Finalists in the Maldynado-Hat-Design Contest (which is your favorite?)

It’s been two weeks since I posted the Maldynado Hat Design Contest, and we’ve had a lot of great (humorous!) entries. I was going to pick a winner this weekend, but there were quite a few hats that made Maldynado’s ears perk. So… I’ve picked out a few finalists to post today. If you’re so inclined, let me know which sounds (or looks) best, and I’ll take your opinions into account when finally choosing a winner. The winner’s hat will be used in Book 5, and he or she will also receive signed paperbacks of the first four books.

Thanks, all!

Hat Entries

Seth:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gail:

I’m thinking porcupine quills, a lot of them sticking out, so it looks like a porcupine is sitting on his head. Except this is Maldynado so of course the quills would be dyed some ridiculous color. I can see it being an aviator like cap.

Christian:

This time he had done it – this was unquestionably the hat of a killer. This was a serious, no-nonsense hat for serious no-nonsense people. It was black, low, and sleek, made of the finest brushed velvet and meticulously handcrafted by master millinery artists. It oozed menace, and whispered of blood-soaked deeds carried out by dark men of sinister purpose. This was The Hat. He was vaguely surprised Sicarius didn’t already own one. He added a large, bright pink plume sticking jauntily out of the side. There. Perfect.

Sonya:

1. People are always ready to re-fight the last battle. Having just lost a quick but decisive skirmish with gravity, he’s determined to be better-prepared the next time. Thus, his chapeau of choice in this case is a solid, reliable pith helmet. In this case, though, it is decorated with a scene of hummingbirds in a field of flowers, painted in brilliant blues, greens, and purples; worked over with gold and silver filigree and brightly colored beads; and with a curtain of rich green mosquito netting suspended from the brim. That way, he’ll be ready to blend in in any jewel-toned magical forest glades he should encounter.

Tilly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn:

I am thinking that it is about time Maldynado got a nice turban that is tastefully striped in alternating red and white silk cloth. It would have a large gaudy “ruby” set in gold on his forehead. And it would need a large red feather sprouting out of the ruby and curling over his back. Naturally he may have to end up sacrificing this gorgeous creation to make bandages, so it could be useful as well decorative.

Cassandra:

A yellow snakeskin fedora. Specifically albino burmese python skin which is a creamy white and bright yellow. And I think it would need matching feathers in the band to complete the look.

Jane:

How about a shako with a plume on it?

A shako is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, and sometimes tapered at the top. It is usually adorned with some kind of ornamental plate or badge on the front, metallic or otherwise, and often has a feather, plume (see hackle), or pompon attached at the top.

Carolyn:

1) As Maldynado has had all of 20 minutes at the helm of the dirigible, he undoubtedly has earned the right to call himself an “aviator”. I suggest a close-fitting leather cap with goggles, but in a color that will catch the eye (like fuschia).

Anna:

I think he might feel the need to incorporate a little more practicality into his style now that he’s been through so much with the team. I was thinking he could have a sweeping, feathered hat, full of gold and silver swirls, with a descending set of goggles and glasses. Of course, the whole ensemble would have to be ridiculous and fail in some way or another, properly fitting Maldynado’s characteristic slip-ups. Maybe he’d even have a blade hidden somewhere in the device! I can see him hitting the control panel now!

“Wow. Let’s see what this one does! Ah, Sicarius, I didn’t mean for that to happen!”

David:

The drinking game hat.

A broad rimmed hat in some outrageous shade of lime green with a series of six to eight scarlet tassels hanging off the brim.

The hat is sold incomplete as the wearer or player is expected to add the wax sealed corks from various implausibly named and expensive bottles of wine to the tassels as the night wears on.

Possibly with a indent in the top designed to hold the base of a glass of wine, so Maldynado can win bets for dancing the jig or hornpipe without spilling his wine.

Rebekah:

Here’s my idea: What about a Spartan- type hat? I drew a couple of pictures of them. The color I’m not so sure about, but I’m sure These types of Maldynado-worthy hats come in all sorts of colors. here’s the link to my pictures. http://artoflonewolf.blogspot.com/2012/05/picture.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lynne:

My mom told me about this contest during dinner and I immediately thought of the following hat. Said hat is hard to describe, and easier to explain how to make.

Take a pair of silk, ladies victorian bloomers with a thick ruffle on the waist, that go to the mid thigh. Turn them upside down, so that the opening on the hat would be where ones waist normally goes. Take the ruffle off the legs and stuff one leg down the other, then sew them together. This should result in a poof on the top of the hat. Take the end of the poof that is closest to what you want the back of the hat to be and tack it to the seat of the bloomers. This is to prevent the poof from falling down in ones face as you flee. The ruffle should just flop down and give the same sort of appearance that cockatoo feathers do when the birds are irritated. Place on head and you have a very distracting and distinctive hat.

The color of course would have to be beige. Nevermind. Knowing Maldynado he would never wear a color as mundane as beige. It needs to be ecru.

As you can imagine, the description of said hat made it very hard to finish dinner.

Sonya:

Hat #1: Beyond tactics and sound judgment, the single most important quality in naval officers is the ability to present an image of being unflappably, totally in control. This hat was made with that ideal firmly in mind. In many respects, it was a standard-issue black naval bicorne. However, this hat, unlike its more mundane contemporaries, rested entirely on a large gyroscopic balance within the crown, so as to be always level no matter how much the wearer pitched or swayed. It was made to offer a sailor the image of his or her commander being a fixed, reliable, and immutable point on a turbulent ship. Whether it would in fact do so at sea was unknown, but it certainly tended to impart a strangely unsettled feeling in onlookers on land – most of whom would only gradually become aware that, depending on your point of view, either the hat was staying still while the man moved under it, or the man was staying still and the hat was slowly roaming around his head. It was unnerving. And produced in Maldynado the pronounced desire to fidget.

A last comic from Seth who entertained us with several entries on Facebook:

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