Making a Straw Hat- Straw Craft Mentorship with Maria Kravchuk continued...

thisfolklife
Aug 3
3 min read

My first straw hat! Made under the guidance of master strawcraftswoman Maria Kravchuk, with her rye straw.

I wrote my last post about spending time with pani Maria Kravchuk at her home in Tulychiv. I first arrived on the heels of Easter, stayed for a bit, made my way to Poland for about ten days, then circled back through Lviv, and back for the second half of my mentorship stint.

(My trip to Poland was very memorable and very fun and I wrote a little about that when I was still there, and I'll share more later. )

In the second half of my time in Tulychiv with pani Maria, I decided to focus on one big project, and what I thought I could achieve in the time left. I was very impressed with the beautiful straw hats she had made and wanted to be mentored in the nuances of this traditional craft.

I had already started some yardage of "zubachnyk" (known as "rustic plait" in Britain but in Slavic languages by a variation of "zuby" (teeth) ), with the immaculate pre-cleaned (lucky me!) long greenish rye . I started to plait more in earnest to have enough to sew a sun hat -- a "капелюх".

After plaiting, it's important to smooth out the plait evenly. Pani Maria has found an Italian pasta maker very useful for this step. It's very fast and satisfying.

Once the plaiting was ready, we briefly re-soaked it, and pani Maria showed me how to start sewing it. Her big strong and experienced hands made it look so effortless. I struggled to keep a firm grip on the hat as it came into shape, and found myself with pretty intense pain in my left hand (especially my thumb!). Sewing the hat together was a slow process, especially as it was my first time.

I took breaks by going for walks in the village and surrounding fields, cleaning straw, and enjoying pani Maria's cooking (& baking ;)

Little handpies with last year's plums from the freezer and homemade cheese:

We took some sheaves down from the barn attic (стріх) and since the weather was finally a little warmer, I spent a few days outside cleaning straw.

I learned how to line up the straws to cut and sort them efficiently. Still a slow laborious process, but made much easier by neatly cut and bundled sheaves.

Pani Maria also sorting and cleaning her rye (with the next crop of rye in the background).

Spring was in full swing, and my hat started to come together. The beginning was so exciting.

Makes me think of the centre of a flower, or pinecone, the way it fans out, not exactly the golden ratio, but evocative of the fibonacci sequence, like in sunflowers.

The hat was not easy to make, even as I started to get the flow of the sewing, and how to gently but firmly curve the plait around and around...

Proportions are hard; how to get it to look really perfect depends on the expert eye of an experienced maker who knows just when and how to bend the crown to the brim so that the proportions are just right; where to stitch just so so that the plait lines up evenly, and the "teeth" are evenly spaced... lots of little nuances. And that's all just in the sewing. First you have to make an expert plait- choosing all the right straws with the right proportions!

It took me a bunch of days, but I finally did it-- with the help of pani Maria along the way.

The very last step: pounding it all to smooth out any kinks.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/05433b_7a382224cb9948bdbf0f146c70c761b8/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

I had a bit of a deadline, since I had decided to go to Kyiv, and booked a bus, so this was done right before I left.

I had a very early bus from the village into Lutsk, and as we walked to the stop, we snapped a few photos for keepsake. The lilacs were blooming. I was groggy and nervous. :)