This piece was created a competition hosted by the Milliners Guild entitled Bes-Ben: Humor & High Design. It was a tribute to Benjamin Green-Field, aka Bes-Ben, the legendary Chicago milliner known for his whimsical and fantastical designs.

My entry is called “Game Night.”  It incorporates three themes that were common to Green-Field’s work.  The first is the incorporation of found objects in my portrayal of a floating game board with pawns traveling along their path of destiny as dictated by the rolling dice.  Bes-Ben hats used playing cards and dice in designs, making them quite literally playful, and so my game pieces seemed a natural extension of that.  Next, the ribbon that forms their road is an embroidered Indian textile, which references the international inspiration Green-Field found in his travels around the globe.  And lastly, I lifted my design around and around in an up-ended rollercoaster ride, influenced by the spirals and scrolls in many of the most fanciful Bes-Ben creations.

I formed my hat in sinamay using an acorn top block.  From there I created a wired sinamay spiral with the ribbon affixed to it.  Then came the tricky part; I drilled into the vintage game pieces and dice (I collect all sorts of tchotchkes and already had them in my hoard) and secured them in place using eyeglass screws.  This was my first time using power tools in my hat making process.  It will not be my last.  I’d like to think my exploration of new techniques would make Ben proud.