{"id":98,"date":"2016-07-07T20:37:11","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T20:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brentblack.com\/cart\/?page_id=98"},"modified":"2016-07-13T22:05:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T22:05:46","slug":"weaving-the-finest-hats","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/hat-lore-overview\/tour-how-a-panama-hat-is-made\/weaving-the-finest-hats\/","title":{"rendered":"Weaving the Finest Hats"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

I have been photographing weavers\u00a0for almost twenty years. These are some of my favorites.<\/p>\n

First, a fond remembrance of Jos\u00e9\u00a0Espinal, Master Weaver.<\/p>\n

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\"tour_07_01_JESP1\"\"tour_07_02_JESP2\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_07_03_JESP3\"\u00a0\"tour_07_04_JESP4\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_05_jewV1ajpg\"\"tour_07_06_JE2V\"\"tour_07_07_JESP6\"\"tour_07_08_JESP7\"<\/p>\n

I\"tour_07_09_JESP5\" photographed Jos\u00e9 many times. He was a great weaver,\u00a0nice\u00a0man, good husband. In the photo above left, the one right above that, and\u00a0the top left photo on this page, take a look at the tree-limb tripod he uses\u00a0for weaving. I bought it from him and shipped it to Hawaii. I use it every day\u00a0when I block hats. I rest the block on Jos\u00e9\u2019s stand while I work\u00a0with a hat. I like to think that working on his stand somehow keeps me\u00a0connected to Jos\u00e9, connected to the village where the world\u2019s\u00a0finest hats are woven. It definitely keeps me conscious of them. Vaya con dios,\u00a0Jos\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"tour_07_10_WE5\"\"tour_07_11_WE6\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_12_unkV5\"\"tour_07_13_unkcomV1\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_14_WE8\"\"tour_07_15_WE9\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_16_HAT2H\"Remember at the end of the previous page there was a photo of\u00a0the plantilla<\/em> about the size of a silver dollar? In the two photos above, you\u00a0can see a much larger plantilla<\/em> in the right foreground. When the plantilla<\/em> is\u00a0as large around as the top of the wooden form, the weaver turns the weave down\u00a0and begins la copa<\/em>, or crown.<\/p>\n

If you look back at the top left photo on the page, you will see a small plantilla<\/em> hanging from between the round forms. In the top right photo on this\u00a0page, Jos\u00e9 is weaving the small plantilla<\/em> bigger.<\/p>\n

In the close shot of the plantilla<\/em> on the right (a beauty by Marcial\u00a0Espinal), you can see how he marks his place when taking a break from weaving\u00a0by tying the straw.<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_17_WE1\"\"tour_07_18_WE3\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_19_WE7\"\"tour_07_20_proudV3\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Above left and below left, the classic weaver posture. Bent at\u00a0the waist, chest resting on a cushion, sometimes just a folded t-shirt. When\u00a0the crown is tall enough to reach the bottom of the form, it\u2019s time to\u00a0weave the brim. The hat is held in place on the form by a half-inch-wide\u00a0leather belt , pulled tight by laces, then tied. (all four photos above and\u00a0below) While working on the plantilla<\/em> and crown, the hat is held in place by\u00a0the weaver\u2019s weight and the wood form placed on top of the plantilla<\/em>.\u00a0(Photo at top of page on right)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"tour_07_21_proudV2\" \"tour_07_22_rosahandsV1\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_23_MdhH\" \"tour_07_24_lawkidH1\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_25_MO3H\" \"tour_07_26_lawlnkids\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Below, Sim\u00f3n\u2019s\u00a0father, Senovio, weaves the brim.<\/p>\n

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\"tour_07_27_IE5H\" \"tour_07_28_IE2H\"<\/p>\n

\"tour_07_29_IE9H\"\"tour_07_30_HANDSB_H1\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"tour_08_teaser\"Next, see how the brim\u2019s edge is woven.<\/p>\n

NEXT PAGE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I have been photographing weavers\u00a0for almost twenty years. These are some of my favorites. First, a fond remembrance of Jos\u00e9\u00a0Espinal, Master Weaver. \u00a0 I photographed Jos\u00e9 many times. He was a great weaver,\u00a0nice\u00a0man, good husband. In the photo above left, the one right above that, and\u00a0the top left photo on this page, take a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":1083,"parent":86,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"tour-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-98","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3585,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/98\/revisions\/3585"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.brentblack.com\/cart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}