I finished my paper hat sculpture. What a long and winding road getting time to work on it. The base has various shades of cotton pulp which I sprayed with dye to make it look like moss. The best part of the hat was twisting sheets of wet abaca to make the vines--(I always save wet sheets of abaca in our fridge--beware of what is in a papermaker's refrigerator--could be mistaken for crepes!). After twisting, connecting and letting the abaca dry outside, I spritzed it with walnut dye. It turned into a branch right before my eyes! Now, I suppose it would have been easier to use an actual branch but this was way more fun.

The other part about the hat I like is it's absurd size--I tried to photograph a person wearing it but it kept hitting the ceiling causing the bird to fall out. It' probably over 2 feet tall. Oh yes...that is a real nest that my friend Lisa found in her yard.