Making A Mini Top Hat

How to make your own mini top hat from foam!

You Wi! Need

• Pattern: When you print the pattern at the end of this PDF, measure against the print guides to know the scale
is correct. ** When printing, make sure scale is set to ACTUAL SIZE **

• Very Sharp Knife: If it is not really sharp you will have a terrible time when you are cutting the foam. I use a
surgical scalpel.

• Ballpoint Pen

• Scissors

• 5 Minute 2 Part Epoxy: You can usually get this at dollar stores for a few bucks, just
make sure to test it first, because there is a wide variety of quality. There is also
regular epoxy which can take up to 24 hours to cure, make sure you read the
packaging or you’ll be up for a long wait.

• Contact Cement: Again, there’s a wide variety, but you want something that you spread on, and wait for it to dry,
and then put the two pieces together. This makes it so you don’t have to spend a bunch of time holding and
waiting for glue to dry. *Use in a well ventilated area*

• Paint: The best is artists acrylic paint, but I have also used ordinary house paint as well, I prefer the look of a
gloss or semi gloss instead of flat.

• 2 A4 Craft Foam Sheets: These are approx 1.5 - 2mm thick.

• Cutting Surface: Somewhere to cut where you won’t be destroying anything.

• A spoon handle: Probably best is about 1.5-2mm thick with a nice curve.

• If you haven’t already, please watch the instructional video at http://youtu.be/zoN4K9wLi6M

Sold1 to
demaillesetdebrides@gmail.com
• Rub N Buff Metallic Wax Paste (Optional): This is great stuff if you want to give your hat a metallic look. I used
the colours “antique gold” and “pewter”. Recently I’ve found I now prefer DecoArt Metallic Lustre, but they
both are great products.

** I have links to a lot of the different supplies I use on my projects here**

Step 1: Print the Pattern
You will need to print the pattern page of this PDF. Make sure the scale is set to actual size.

Step 2: Cut Out Your Pattern

Cut the pattern out of the paper, cutting as close to the line as you can without removing the line. Place the
pieces on the foam, and trace around them with the ballpoint pen, holding them firmly so that they don’t
move while being traced. You will need to trace the band piece 10 times. Make sure to mark the centre lines
on the brim piece and the top piece, also mark the top of the band pieces, as it is easy to accidentally flip
them around when gluing.

Take your sharp knife and carefully cut out the pieces, cutting right down the centre of the pen line.

Step 4:The Band

Spread contact cement on the long edges of the band pieces, and once they are not tacky, start putting
them together. It is best if you line up the top and bottom corners and then push the centres together.
Repeat for all ten pieces, until you have completed the band.

Once it is all together, with your index fingers on the inside and your thumbs on the outside, start in the
centre of each glue line and kind of stretch the foam toward the outside edges. It is a bit hard to explain,
but it’s like you are pressing inwards with your thumbs as you stretch it. The reason for this is that it helps
round out the otherwise flat panels that you have used to make the band.

Step 5: Fold over the brim

It is a bit tricky to get a nice smooth ridge around the brim. I would suggest practicing on some scrap foam
with the same curve as the brim until you are happy with the results.

So, with the end of the spoon, score a groove all the way around the brim approx 6mm from the edge. You
want to make sure to get the foam really compressed, so you might have to go over it a few times.

Now spread the contact cement around the brim, covering the area where the brim will fold over. Once the
glue is not tacky, work your way around the brim, folding over the edge and gluing it down. Make sure you
are relatively liberal with the contact cement, as you want to be sure that it sticks well all around the brim.

Step 6: Attach the band to the brim

Apply contact adhesive to the bottom edge of the band and the top surface of the brim.

It is important to try and get these together as evenly as possible, so line up the centre of the brim with the
centre of one of the band pieces. Then, line up the back of the brim as well. Now, work your way around the
hat trying to evenly attach the band to the brim.

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Step 7: Glue top to the brim
Glue the front and back of the top piece to the front and back of the band to get it lined up. Now work
your way around the band, gluing the top down as evenly as possible.

Step 8: Curve the brim

Grab your hairdryer, set it at the hottest setting, heat up the brim and curve it to your liking, holding it
like that as it cools.

Step 9: Glue hairclips on

Glue two hairclips to the underside of the hat, as near as possible to the opening. Another option would
be to attach a hairband to hold it to your head. I used contact cement for this, but hot glue would also
work well.

Step 10: Add extra bits

Now is the time to add extra details to your hat if you would like. Make it unique and original! I have
included the pattern pieces for the parts I used on my steampunk version, but the only limit is your
imagination from here on.

Step 11: Paint it

I recommend artists acrylic paints, they have great coverage and are quite nice and flexible. For the
steampunk top hat I used 2 coats of burnt umber for my for the base, and then used antique gold Rub ‘n
Buff to give it that metallic look. If you are interested in using Rub ’n Buff, you can see how I use it in my
first top hat video here: http://youtu.be/3WclYUYe6k4

Squeeze a little Rub ‘n Buff on a piece of cardboard and just get a little bit on your finger, then rub your
finger on the cardboard to get it evenly distributed on your finger. The thing you want to avoid is having
too much on your finger, because then when you rub it on, it will create a streaky kind of look. Test it out
on some scrap until you have a good feel for how much to apply, and then start applying slowly working
your way around.

Tip: If you don’t like the way the Rub ‘n Buff looks, you can always paint over it and try again

Step 12:Go play

Yay! You’re done, now put it on and have some fun!!!

I would like to sincerely thank you for purchasing this pattern and I would love to see what
you create with it. If you would like to email me photos, please send them to:
lostwaxoz@gmail.com

Also I am always looking to improve your experience, so if you have any problems or
suggestions, I would love to hear them as well!

Thanks again!

Chris Huebert

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 1 Inch

Mini Top Hat Pattern

page 1 1 Inch scale guide

Centre line

LostWax Designs Brim

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LostWax Designs
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Mini Top Hat Pattern
page 2
Top

Band 1

Cut 10 for
LostWax
Centre line Designs Tall Top Hat
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Top
Top

LostWax Designs
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Band 2
Cut 10 for
Short Top Hat

5 cm

1 cm scale guide