OK, I've been dabbling with hat manipulation for a while now, using two old bowler hats that I got from a charity shop.

I have to say, it's brilliant! It looks so cool, flipping and tossing the hats about, catching and rolling them.

Anyone else tried hat manipulation? I'm aiming to have a trial routine ready in a month or so - once I've got a 3rd hat!

Cheers

ML

I've tried a few moves with one hat. But I love to see masters at work. I'm a magician but I juggle a bit for fun- nothing serious; but when I see hat manipulation on its own or as part of a bigger routine I'm fascinated! It looks awesome!
Rod

Yeah - I really love the way it looks, but I've never gotten into it, due to hats being sooo expensive. Also, I have a really big head, so it takes a large hat to fit on it.

Yeah, the hats can be pricey - I just kept looking at charity shops until I found what I needed. Much cheaper!

For those interested, there is a great instructional video on Hat manipulation by Andy Head. There is also some stuff in Complete Juggler by Dave Finnigan and The Juggler's Manual of Manipulative Miscellanea by Reg Bacon.

Cheers

ML

Kris Kremo does a very good 3 hat routine.

Some interesting stuff on hat manipulation has recently been discussed in the newsgroup rec.juggling (great place for jugglers).

Go here:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&am......juggling

This is the google archive of rec.juggling (Google archives all Usenet groups) and you can search for Hat manipulation/juggling. Loads of useful stuff - including a recent bit from Steven Ragatz (Cirque Du Soleil) on making your own hats!

Cheers

ML

About the most I do, is a few ways of "flipping" them on. I use my fedora, but I've always wanted a nice bowler to play with. I've seen a lot of great moves out there.

Sable

ML
Sounds great, always liked Hat Manipulation.
I don't know whether I saw it first on the "Red Skelton Show" or a "WC Fields" movie when I was a kid, but it has always intrigued me. Thanks for the websites to look at.
Steve
zzz

I bought my bowler from renegadejuggling.com it was $80.00 The owner thought I was crazy for buying it (price) and yet he had a garage full of them!

They had really big sizes. I mean real big. So if you have the cash ....

There is now a website dedicated to Hat Manipulation! Check out: http://www.trickswithhats.org

Enjoy

ML

I just visited the site and it is very good, and it has links to other interesting sites. If you are interested in Chapeaugraphy, you gotta check it out.
Steve
zzz

I once did a silent film ala Chaplin where we connected a hat to the ceiling with a string. When I threw the hat it made a magical circle around my body and I caught it on my other side. It looked great for the film but I was wondering how I could do this in my stage show without having to do connections to the scenery. Are there any other tricks with a gaffed hat?

Ryan