Flying Deidara

So recently, I have came up with a pretty good, that is already pretty much popular around the world amongst Origami fans, although particularly Japanese people as they seem to have the biggest Origami scene as well as are most open to all kind of origami arts and applying it to future. I know, that this trend is slowly fading due to technology and culture changes, less young people are interested in any kind of art and their own creations in Japan, similiarly to the West, but they still keep themselves in a kind of an conventional society and wearing an origami hat is not that unusual as here, where I haven't seen a single person ever doing that.

I thought to break the habit a little bit and become the first to actually to do that, make an origami hat and go out, meet some people like I always do or even go to work. I have to say, that I have spent some time on making the perfect for me hat. As long as I'm quite experienced with origami and definitely made a few nice hats before, I wanted this one to be particularly good and well, I actually usually limited myself to smaller paper as had no need to rely on a bigger one. So, we could as well say it was my first time creating a hat, that is bigger and perfectly suits my head.

According to my expectations, I have gotten quite many looks from people around me, some actually looked at my hat and smiled a little bit, others were kind of neutral, but not particularly looking at you like a weirdo or anything. But, almost of them actually did look at me. Funny thing is that I actually felt much better once I started grabbing people' attention in a kind of passive and unique way. I usually find people when going to world in a rush, kind of in a bad mood and focused only on themselves. It was nice to get some kind of passive reaction and feel differently a little bit, while promoting origami and well... wearing kind of a stylish hat!

The hat was made from the pink paper (light pink) and looked just like a normal hat, just made from paper. I didn't create a crown or anything, didn't want to look stupid after all, just a simple, basic, nicely-looking hat. I gotta say, that most people in Japanese that did wear them used them as a temporary rain protection, but I kind of don't want to get my hat wasted on rain right away. Although, making them is relatively simple, I just spent way too much time because I'm perfectionist at heart, and as it was the first hat that I wore outside, I wanted it to be really cool. But the same kind of hat I can replicate really fast though, so I will rather focus on making a lot of them in as smalla amount of time as possible and just wear them on daily basis - as rain protection as well. I need to get myself some more paper though as I want them to be quite colorful - different color every day. Gladly, there is literally tons of different kind of papers color-wise, in many different shades too, so I frankly doubt that I will get bored any time soon.

Anyway, I have made this topic because I was extremely interested in the idea of wearing origami hats outside. Like I said, I haven't seen anyone do it yet and despite the fact, that origami community is pretty much small, I would love to see more people doing it and promoting this very beautiful art that is origami. Thing is, that Origami really is great, but we need more people around the world to get into it, and every time I ask somebody about origami in world, they just consider it some boring and extremely hard to learn hobby. I try to change their minds, create them some easy pattern in work to show them it's not that hard, but they are all not into it. It's true, that having too many options (games, movies, tv shows and tons of other technology-based) just limits people in picking up their hobbies, I believe if we were to expose Origami arts to the world a little bit more, we could then make it more popular and bring bigger attention. But that would have to be done on a pretty big scale, yet, if you guys find wearing a hat appealing, then I urge you to do so with an Origami hat and you won't regret it. Unless you hate bringing attention to yourself, which I kind of do a little bit, but bringing this kind of attention thanks to self-made Origami hat was actually kind of enjoyable.

So, did you guys make any Origami hats? I'm sure most of you did on a smaller scale in home, while practicing their skills back in the days as it's really quite a basic design. If so, have you ever wore one? Like exposed yourself to the public with one? There is tons of different designs, so basically anyone will find something suitable for themselves. For example I have made myself a hat very similar to the one Luffy from One Piece wears. For those unconcerned with anime, you can just google Luffy and you will surely see his hat. I didn't apply the same colors though and I used a light pink instead, but the design was pretty much the same. I love Luffy's hat and I actually think, that I could use the very same colors and expose myself not only as an origami fan, but also as an Anime fan. That could be fun hah, I woner what kind of people' around me reaction will be. My guess is that pretty much the same.

Leonard

I actually love hats, and I wear them on daily basis. I basically have three different designs with one baseball cap, which I'm not really using for daily basis, but rather when going out casually, with friends or going to any kind of sports events. We have our weekly sports meetings with a bunch of friends - running, street work out and stuff like this. Showing in a hat would be heavily impractical, but nicely designed baseball cap makes you look more stylish, and as for me personally - makes me feel better and thus performance better.

