Raffia Hat Making
Here we go again! Planning the next school year is a little daunting sometimes....especially because I like to mix it up a little, while some things never change, I have pretty much carte blanche to add any projects that strikes my fancy, and fits a particular class. For example, at the end of the last school year I stopped everything we were doing with the 6th grade and started raffia hat making....I saw it as a homeopathic remedy for a bit wild and out of control class (well, more than a bit actually....). I saw all that wild rafia having to be formed into some semblance of organization, and I thought that was exactly what I would like to see happen with this class...to pull themselves together into something harmonious, useful and beautiful. Did it work? Well, actually it did. Pretty cool.
Sources: http://www.franksupply.com/raffia/supplies.html#naturalraffia
I ordered the 35 lb. hat grade raffia, which will last me for years! I also ordered the book Raffia Hat Making by Ann Fennell from the same source. Pretty basic stuff.
Skills needed: Braiding skills, for more advanced students, a 4 strand braid was used. I like that better as it lays flatter.
We just braided and braided and added more raffia and braided and braided and then starting with a spiral sewed it all up (like a rag rug) and formed it the way they wanted. It is surprising how each hat turns out differently, and not always the way we want! We will still be doing this at the beginning of this year, no-one finished (some took the project home over the summer)
Now, go out and make a hat!
I ordered the 35 lb. hat grade raffia, which will last me for years! I also ordered the book Raffia Hat Making by Ann Fennell from the same source. Pretty basic stuff.
Skills needed: Braiding skills, for more advanced students, a 4 strand braid was used. I like that better as it lays flatter.
We just braided and braided and added more raffia and braided and braided and then starting with a spiral sewed it all up (like a rag rug) and formed it the way they wanted. It is surprising how each hat turns out differently, and not always the way we want! We will still be doing this at the beginning of this year, no-one finished (some took the project home over the summer)
Now, go out and make a hat!
