“Cleo” – A Paper Dogfood Hat

Description

This hat was inspired by Egyptian headdresses and I named it “Cleo”. It is made of paper and adorned with freshwater pearls, a tassel and African brass lost wax beads.

I used to have four big dogs and we went through a lot of dogfood bags. I always felt bad about the waste. Back then, most bags had three layers of paper: an inner waxy one which I tossed, a heavy Kraft paper lining which I used for shipping and an outer layer that was thinner and easy to fold. The outer layer is what I used for this bag.

This technique became famous in the 50’s as prisoner art using cigarette packages. Some people might remember making candy wrapper bracelets when they were young. A rectangular piece of paper is folded to the middle longwise, then folded in half again. The ends are tucked in and then the pieces lock into each other. You can make a long string this way but to create a vessel or build sides, you have to sew them together using dental floss.

The hat is about 8″ high and 24″ in diameter. I display it on a glass head, but you could wear it, too.  (Now and then as it is fragile.)  Thanks to my friend, Amy, for modeling!

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