Recycling made wild

 What do these two items have in common?

Part of an old book... 

...and a colorful calendar?

I'm betting you'll never guess!

They can both be made into..................hats!

This particular creative adventure started with an announcement that the Ontario County Arts Council was having a fundraiser, and they were inviting people to make 'fantastical, imaginative' hats.  Those hats would be sold at an event to raise money.  I have almost never been motivated by such an announcement, but for some reason I was this time.    

So I grabbed a few old paperbacks that had been stagnating in my little free library, deciding that I'd make some altered books into a hat somehow.  I've not done this before, so spent some time online learning.  My hat theme, which seemed fitting for this event, would be The Mad Hatter's Tea Party.  I began by folding a book into a lovely, rather fancy teapot.  Before I was half done, I realized this wouldn't work.  The teapot alone would weigh a bit over a pound, and with everything else that would be needed to make it into a hat, that would be too heavy.  

Started again with another, smaller book, and a smaller design for a simpler teapot.  This was working, and here's my finished teapot.

Then I made a cup to accompany it.  Twice, as I didn't like the first one.  But....how would I put these things together to create a hat?  After I'd done a lot of thinking about options, I spent some time wandering the aisles of a local dollar store.  Without further ado, here's the finished hat.

Um....okay.  It looks decent sitting on a table, but how could that be worn?

I must say, it's a bit tippy, and someone who moves more smoothly and gracefully than I will have to model it for the show at the fundraiser.

Now, I was satisfied with that hat, but somehow wasn't done yet.  I had another, completely different idea for a second hat.  I wasn't at all sure it would work but wanted to try.  Someone in my BuyNothing group was getting rid of some calendars with large color photographs, so I took them off her hands.  Spent some time trying out cutting, folding and gluing them into spikes before I got the look I had in mind.  The second hat, titled I'm Fascinated, makes me really happy.  The spiky part is tied and glued onto a narrow headband, so it's easy to wear.

This is my (ahem) artistic take on the fascinators that I first saw on the Royal Family at a wedding.  I've since seem lots more of them.  I'm sure none are made from an old calendar.  :-)

The fundraiser will be held next weekend.  I'm excited to see what creative things others have come up with, and hope the Arts Council raises a good chunk of change with this event.