From what I remember, I should still have a nicely done baseball cap from a navy color paper, pretty big, but not sure if big enough to fit around my head actually. Yet this one was the hardest for me to make - I was still pretty beginner back then and making a bigger scale baseball caps is actually pretty hard, hats are much easier for the record - at least for me. Yet, that was a couple of years ago, now it shouldn't be a problem at all and I would give myself 40 minute - 1hr top to make one.

I also have Cricket Hat from local Newspaper - really old-school design, well probably because the newspaper was used, I actually wonder how it looks now over the years, I have hidden it somewhere in the garage pretty well, haven't seen it for a while. Definitely gotta check in on this one. I made myself a typical Police Hat too, although this is the one I surely won't wear to the public haha. Or well, maybe I can, not sure. Got to read on that, I don't want to be later charged with accussation of claiming to be a police officer or whatever, I know that laws are pretty strict on that whatsoever and there is very little room to have fun in this niche. What else - cowboy hat, santa hat, I believe I should still have them, but they were made from a pretty small scale, so I frankly doubt, that I will get to fit them anywhere on my head.

We will see, but that's actually a great idea you had and I'm glad that you came through with it. Wearing an origami hat is surely pretty much different and requires some 'balls' to step on and actually do that. I will try follow your example and we will see what will people say. I believe they will be pretty much chill about it and just have a laugh, maybe I will inspire some to make them a hat though. I can see women looking really great in such hats

Coffeegirl

Brilliant idea! I'm pretty new to Origami and haven't had a chance to create a hat yet, but I do have a little bit of an experience with bigger paper already, so I will gladly give it a try. I can already see myself wearing a hat like this, seems like a really great experience to be honest. And I'm sure it would fit me well! I will probably for for a light pink one as well as I really love this color. I have no issues with people staring at me or grabbing attention - the opposite actually, I love being recognized and I even wear a kind of an alternative, one could say a 'hippie' style on daily basis, so totally zero issues for me. I'm not sure when I will have time to sit on this, but hopefully over the weekend, so I can start new week with an refreshed image.

Beacon

That is indeed a pretty nice idea. I see that you guys are really into hats, Leonard seems to have already done all kind of styles and is wearing them on daily basis. I did create some nice hats before, but I have to admit, that I'm not really that much into hats or baseball caps actually. Last time I wore a baseball cap was when I was a kid and it was extremely hot, so my mom bought me a cap so I can protect my head from too much or sun. So I will probably pass on the idea, although I will gladly create a nicely done hat to put on my shelf or something. I'm not an anime fan, but I actually kind of like the design of Luffy's Straw Hat, so I may do something in this regard, just I think I will go for a different colors to keep it unique. Maybe I will wear it on a Friday Night party with my friends, once it actually happens to loosen the mood a little bit, but I'm sure I won't wear one on daily basis.

Cool idea regardless and good job on actually coming up with your own idea and executing it.

CatherineC

I love hats, but similiarly to Leonard I have never wore an Origami hat. I haven't made as much of them, although I did have some cool designs in a past, I particularly loved my crown, that would be great to wear outside, but then agian, wearing a crown when going to work our integrate socially may be a little bit different, like I treated myself like a Queen or something. People can get all kind of ideas and I have noticed, that they are pretty much oversensitive about their own ego and self-esteem, so I will probably not wear it outside. But, I will gladly create some casual hat and wear it a few times. I will rather only wear it during a sunny weather or with not rain at least as I will rather spend some time on creating a hat as great as possible, so I don't want it to get broken by rain. I will make sure to let you guys know when I do.

Coffeegirl

And I did it. I made myself a pretty nice hat in a light pink, although it took me a little bit. My origami skills are still so poor, I literally had to spend a few hours and multiple tries to even get the simplest model, but I have eventually done that. And my motivation seemed to be greater than ever as I was actually creating something that I can put in practice and will greatly affect my image, so I wanted to be really good. Turned out to be an average, simple hat, but I'm very happy about my results nonetheless. Creating a design from a bigger paper is definitely a whole another world compared to the smaller one. It may not be particularly difficult, but as long as I said, that I already had some previous experince with bigger scale paper, I still feel like I really lack a lot when it comes to creating something on bigger scale compared to smaller paper. But I will get there eventually and I feel extremely happy about the hat, that I have been able to make. Satisfaction is real! Oh, and as for any kind of stares and attention, I frankly never really got the impression like something has changed greatly. I didn't even get any comment about it except for a few people from work, that have actually complimented it and said, that it looks pretty much funny. But, I may be different in this regard as I always wear kind of an alternative/hippie style, so one) it's not much of an image change for me and two) I may be used to people looking at me more than others, that easily blend into the crowd due to wearing totally normal clothes.

