Tiny Hats!

I'd be lying if I did not admit that I have a fondness for tiny hats. Were it not for all the equipment that lives in this fab-lab of a house, I'd have dozens on display in a glassed in cabinet. However, the equipment is far more useful and (kinda...) less eccentric than a collection of tiny hats, so the hats lose out. I told myself that I'm not allowed to purchase anymore, right up until I found a loop-hole: It doesn't count if I make them myself. So, I present to you the Tiny Tricorne and the Tiny Witch's Hat!

I designed the Tiny Tricorne not only to feed my tiny hat addiction, but as an exercise in using living hinges. Living hinges are used to allow a single sheet of material to be able to flex, bend, or curl on itself without the use of separate sections of material that need to be affixed (like hinges, straps, etc). They are grid like, with gaps or cutouts in the material running parallel to the flex site.

The hat was designed using OpenSCAD with a living hinge file developed by DrXenocide of Thingiverse (www.thingiverse.com/thing:1736879). It was 3D printed in ABS plastic as opposed to PLA - this is because PLA is harder than ABS and would not be able to flex properly at the hinge site. The hat was designed with the same number of holes around the crown as flaps so that the flaps could be stitched to the crown. The underside of the hat has strategically placed openings to facilitate attaching the flaps to the crown, as well as sites to attach elastic. The elastic slides over hard plastic  headbands to allow the wearer to adjust the position of the hat. The flower was a download off of Thingiverse.com, and attached with hot glue.

The Tiny Witch's Hat was designed soon after the Tiny Tricorne as a Halloween novelty. The underside of the hat is designed like the Tiny Tricorne with openings to attach the elastic, and to run the spider's "web." The tip of the hat has an opening large enough to thread the web through and secure. The rat, bat, and spider were downloaded off of Thingiverse. The rat and bat are affixed with superglue. The spider was printed flat, so two spiders are glued together to produce a double sided spider. Were I to make another. I would use a heat gun to soften the bat to wrap around the cone section of the hat. The hat is worn cocked to the side so that the spider dangles freely.

Do you have any ideas for more tiny hats? If so, send me a message and we'll brainstorm!