Jessop’s Journey is about people, places and things you may not know about.
Here’s something you might not know. Custom hats. They’re still be made, right here in Utah and these are the guys that make mine. JW Custom Hats.
JW Custom Hats were chosen to represent Utah in the 4th annual Made in America Product Showcase! #madeinamerica . ” In a tribute to American workers, Made in America highlights companies that utilize American manufacturing and ingenuity. Here’s the link for the list from all 50 states .
Recently I did an interview with a great artist by the name of Greg Newbold. He did this special line drawing for me. You know it is in the opening of a lot of my series. Well, he lost a hat in Jordan and we’re not talking West Jordan. We’re talking the real Jordan. So I said, you know we are going to get you hooked up. So I’m hooking him up with my friend, Raymond Crane. Raymond is the owner of JW Custom Hats.
The cool thing about JW Custom Hats is that they have an easy “design your own hat” setup. Let’s take a peek as Greg designs his own custom hat with the help of Raymond.
RAYMOND – First of all, let’s get you measurements here. We have all sizes of blocks. Going just around the eyebrow muscle and above your ears. I’ll go ahead and measure you from the top of your head to the top of your ear to make sure that the hat is not going to rub on the top of your head.
Now you get the fun part of choosing which crown that you like.
GREG – You’ve got a lot of choices.
RAYMOND – The first principle I go with for choosing a good custom crown. I choose something that matches or mirror images your jawline. That way it will look symmetrical and look natural.
GREG: I kind of like something that comes to a nice finger hold. Maybe something a little bit like this.
RAYMOND – Next you get to choose your brim.
GREG – I want it to shade my face and my neck. When I go outdoors painting. I just want to feel shaded.
RAYMOND – This has a nice drop to it in the front and back and a slight curl. Is this more what you were looking for? GREG – Yeh. RAYMOND – Want to try that on and confirm that. GREG- Yeh – a little curl but a drop like that.
RAYMOND – Next you get to choose any of these colors that we have up here.
GREG – Something like this.
RAYMOND – Sand is a great color. GREG – I like that color.
RAYMOND – So I have all of these ribbons that offer now. We also have leather bands. And we also have all our antique ribbons. These antique ribbons date back to the 1920’s.
GREG- I think these look cool. What if we layered a couple of these up.
RAYMOND Oh nice. Do you have any pins you want to bring in like Doug. Doug loves to bring in his vintage pins.
GREG – Doug told me that we likes to do that. This is the logo symbol of one my favorite artists, Maynard Dixon. Stick a little feather in the top there. I think that will be dynamite.
RAYMOND – We are going to give you all that fun and make it for yourself. GREG- I’m a rookie.
DOUG – How’s he treating ya? GREG- Awesome – RAYMOND laughs.
CUSTOM HAT MAKING IS A CRAFT THAT TAKES TIME. WE USED THE MAGIC OF TELEVISION TO SHOW THE STEPS OF STEAMING AND STRETCHING
RAYMOND We’re going to go ahead and get this all steamed up and that will help expand the felt and then we can stretch it over the block. You’re going to just pull that right down over the block. What we are trying to do is shrink down the crown and just moving those fibers back into each other
THEN SANDING
RAYMOND What you’re going to do is put your hand on it and sand it on the top. You’re going to go down and the back up.
GREG – So you start on the top.
RAYMOND You’re going to be on the left side when you come down. We actually want it to feel like velvet afterwards. That really helps it to shine and feel like a million bucks when you wear it.
IRONING
RAYMOND – it’s ironing out the crown.
GREG – I can’t screw this up right? RAYMOND – MMM. (laughter)
CUTTING
RAYMOND – It’s knowing where to put the pressure. At the very end it should be all even.
DOUG VO: CREASING
RAYMOND You’re making a crease This part is where you actually start creasing in your two dimples right here.
JUST THE RIGHT RIBBON WORK AND FINISHING TOUCHES
With another hidden gem on Jessop’s Journeys, with Raymond from JW Custom Hats and my buddy, Greg Newold, I’m Doug Jessop, ABC4 News.
ATTENTION BUSINESS OWNERS – If you would be interested in having me come to your business and do a Jessop’s Journeys feature story, send me an email at djessop@abc4.com about your business and I’ll contact you with details about this marketing opportunity.
I’m blessed to do a number of news story series that air on ABC4 News. It is also my pleasure to have a number of my stories appear on various Nexstar Media Group TV station websites.
*You can also see my positive business profiles called “Utah Success Stories” every Sunday in the ABC4 News at 10 p.m. and online at www.abc4.com/success
*Everyone has a Story. Stories have Power. They help us Understand each other. “Jessop’s Journal” features in-depth, on-demand interviews not normally available in the news. A new segment is published every week at www.abc4.com/journal . Sometimes I interview musicians on Jessop’s Journal and ask them to perform – those musical specials “Jessop’s Jukebox” are also available at www.abc4.com/journal.
*Watch my on-the-road series, “Jessop’s Journeys”, where I highlight People, Places and Things you might not know about, Wednesdays in “Good Things Utah” from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Previous stories are archived at www.abc4.com/journeys .
For a sneak peek at stories I’m working on and to see archives of previous stories, please consider following me at www.DougJessop.com, www.YouTube.com/dougjessop , www.Facebook.com/dougjessopnews, www.Instagram.com/dougjessopnews and www.Twitter.com/dougjessopnews Here are some of the hashtags I use: #jessopsjournal #jessopsjourneys #utahsuccessstories #dougsdailyplantpics #dougshatoftheweek #tvhatguy
I strongly feel that “stories have power”. Chances are that if you are going through something, that someone else probably has as well. The shared experiences we humans have can help each other. That my friend makes the point that stories “help us understand each other.”
You don’t have to agree with everyone, but in my opinion, if people would take more time getting to knowing more about others and where they are coming from, we just might find out that we have more similarities than differences.
A big shout out goes to my collaborator, Ed Wilets , who does a great job as my videographer/editor for all my stories. I invite you to watch each episode of Jessop’s Journal at www.ABC4.com/Journal and share these stories with your friends and neighbors. Your feedback is always welcome at DJessop@abc4.com
Thank you for watching, reading, liking, subscribing and all that other fun stuff. I’m Doug Jessop, ABC4 News.
This story contains sponsored content.
