Kristin Keller made her first hat five years ago on a whim. She just needed something to go with a black velvet, Victorian-style riding habit she was wearing to an event, and figured a hat would complete the ensemble.

"So I made one," she said of her black velvet miniature top hat with trailing mesh veil. "It took about two weeks and turned out great."

So she kept going and figures she now has 20 of her own creations.

On Saturday, Keller will unveil five of her newest hand-crafted, ocean-inspired hats and fascinators at the Waikiki Aquarium as part of its Ocean Literacy Day celebration, "Fish Tales: Chronicles, Critters & Crafts." Fascinators are typically a headpiece of feathers, flowers or mesh worn as a decorative alternative to a hat.

The family event will feature puppetry, cartoon drawing, face painting, Lego activities, photographs with Kariel the mermaid and storytelling, with ocean tales springing to life with the help of costumed characters. There also will be keiki arts and crafts, including lessons in hat-making with paper, and a keiki hat contest with a prize of a $100 California Pizza Kitchen gift card.

"I hope kids will bring hats and people will wear hats," said Keller, who worked as a museum curator in California before moving to Hawaii and finding work at the Hawaii State Library.

"As a museum curator, I got to look at the historic clothing and appreciate how things were made. Wearing hats is a lost practice that got attention again after William and Kate’s wedding. But in the past, it was just a part of getting dressed every day. It wasn’t about the one-time special occasion."

Although traditional couture millinery, involving shaping hats on blocks, can be intimidating, Keller takes a fun approach to making simple hats. Working at the library gave her access to books that taught her new techniques and styles, and rather than repeat herself, the books challenged her to keep trying new designs.

"It’s not hard to do. If you’ve done origami, if you’ve ever sewn something before, it’s really easy. The steps aren’t complicated, it’s just how you put it together. First, imagine what you want it to look like."

She said it’s easy to start with inexpensive materials around the house and she said she’ll often start with newspaper or magazine pages to work out her designs. In many cases, the paper hats turn out to be her finished product.

Before cutting out pieces, keep in mind that hats generally comprise three parts: the tip, crown and brim.

You can fasten the pieces with anything you have on hand, from staples to tape or glue. If all the pieces fit, you can take it apart and use the pieces as a pattern for fabric or her preferred material, buckram. It’s a stiff woven fabric, available from online millinery stores, that can be sewn and molded without blocks.

Along the way, she also picked up craft books to learn techniques to enhance her pieces.

For example, Keller learned kanzashi, the Japanese art of fabric folding, which she used to create her starfish.

Not everything works out. On the hat she calls "Flow," using her kanzashi starfish, she said she first tried using an ostrich plume to suggest the light, foamy water of a wave breaking on shore.

"The fabric and the ostrich feather were not a good match, so then I tried adding a veil, but that didn’t look right either. That’s when I decided it just needed a color."

For Keller, making hats is about having fun. It’s not a business, although she’s made hats for friends. She says she’s never made a hat for someone without knowing the person first in order to create something that suits their style and personality.

She hopes others will adopt the same spirit of fun in making hats.

"Because it’s an art form, there’s not a wrong way to do things, just a better way. I started by hand sewing to keep layers together, but you can also use spray adhesives to save time. You can also pick up pre-folded fabric for trim, rather than making your own, but I make my own. It looks better.

"The only problem is that it’s hard to find materials in Hawaii so I’ve had to go online to millinery shops, but it’s hard when you can’t feel, touch and poke at the materials."

After the aquarium event, she’ll start working on her Halloween costumes.

"I’ll have five costumes for Halloween, one for each different event," she said, including Honolulu Museum’s ARTafterDARK, various costume contests and for strolling Waikiki.

She’s thinking "zombie apocalypse" as one theme. Even a zombie may have a lingering sense of style.