"Bashing a hat is actually very easy. I've bashed all my hats and now it quite literally takes me 5 minutes. Having said that, you shouldn't aim to have the bash finished and fixed forever at the first try. For this reason I don't advocate the use of clothes pegs to hold the creases. The creases will become fixed through use.
Here
we go: You will need the following - an open crown hat of your choice, 1 or more
mirrors in different rooms, a kettle.
As this tutorial is aimed at getting the Raiders look, you will need a fedora
with a decent block shape. It should look like this:
STEP
1.
Put the hat on your head (see if it fits!!). This will be
a Raiders hat so you need to look in the mirror and turn the hat towards your
right until you are happy with
the brim shape. Note - this is the ONLY thing that I do to the brim!!
STEP
2.
Fill the kettle with water and turn it on. We will need it
later.
STEP
3.
Still looking in the mirror, start pushing down a center
dent. It doesn't have to be perfect or even deep enough, just enough so that you
can see where it is when you take of the hat.
STEP
4.
Take the hat off and work the center
dent a bit. It should look like this. You may notice those tell-tale "pork
pie" creases that have led many an expert astray.
STEP
5.
Ignoring the "pork pie" creases, take your hat
by the front and pinch in the side bashes. I like a bash to look natural so just
let the hat conform to your hand squeezing it - the side dents will form
themselves.
STEP
6.
Now I deepen and define the right side dent. The red lines
should indicate where my thumb and fingers squeeze
the dent from the inside while I bend the felt around my thumb using my other
hand from the outside.
I don't do much to the left side dent - I rather let it form itself, but you can give it some form if it needs it.
The result is a nice curved dent like this. Viewed from the front, this helps to get that Raiders "boxy" look.
This is an example of what I mean by "boxy"
STEP
7.
Put your hat on your head and return to the mirror. Check
that your dents are looking deep enough and that your hat is getting an
"angular look". The reason I mentioned needing one or more mirrors is
that you need to check the shadows of your bash - try to view yourself under
different lighting to get a better impression of your hat bash.
STEP
8.
Check your side profile. Does your center
dent need lowering at the back? Is it deep enough?
Take off your hat and look at it under good lighting - do you have a deep and long center dent? Think of Indy tapping the floor tiles in the temple!!"
STEP
9. Personally
I don't advocate the use of steam for bashing. If you have a rabbit felt that is
really VERY unresponsive, you might try a little steam, but a little water is
probably a safer bet. If you find the bash doesn't hold "permanently"
at once - don't worry, you can pinch and re
By the now the kettle has boiled. Pour yourself a hot
beverage and enjoy your hat!!!!
One more word of advice- I don't really crease the whole bash). The picture
below shows the areas that I pinch tightly. (Blue)
The red lines show where I like to leave the felt round and opened (for want of a better description).
By doing so you achieve the following: When you tip your head further back (or your hat), you get a more angular look based on the lines of the side dents. When you tip your head (or hat) forward you get camel humps. The camel humps don't need to be formed as such - they are just the natural rounding of the top of the crown.
So, looking at these pics, I can see that the bash isn't perfectly defined yet. In a day or so of putting on /taking off - it'll look just right.
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