Jester's hat

[uncletimcobleigh]

My son will be portraying a jester at our local faire this fall. We are wondering about the best way to make the hat. I did manage to find a pattern on-line, but the horns/tails/whatever merely hang down. What can we do to stiffen them so that they will stand up?

[isabelladangelo]

What kind of Jester's hat are you attempting to make?   The period ones looked like donkey ears normally (because the guy was attempting to make an "weed puller" out of himself.  Puns, gotta love 'em) and you can read a lot more about Jester's clothing here:
http://www.larsdatter.com/foolwear.htm

There are some examples of "falling ears" http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/MI07840g09a.jpg  which it sounds like you are getting.  So...you might want to go for that!

The biggest thing for a jester is the parti-colored clothing (one side of the clothing is different from the other) and lots and lots of bells.  There also was typically a lot of dagging ( the triangles along the hem of the tunic).   The fool would also carry a bauble - basically a stick puppet. 

[Butch]

What I've used has been pillow stuffing.  Not the foam, the fluffy hairy stuff.  It works pretty well.