Repurposing Cowhide Rugs into Wearable Art

Thrift store shopping is one of my favourite past times, so when I spotted a large brown and white genuine cowhide rug I could barely contain my excitement. I immediately threw the rug in my cart and didn't even blink at the $125 price tag. The many ideas flooded my brain before I could even check out of the store. Due to the busy Holiday Season, the rug sat there, unused for months, but the ideas kept coming.

 As soon as I had some down time, I pulled the rug out and did some material testing with my laser. For anyone wanting to try this at home, my first warning is about the smell! If you have horses, as I do, the smell is the same as when farriers hot shoe a horse. Even with a fully enclosed laser, which is vented out the window, the smell still lingered - consider yourself warned! I ran several tests, discovering that a high power setting was required to achieve the exact burned look I was going for. For anyone asking what my setting are - DO YOUR OWN MATERIAL TEST! This is 101 for laser engraving. Every laser is different and every hide is different. 

Once my settings were dialed in I rough cut out the shape of my hat and laid it on my laser bed. I had my design set up to first engrave the design and then cut out the exact shape of my hat. To attach the hide to my hat I used a strong adhesive spray and then burned holes around the edge using the Lacie tool from Gummy THUNK (https://gummythunk.com/). Then I laced the edge using suede cord. A total of 18 feet of cord was needed to achieve the V design I was going for...yes my arm still hurts! To finish off the hat I added some cord stitches to the crown and complimentary hat band. 

The beautiful thing about cowhide is that every hat is different! The patterns are natural and completely random, some mostly white, some with large brown sections, and some some with minimal brown spots. 

My next task is coming up with ideas for the left over scrap pieces. Keychains, coasters, and bookmarks are already in the works. If you have another suggestion send me a message!

The hats I have created are listed here: Wide Brim Fedora Hats – MVR Designs. Keep in mind these are unique, one of a kind creations, so if you see something you love add it to your cart, and check out, to avoid disappointment.