MAD HATTERS TUESDAY Cerublu earflaps

It is an absolute pleasure and honor...

to introduce to you one of my favorite Etsy shops:

Cerublu and store owner & craftsperson: Lisa Wiseman.

All my life I have been a little nutty about hats

but never, in all my life, have I ever encountered

such an extraordinary hat maker of this caliber...

please tune in during the course of this month-

MAD HATTERS MARCH- for a series of features

on these incredible, unique, & original creations !

Lisa introduces herself as "an Australian artist, living an environmentally-friendly, solar-powered lifestyle in a rural area close to the fabulous World Heritage Listed Barrington Tops. Surrounding me are stunning views of the hills and the magical forest comes right to my door."

"Although I also love to draw, paint and sculpt, the works shown here are almost exclusively made using Freeform crochet techniques. Freeform is just that- no patterns are used in the production of each unique piece. Each work has its own story and inspiration, often from the beautiful forest here, and grows happily in my hands from its original concept."

Lisa comes from a long line of crocheters: great grandmother to grandmother to mother and now... daughter. "My greatgrandmother did the most stunning, fine Irish crochet and "crazy crochet". The family still has some of her beautiful work. She put together exquisite motifs of her own design to form large pieces such as tablecloths as well as working lacy doilies etc. of her own designs in one piece."

"I learned to crochet at a very early age. I can't really remember how old I was, but it would perhaps have been when I was about 7 or so. I've always been big on making things the way I "see" them in my head, rather than how they may look in a book or pattern, so learned the basic stitches and started to play with them. I think the first thing I made in crochet was a bikini in variegated purple cotton which my mother ended up finishing for me. I wore that bikini at every opportunity, despite it looking somewhat dubious on me." (oh... I would so love to see a picture of Lisa in that bikini !)

"Later, when I was at Art school, I played with crochet further, experimenting and started to make things from odds and ends of yarn in my own version of "crazy crochet". This was before "Freeform" crochet got its name. At that point, crochet was for me a good way to make stuff I wanted to wear that was different and fitted. I must thank my mother for passing on to me a desire to have garments fit well and look good, as well as a vast amount of her expertise in things "fibre"."

TODAY'S FEATURE is on CERUBLU's EARFLAP HATS

"Earflap hats are exactly that... They have flaps to cover the wearer's ears and most of them have ties with tassels dangling from the earflaps. The crown shape is most often a simple dome, but it may also be of the "pointed" type, with tassels or spirals at the points... Earflap hats may or may not have tails, but usually do because I like the idea of being able to wrap the tail around one's neck for added warmth and the "swishability" of the long tails."

"I make things which are, first and foremost useful. Things which are wearable and functional, but are also fun and different. I love to come up with concepts and designs which are new and nifty. The majority of these designs are based on my needs."

"I live in a rural area of Australia which gets quite cold in winter, so it's important for me to have useful warm garments that fit well, are durable and fulfil a function. This is why I've come up with my various designs for garments- each is made to do a job, fit well, not slip or get in the way when one is working and give one a smile when the garment is put on. These are garments that can be worn around the farm for warmth or into town and which will still look good, as well as drawing a little admiration when worn in public."

Lisa's draws her inspiration from the landscape that surrounds her. She chooses to live close to the land where the skies are open and where she can delve into the woodlands. Her family members include 9 horses and 3 dogs many of whom accompany her on trips & excursions into the wild. Australia's nature deeply impacts Lisa's sense of color and design. One can see by her hat titles where inspiration was drawn...

Below is Cavorting Cane Toad...

Lisa's entertaining item description reads: "Imagine stepping out into your back yard one rainy night, flicking on the outside light and seeing thousands of cane toads, queasily reflecting multitudinous pinpoints of light, the entire mass bouncing and seething, carpeting the ground like something from a B-grade horror movie. Sounds wild? I reckon Alfred Hitchcock could have had a field day with cane toads! This scene isn't imaginary or from a movie. I've seen such swarms of toads myself. Just ask anyone who lives in Queensland about rainy nights and the toads..."

They've even been adopted by the National Trust of Queensland as a state icon ! This crocheted hat captures the lumpy, bumpy texture of the cane toad's back with high-relief entarsia-work & crochet bobbles around the hat's crown...

And speaking of bobbles and crochet stitches... Here you can feast your eyes on a few close up shots of earflap crowns... remember that Lisa is creating the pattern as she crochets... aren't these absolutely stunning ?

Fungi Fun, on the left, is a festival of high relief bobbles... one of Lisa's personal favourite stitches which she adapted upon over the years... in this particular hat they remind her of the variety of fungus shapes and shades she's come across.

To the right, Gentle Gum Tree, features "spiralling entarsia stripes in handspun angora and wool, while textural crochet stitches such as berry stitch, rib and a crochet cable complete the tactile theme."

Checker Out, a wondrous hat full of checks... from crown to tail ! "Pink, mauve and white entarsia blocks and high relief bobbles feature in this head-turning earflap hat."

Autumn Sunrise "Warm, vibrant oranges, rich golds and creams contrast with lovely muted greys and blues- tonally both light and deep. Complex multicolored entarsia crochet in this delightful earflap hat's crown is reminiscent of light streaming across the sky as dawn breaks."

And today's grand finale... Divine Denim... "Beautiful blues from deep to sky to pastel, greys and blacks are spiced by silver glitz in this elegant and fun earflap hat. This is a hat as versatile and tonally rich as its name suggests; one for many occasions which would enliven many outfits."

I hope Cerublu and I have been able to tantalize you with this incredibly fabulous assortment of hats. Stay tuned to this blog throughout the month for further features and interviews with this awesome hat maker !

HATography

1- Homage to Impressionism

2- Sassy Sarsparilla (available for purchase- click HERE)

3- Glorious Gumtree

4- Gothic Garden

5- Wattle Homage to Carmen

6- Cavorting Canetoad (available- click HERE)

7- (left) Fungi Fun detail

8- (right) Gentle Gumtree detail

9- Checker out (available for purchase- click HERE)

10- Autumn Sunrise detail

11- Divine Denim

"While each of my items is unique,

if you would like a variation on anything you see here

or have a new idea you'd like me to realize, just ask,

I love making original creations for individuals !"

CLiCK HERE to visit CERUBLU's Etsy store

image DESiGN content copyright

ownership remains with the artist

Lisa Wiseman from Cerublu Studio !