Felted Hat class with Zsofia Marx

Felted Hat class with Zsofia Marx

Back in the fall, I took a felted hat class with master artist, Zsofia Marx. She is a Hungarian feltmaker who lives and works in Amsterdam. She makes the most beautiful, sculptural and feminine felted hats. You can find her work on her website and over on Instagram.

 

Studying with Zsofia was an opportunity afforded by the Coronavirus. Many artists and makers have turned to online education as an opportunity to teach AND also to connect. Whle the creative life is often a solitary life, making things during this past year has been more lonely than the usual because there have been fewer opportunities to meet up in real life. So, I really welcomed taking another class in 2020. (I also took Fiona Duthie's Ink on Cloth in the Summer. You can read about that online class on my blog, HERE. I just registered for her Fibre + Paper Online class that starts in March!) 

 

I won't share any technical details of what we learned because that is not respecting the authorship and all of the work that a teacher invests in when she shares her knowledge. But, I can share with you what I made - all of the color choices were mine! 

 

Below is my first hat. It is not quite the shape that I tried to achieve. My goal was to 'copy' the shape that Zsofia carefully demonstrated to us. Using special techniques, she sculpts her hats after they are felted.Turquoise Blue Felted Hat with Organic Shaping, first hat from Zsofia Marx online Hat Class

 

Here's the second felted hat. You can see that I laid out my colors more evenly compared to the first one. But again, I found that I was unable to match what was in my mind's eye AND in front of me via Zoom. (Note: this was not due to the teacher, but instead rests with me trying to master these new methods).

 Multiocolored Felted Hat in Yellow, Pink and Blue - from Zsofia Marx's online Hat Class

 

Lastly, with the third hat we were encouraged to find/create our own shape. Interestingly, I found this much, MUCH easier compared to trying to recreate Zsofia's sculptural shapes. And perhaps because of the ease, this purple hat flows beautifully. As you can see, my skill at creating a smoother, ombre color flow also improved!

 

Blue Violet, Sculptural Hat as seen from three sides.

 

If you would like to see a video of me wearing each the hats, see this one on Instagram. In the video, I also share how the purple hat looks when the front is turned to the side - it looks beautiful!

 

Alas, I cannot seem to find the video over on my Facebook FeltHappiness page. But, I did manage to share it on my personal page. However, I'm not able to link to it specifically nor 'pin' it to the top of my page. Instead, I can only offer it to you as arranged as a Grid Post under January 2021. Weirdly, I think it will then take you over to Instagram. Apologies for this. 

 

Lastly, having the opportunity to improve my feltmaking skills, especially the particular skills related to wet felted hats, is a rare and treasured opportunity. There are lots of feltmaking classes about, but very few of them focus on hats.
In addition to sharing technical skills, Zsofia also shared her thoughts on design and art in relation to hatmaking. I especially enjoyed learning about her philosophy about what makes a good hat because I share a similar perspective: it is all about movement in relation to the face!

 

If you are a feltmaker who is interested in learning a distinctly different method of making hats, I highly recommend studying with Zsofia Marx. I believe that she is teaching additional Zoom hatmaking class in 2021. Visit her website for more information. 
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2 comments

Belated Thanks, Gerry! Can you believe that I only just saw your sweet comment? Yes, thank goodness for Zoom and its magic to further our fascination with feltmaking!

Juliane Gorman

Hi Juliane,
Love the blog! So concise, and interesting. Yes, the benefit received from this pandemic has been meeting new artists and friends online, connected with our passion for hats, and other felted and mixed media pieces. Looking forward to seeing more of your beautiful hats!❤️

Gerry Willging

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