Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Back when I first started juggling almost thirty years ago I was attracted to any prop that I could get my hands on. I’d buy it, play with it, acquire a certain level of skill with it and try to build a routine around the skills I’d acquired. I was thirsty for knowledge, for skills and for just about any prop I could get my hands on. As time went on however I started to gravitate towards certain props more than others. They just felt more comfortable in my hands or I particularly enjoyed the play I had created with an audience. Still other props seemed to lend themselves to the aesthetic that I was crafting for my show and show image. My love of hats and hat manipulation is a bit of a combination of different things, but at the end of the day it’s still one of my favorite props.
As a young juggler growing up in Ottawa, and this is so long before the day and age of the internet that I’m not even going to give you a year, I was very fortunate to meet some great performers who just happened to be passing through town who’d stopped to do some street shows. Two in particular really left an impression. Johnny Toronto and Waldo had come from Quebec City where they had performed for Sainte Jean Baptiste Day and arrived in Ottawa in time for Canada Day. They let me hang out, watch, learn, ask questions and basically be a sponge for the week that they were in town. I was particularly impressed with the hat moves that I saw Waldo doing and he got me started with the first few moves I learned. Much more than that however, when he and Johnny left Ottawa, Waldo gave me his hat and told me to keep practicing. This just about blew my mind.
I’m sure it’s a direct result of Waldo’s preference for the Top Hat (or Tall Hat) shape that I too ended up selecting it as my hat of choice. I’m a great friend with Nils Pol the creator of the Nils Pol Bowler Hat too, and that green one in the photo that accompanies this post was a gift from Nils a few years back. These bowler hats really revolutionized the hat manipulating world as their weight and shape make a lot of the moves a whole lot easier than with a Top Hat. What can I say though… I always seem to take the harder path, and besides, I always thought the Top Hat shape was more suited to my iconic checkerboard patterned costume.
Both styles of hats are readily available from Dubé in New York and you may even have time to order one in for Christmas for that Favorite juggler on your Christmas List… There are also a couple of Hat Manipulating Videos you can find from Dubé should you care to go that route, or perhaps check out this website which does a pretty great job of cataloguing a vast array of different moves or over on this site where I demo some hats moves in animated Gif Format.
But Dubé doesn’t sell checkerboard hats I hear you say… True, very true. Remember how I just mentioned that I like doing things the hard way? Well this applies not only to the shape of the hat, but what I choose to do to a standard black hat once I’ve received it. I create a cover out of checkerboard lycra material and very carefully sew it into place. It’s more work, and more effort to get the hat to this stage, but its one of those little jobs that reminds me that sometimes in life the extra effort is worth it.
A couple of tips when it comes to getting yourself a hat. If at all possible it’s a good idea to try before you buy… Testing out a hat in person means you can double check to make sure the size is going to work for you. From experience, I know that I’m about a 7 3/8 sized hat, but I usually get a 7 1/2 hat because the extra room makes it easier to land certain tricks. Sizing can vary a bit from hat to hat though, so even though two hats may have the same sized tag on them they can feel significantly different. It’s also important to understand that these hats are made of felt and over time will stretch a bit and soften up.
Some people apply a coat of clear lacquer to the inside of the hat to help it keep it’s shape (this is more important on a top hat than on a bowler), but I tend towards using spray starch and steam to help stiffen up my hats. Once every few months or so you’ll find me in the kitchen with the kettle boiling with one of my hats hanging over the steam. About five minutes worth of letting the steam soak into the fabric allows me to re-shape the felt a bit and once things have cooled a certain amount of stiffness does return to the felt. It’s perhaps a more maintenance heavy routine than the lacquer route, but again… This seems to be the way I roll…
If this post comes off sounding a bit like an ad for Dubé forgive me, I’m testing out the recently re-introduced affiliate program that Dubé created, so if you click one of the links on the blog and it takes you to Dubé I actually benefit from it, sort of like Google Ads… Like the blog? Need some new Juggling equipment, then access Dubé’s website here and we all win.
