How to carve & fit a cowboy hat?

[toycarver]

I'm going to try to carve a cowboy hat to fit a caricature head that I have just about finished. I have carved a few cowboy hats but the wood was already part of the piece. This time I'm going to add it. So, I have the brim and the 'upper piece' (forget what that's called). I'm going to glue them together and then shape. What is the best way to get it to fit the head? Do I place the carved hat on the head and outline the shape of the head onto the underside of the brim? Will I need to shape the top of the head somewhat smaller than if it were a bare head? ..and then how deep do you usually carve the hat opening?

Any advice appreciated!

[Dan S]

I wouldn't try to hollow out the hat. The wood would end up pretty thin and delicate. It may be easier to cut the top of the head flat and slightly resess the inside of the hat to give it the appearance of having been carved out. I hope this makes sense. Take the advise with a grain of salt however, I've never tried to carve them separately.

Dan

[Iowa Carver]

Check out Lynne's blog. He carves most if not all hats seperate from the head. It doesn't appear to me that he does to much flattening or altering the head, just carves an opening in the hat to get the fit to the head he wants.

Corey

[Claude]

Just to save you some time, here's the link to the hat-carving part of Lynn's blog: Out West Woodcarving :: Gus...How He Got His Hat!

Claude

[toycarver]

Thanks Dan, Corey, & Claude..

Dan, after I read your post I thought about it and figured you were right about keeping the head flat.
Corey, I had been looking at Lynn's blog but had only seen the Pancho hat and couldn't quite figure out how to adapt that to the style hat I wanted.
Claude...Thanks! I hadn't seen that part of Lynn's blog - looks like exactly what I am needing to do!
Guess I should say Thanks to Lynn too!
Seems like his blog is where I should go before I post my questions.
Note: Today I attempted the hat before reading Lynn's blog and had pretty been going the same way as Lynn did.. except I didn't have the right side view shape to begin with. That made it really hard to visualize the shape I was aiming for. I did have the gouging out the center for the top piece, I did realize I needed to recess the inside shape for the head and knew I'd be cutting the top of the head (fortunately my head is not as cool as Lynn's, so I won't be too nervous about cutting it). I'm going to make another attempt at the hat, using Lynn's blog. I like the tip on using the graphite pencil. I'm thinking I will not gouge the area for the puddle of glue like he did, instead I will pierce the area with several small holes using a nail - it should allow the glue to find a place to flow into. Might be a few days before I get it done, busy tomorrow...so will have to squeeze time after work this week.