in mind that if your paper is quite thick, there will be a point where it won’t fold any further. Even the magazine paper is stretching the thickness limit. That’s probably why newspaper is so perfect for making paper hats.

Here’s the shorter version using a tabloid size newspaper. The finished hat fits Stanley Bear whereas the magazine fits Odile Bunny.

As you can hear, the newspaper doesn’t squeak like the magazine as you fold it.

If you use a big newspaper like the Financial Times with its lovely peachy pink shade or another large newspaper, you’ll get a hat that will probably fit your own head. You’re following in the footsteps of the newspaper printers who were keeping the ink out of their hair.

I also learned to make paper boats from a gentleman I met at a clothing shop in Jodhpur. He’d made them to decorate the shop. I’ll share his boat folding method if there’s interest. I’ve made hundreds of boats now and strung them into mobiles, left them on shelves in shops, left them in books at the train station book swap, and sprinkled them around our house. 

Some of my paper boats.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these videos and thanks to those of you who asked me to make a paper hat video. The internet was very cranky today or I would have posted this sooner!

Lots of hugs from me to you. Let me know how hat-making goes for you!

Your friend,

Jeni

P.S. There’s a variation on this hat which leaves a seam along the crown of the hat. Today, I’ve made the version with a smooth crown. But perhaps, I’ll try the seamed version with painted paper to see how the colors work in the two different versions.

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