I've been struggling with making blocked (as opposed to sewn) fezzes for the last year or so. We tried making a block, and it didn't come out very well. Then I purchased a fez block from Hatshapers. While I have no complaints, the finished size/shape wasn't what I was looking for. I think it will be good for shaping wool into cones, though. We'll see.
Last week I found a fez block on Ebay. These things usually go way out of my price range, but the seller had an odd description on it. So I bid, and got it for a bit under my maximum bid. yay! The block arrived today. Here it is:
While the grain on the cone looks like wood, it's definitely cork. This is cool, as pins go into cork a lot easier.
I covered the block with plastic wrap to protect the surface and then tried covering it with some felted wool. Here's what I ended up with:
It's on the patio drying right now, and I have to keep checking out the window every few minutes as there are scattered showers forming in the area.
The block is sitting on my improvised spinner. It's a wooden paper towel holder with the rod cut down. It works great.
Perhaps the wool will be dry tomorrow and I can share the results. This is all still fairly experimental, so I'm not expecting perfect results. We shall see.
Speaking of drying felt, last week I purchased some items that I'll be using to construct a DIY drying cabinet that I can use during the winter. I'll share pictures once I get the monstrosity put together.