Ok, I thought I'd show you a few shots of some hats I've been working on. I kind of set out to paint myself into a corner to test the accuracy of my Raiders blockshape by offering hats to match specific scenes. I wanted to see if I could nail the nuances. Though I'd tested against the scenes where the hat was in good condition, I thought it'd be fun to try and make hats that complete the set.
The first of these is the Well of Souls hat. But before I get to that, I'd quickly like to digress to a conversation Steve and I had in another thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46220&start=0&hilit ... hawaii+hat about felt. He made the observation that a key to the look of the Raiders hat is getting felt that would behave in the right way - so it kind of pinched / rippled and warped in a certain way. Basically working towards something special in that sense. Anyway, hopefully now I've got something close. I bring it up because the Well of Souls is one of a few scenes that demonstrates the quality of this very specific sort of felt and the repurcussions on the shape of the screen hat quite profoundly.
First, note the way there are little dimples in the hat - in the bashes (see where there are those shadowy little bits?), and any area where the felt is under tension, like where the brim is buckling as a result of "the turn".
The only other felt I've seen do this is vintage stuff - vintage dress hats. When the felt is freshly pounced, and you bash the hat, the corners almost wrinkle like skin before they've broken in a bit. Then they end up with a kind of little groove effect you see throughout the movie. Once light hits the hat in the right way - BAM - you notice it.
Now a look at the front / top, and the way the felt on top folds in a really rivery, wavy way.
Now I love this above left shot, because firstly I think Ford's hat looks really cool in it, and because it was one of the shots that told me my Raiders block and felt was on the right track because the felt behaved exactly right on the top. (You'll note in the shot above especially the bash isn't perfect as I was still fine tuning the top of the side dents and the degree of front pinch - as a result, there are a few variations in the shots here). I loved that not only could I make the wave kind of go under on one side, and over on the other, but it actually WANTED to do that. It just didn't take much effort to achieve in the bash if you know what I mean. But second, because I thought there was something VERY WRONG with my new felt until I noticed something.
When I looked at the image of my hat (above right) I thought the top looked good until I saw the way the brim at the back left was buckling. I thought, Oh No! My felt *****! It was an unintentional side-effect. But then I looked at the movie shot. See at the back, near where the vertical line in the sandstone wall is? That little dip? It's buckling exactly the same way. I hadn't even touched the brim. Part of the effect is due to the turn, but normally the effect isn't so pronounced as most felt is too rigid, and counteracts the effect, especially when it's been solidly flanged. This was the first time I'd seen this exact effect.
Anyway, I'm not sure to what degree you guys even care about this sort of stuff. I just thought it was really cool in my little obsessive world
I have the shots of the completed Well of Souls hat to come (this was when it was a work in progress), but really want to wait until it's owner has had the opportunity to post if he wants to!
cheers, Kurt
More info on my hats here: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=44764
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Looks spot on to the shots of the hat in the scenes. 
I've lost track of how many people are offering Indy hats now. 
I'm sooo glad I'm not looking at getting another hat at the moment. The choices now are just unbelievable. 
