A hat for a forest setting

Every now and then I get a commission that is nothing less than a joy from start to finish. Recently, I was sent this picture, and asked to interpret it in a pointy hat:This looks very much like a place near here that Gareth and I camp in occasionally, so much so that I can smell the woods just looking at this image, and I knew just how I wanted to make the hat, graduated from deepest mottled green to the lightest sunkissed pale new leaf shades, my only concern was whether I could do justice to the image in my mind.

I started out by laying several layers of the darkest green, its not far off black, really deep, rich, leafmould shades, that would form the inside of the hat and help make the brighter greens contrast well. Overlaying that, I staggered many different shades of green, this picture is of the final layer before I started felting and shaping:
After several hours of felting and a quick swim in the washing machine to harden up the felt, it was ready to block, and around an hour of bullying it into shape gave me this:and I've just done the final steam blocking- this is the result, and I have to say I'm really really pleased with it.The shades look a little acid in this photo- my camera isnt very good on colours sadly, you need to imagine this a bit richer and deeper all over- the splodges in the brim are much more subtle in reality, but hopefully it gives the idea. Just hope the recipent is pleased with it.