New Project : Aviator Headphones

So a few days prior to my birthday, I decided to start a project I've had bouncing around in the back of my head for a few years.

Who doesn't love Jude Law? I don't not love him.

I totally fell in love with the movie "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"(it's awesome, and if you don't like it, you're wrong). I wanted my own aviator hat and goggles, badly. I found a replica of the goggles easily, but I could never find an aviator hat that satisfied me. I didn't want an actual antique one, as it would fall apart or I wouldn't want to wear it and just keep it as a display item. I also couldn't find a aviator recreation that had the speakers included, as most were just for fashion and meant as hats.




So the plan then became; make an aviator hat and insert headphones. Easy enough, right? Well there were a few things to consider, namely;

- Whatever headphones I use will need to be removed from their headband, destroying them as usable headphones for any other purpose. They will also be very difficult to access to replace if they die out, so they'll need to be high quality, but not so high that I hesitate to take a dremel to them.

- I'll need a pattern, or an aviator hat to take apart. I have yet to find a pattern for an aviator hat, and if I buy an aviator hat to take apart, why dont I just add speakers to the one I bought?

- I don't need that much leather, and the leather shop sells garment leather in small batches for flimsy materials, or large sections for more durable leathers. So I either have to accept a lower durability, or a lot of extra material and cost.

- The aviator hats I found aren't lined in any way. I assumed that they were lined in sheepskin, like a bomber's jacket, but no. Jude Law's Sky Captain hat looks lined in some thin material similar in color to sheepskin. Lined hats I found look more like bomber hats or hunter's caps than aviator hats. This is probably a semantic issue at this point, but its a point. In addition, I would prefer not to have a white lining. I need something with more... Zazz.

With this in mind I headed out to find materials...

Leather - I went to my local Tandy Leather Factory and consulted with one of the workers there. I love going to Tandy because its such a specialized store that all of the employees and shoppers have a lot more experience in leathercraft than I do and they all have an opinion or some tips and tricks to pass on. I looked over the various leathers within my budget (kangaroo leather, while both durable and thin and supple, was WAY too expensive), and picked out a scrap section that fit about halfway between workability and price.



Lining - I found some interesting faux sheepskin at Joannes, but when I got to Tandy's, they were selling full sheepskins for 20% off. I immediately bought one. None of the workers or shoppers had any idea on how to dye the sheepskin. Some suggested Rit dye (its wool, after all), or Hair dye (it is sheep hair afterall).

Stitching - I tried machine sewing leather, to varying degrees of success. On a normal brother sewing machine, thin leather can be okay, but anything thicker is a huge pain. I needed something  for hand sewing. The Tandy employee suggested saddlemaking waxed thread. I was unsure about that until I saw that it came in bright red. Awesome.





Next time. experimentation...