Either way it was pretty cool experience and I'm sure I will wear them much more often. I just need to make a couple more hats, preferably better looking than the one I have currently made, and that will require my to heavily improve my skills, as I saw some really cool designs, but they still seem far out of my reach. Yet, I'm a total beginner though, so I shouldn't be concerned about this. Practice, practice and practice - that's what I have to focus on right now.

Thanks for sharing this cool idea with us!

Flying Deidara

I'm frankly suprised, that this thread has brought such a big attention and that so many of you are interested in hats. I was frankly expecting more like a negative attitude towards hat or no interest at all. I'm glad, that you share and like my idea. Seems, that it's also time for me to implement something now as I felt quite unsure about wearing it in public and didn't create anything yet, but now that I see so many people willing to try it out and Coffeegirl, that has already implemented into real life, I have to step on and go out to the world, show some of my beautifully self-made origami hats as well (at least I hope they will turn to be as beautiful as I want them to be).

I checked out aliexpress for some designs - there are very few, but the one sun hat in rainbow colors looks extremely nice - I gotta admit though, that it will be very hard to replicate one like this, but hey, now that I can see you guys being so interested this idea, I have to try at least, right? Besides, I haven't given myself a proper challenge when it comes to origami lately, so this could be a great chance to both test and improve my skills. Once I make it I will make sure to show you guys, and of course on a sunny day wear it to work or any other social meetings, even shopping. I kind of feel, that if I were to make a perfect one like this, I could as well make it my permanent hat and simply wear everyday when it's not raining. Would be really cool.

Albatrose

I know what you mean - sun hats are really nice looking, especially in a rainbow color it would be great supplementation to any style, irrespective of whether you are a man or a woman. Unfortunately, to make one with my current skills is impossible, so I will either have to buy a Sun Origami Hat, or simply try and make the simplest hat design, that I can find. I will probably go for the latter for now (and I even think this will be a huge challenge for me). My skills are really bad, I'm a total beginner and I hae basically just switched from doing origami designed for kids, that basically anyone can make, so yeah, this is definitely a challenge for me, but then again, buying premade origami hats is not exactly the same as making one yourself and I believe this is the whole point of this, so I shouldn't really on using somebody's else work and challenge myself a little bit. So, I can't promise when I will wear one, but as soon as I pull through and make a nice hat, I promise to try it out. Cheers!

Flying Deidara

Yeah Albatrose, don't worry, you should focus on improving your skills first rather than buying an origami hat. If you didn't wear any hats before, you can actually buy one (but not an origami one), to make yourself adjust to hats. Either baseball caps, sun hats or whatever actually suits you. Once you change your image and get used to hats, you will have even bigger motivation to create one with your own hands and wear it all the time. It's kind of like once you spend a lot of money on something, then you are much more eager to wear it or use it all the time. Similiarly with origami hats - just you don't spend your own money here, but rather invest a lot of time into making one. For most people here, those more advanced in origami it's actually pretty easy to make one, so they may not feel so attached to it as you will surely be, but regardless of amount of time it takes, even the very satisfaction from putting something you have made entirely by yourself to use is an really amazing experience, and I wish you make yourself a pretty cool hat as soon as possible.

Of course, if you run into any kind of problems, you are not sure about any instructions you have found, steps to follow or you just have any questions regarding making hats, let us know. I'm sure you will manage without further problems to make a decent hat of an simple design. Anyone can do it to be honest, even without much experience or skills, your motivation and desire to make one should be enough. Good luck!

Denzi

I just recently got into Origami and I absolutely love how practical those arts can be compared to drawing, which I was focusing on earlier.

As for Origami hats though - I have made a few designs, but never wore one. Not sure why though. Just never really thought of it as I simply treat Origami more as an art for myself, I'm not that much into exposing it, although grabbing attention and promoting origami surely would be cool. I only decor my own house, never thought of actually 'decoring' my own image, but that indeed seems like a good idea. I will try your idea though with the few hats I have made. Just not sure if they will fit, but if they do I will gladly grab one to work - I always wear a hat to work, so it's actually not a biggie for me. Alternatively I can always make some more hats. Frankly, as I'm pretty new into this, those hats I have made so far must look extremely poor compared to yours guys anyway, so if they don't fit (which they most likely won't), I will just make another one (or a few), that will be of perfect size. We will see, but that's a great idea anyway Flying Deidara.