Dead Animal Hats

James Faulkner is getting press lately, though I think it may be for simply the shock value in the back story of how he got into hat making. His first hat was made from roadkill, literally a bird he found on the side of the road. He was broke, had to make a hat, and so used materials at hand. I can't attest for the quality of the hats, and he said himself that he is using more accessible materials; things with less gross out factors. Still, I thought about it as I drove through rural Iowa, where there are dead animals littering the road sides all along my drive. I had thought about what I might do as a reaction to seeing these poor animals on the side of the road, and a few days later heard about these hats. What a fitting response I thought.