A fun hat for a cool Southern Girl built with time and love by daddy and daughter.

Step 1: Why We Did This

This project started when my daughter brought home a flier for a Earth Day contest at her school. One of the events was to make your own hat out of recycled materials. My daughter said "daddy I want to take part in this and I want you to help me make this as complicated as you can for a simple school contest...." She may not have said it exactly like that but that is how I took it.

Step 2: What You Need

- Newspapers
- Flour
- Water
- Scissors
- Masking tape
- Old T-shirts
- Two Coke cans(from the South and Pepsi is - - Coke in the event anyone wants to argue)
- Acrylic paint
- Paintbrushes
- Dremel or drill
- Flower templates
- Sharpie
- A cool partner in build like my girlie

Step 3: Making the Paper Mache

First off no pics for this. I found lots of recipes and I liked this page:

http://www.ultimatepapermache.com/paper-mache-recipes

I completely ignored all recipes and just added water and flour until it looked runny and messy.

My daughter used scissors to cut the newspapers into long one inch strips, the websperts say to just tear the strips for better blends, but she wanted straight lines so she went with the scissors.

Step 4: The Frame

Since we were shooting from the hip on this project we felt measurements would be overly cumbersome so to make the frame we eyeballed it.

We started by taking a bowl and placing it upside down on a pizza pan. We tried to center it as best as possible and then used some masking tape to hold it in place. To make the frame a little smoother and to prevent the project from sticking we covered the frame with aluminum foil.

Step 5: Laying the Paper Mache

I only took one photo of this step because it was messy and fun.

We simply took the strips of newspaper and wiped them with the paper mâché.

We finished this with four layers of paper mâché allowing each layer to completely dry to prevent future mold issues.

The first layer was simple criss crossing strips with little care of the texture, we just wanted a base.

The second layer started at the brim and we made a spiral from the outside in.

The third layer was just like the first step but we made sure to take our time and lay it on as smooth as possible.

The fourth layer used strips four inches long and we started at the brim and went all the way across taking time and care to smooth.

We did not take time to form a clean brim line, this was a mistake, because it left air pockets visible around the edges when it was trimmed.

Step 6: A Recycled Flower for a Little Girls Sunhat

My girl is a girlie girl and she asked me for a metal flower.

There are several guides on how to make metal flowers on instructables but I liked this builders paper templates, so give him some props and check his build out:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Copper-Rose

Step 1: I found two empty Coke cans.
Step 2: I cut the top and bottoms off of the cans and split the down the sides.
Step 3: Using the templates mentioned above I marked the flowers out on the flattened cans and then cut out the flower pieces with a regular ole pair of scissors.
Step 4: I used a awl to make the hole in the middle of each flower.
Step 5: i bent/twisted/cursed under my breath until I had the petals looking somewhat like flower petals.
Step 6: stack the petals together and then run some cord through them all with a knot on top and a knot on the bottom to hold it together.

Step 7: Breaking the Mould

So after the final coat was dry we pulled the foil off of the bottom of the pizza pan and carefully removed the foil from the inside of the hat.

We also took time to take a silly photo.

We trimmed the edges of the brim with a pair scissors (see previous steps regarding a lesson learned here), and used a dremel to pop three holes in the hat for later instruction.

Step 8: Paint

My girl completed all the paintwork. The only instruction I will give here is be gentle and let your paint completely dry between coats, otherwise let your creative inner freak shine.

Step 9: Mounting the Flower

To mount the flower we simply poked to cord through one of the holes we drilled and tied a fat knot.

Step 10: Shredded Shirts and Accessories.

We needed a way to keep the hat on her head so we decided to take some old shirts and repurpose them as tie straps, we then had a brilliant idea to add to the project and make a recycled necklace, you know, to be fashionably compete and all.

We took two 12 inch strips of one inch wide t-shirt scraps and fed one end through one of the other two holes we drilled and knotted the top so it would not pull through.

We then tied all of the other pieces from the strips she cut from three repurposed t-shirts and made long cordage which we then braided into a three cord braid. This was then double looped and tied at the top making a nice necklace.

She really liked the necklace.

Step 11: How to Wear the Finished Product

The proper way to wear this product is as my girl is demonstrating in the photos, and that is with a smile and a little pride.

She has her own page on this site and goes by tringirl. Please check out her instructable below and share some encouragement to a you builder.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Duck-Tape-Bows

I will post an update in the comments to let everyone know if she won her contest. I already won by taking time to build with my little girl.