Hats Off to Polymer

Adornment is a favored form for polymer but how often do you see it in hats? And we’re not talking hat pins or buttons but where polymer is what the hat is about.

Cynthia Toops and Dan Adams’ Anenome Hat is the kind of thing I’m thinking about. This piece was made from polymer clay with brass, velvet, and aluminum screen. It had quite a life apparently. Cynthia said in regards to the hat showing at the MIPCES Exhibition, “My fondest memories of the hat were all the people at the conference taking pictures of each other wearing the hat. It reminds me that art is best when shared.”

Trying something unusual like a hat can also push you in your other forms. Cynthia Toops wrote: “Dan and I create beads for elaborate jewelry pieces. For this project I wanted to make a full-size hat and imposed one restriction- no beads. We partially encased wire elements in polymer clay in a different way and by forcing myself out of the jewelry mode, it automatically gave me freedom to experiment. What began with the hat will become a starting point for new jewelry ideas.”

This visit to the past was courtesy of the Polymer Art Archive.