Jocelyn Curry

There's something potentially scary about freehand drawing when it's done in acrylic on something other than a sheet of paper. My years of doing loose hand lettering by squirting sumi-e ink out of an eyedropper have given me confidence, I guess, even though a disaster is never out of the realm of possibility. Last week I took the cut-out pieces of a linen sun hat and went at them with a needle-nosed bottle filled with black acrylic paint, and acrylic ink accent colors applied with eyedroppers. I then heat-set the artwork, sewed the hat, and trimmed it in black linen.

This hat is one of a series I have made this spring for my small online hat shop, Soft Shelter Hats (on Etsy). In the cold months, I make embellished fleece hats. Year 'round, you can find the cotton sun hats of my shop partner, Christine Smith. She elaborately hand dyes fabrics and makes sun hats out of these textiles. Take a look when you have a minute!