Wool, Soap, and Friction

I taught a felt purse class last Saturday. Eight women who had never felted before got down to it and each one made a fabulous piece. Above is the sample I used to show the elements that we used. The bag is made with the wet felting process, using a resist in the middle so the two sides don't felt together. The handle is rolled into a 'rope', similar to how we rolled Play Doh as kids. The balls are needle felted, then lightly wet felted into a tight ball. Seed beads are then sewn around them.


They picked out their colors from my massive amount of dyed wool and mohair roving, wool locks and bits of silk. We used cookie sheets so the water wouldn't drip everywhere.



We finished the wet felting, put them on the radiator to dry, had lunch and got right back to work, embellishing with more wool bits, beads, baubles and buttons.


After just a few hours work, they finished their masterpieces.


Even though they all started out similar, they all ended up very different, with their own flair and bling. They're all ready to be packed with a wallet and lipstick and taken shopping!

Fairy Slippers

The third Thursday of the month is our felting study group. We don't really study, we create. This month's project was making slippers. Above are Sharon's fairy slippers. She first made the felt material with wool roving and bits of yarn. Then pieces were cut out, sewn together into these adorable little shoes and embellished to make them even more awesome.


Sharon showed us how to stitch the ribbon on in this flower like pattern.


But it started here. When Sharon takes on a project, she does it in the most thorough way. She had lined up bags filled with various felted slippers, each done a different way. She explained each one, giving directions and showing a pattern for each. She even bought a pair of boots, deconstructed one and recreated it in in hand made felt, even adding a zipper.


These are just a few of the samples. They'll be decorated in time for our studio tour.


Grace wearing green, working with green, being green.


Roz fashioned fairy slippers for her granddaughter.


I decided to make regular slippers, not fairy slippers. I laid out layers of colorful roving first. It's hard to believe that mess of fluff.....


turned into these wearable booties. I need to turn down the tops, add some beads and ribbon and they'll be fabulous, and warm.


Cathy made hers with the cherries facing out when turned out.



This looks like the foot of Sasquatch but it turned out rather nice when it was felted down to a reasonable size. These are definately Bev's colors.


Sharon designs clothes and has plenty of beautiful material stacked on the shelves.


Her idea board.


and idea wall


Her thread is lined up by color. Sharon is an inspiration to us all and has the best studio for 'celebrating our spirit!' Thanks for putting up with us every month Sharon.

April Showers Bring Felt Flowers

My felt group's April workshop was to make felted flowers. Paige and Grace showed us some techniques using a cardboard cone. Above is the bouquet of flowers they made to show us examples of what we could try to do. The vase was felted in an earlier workshop.


A closeup of their flowers.




Paige showing us how to fine tune the felting of the inside of the flower. Materials included duct tape wrapped cone, bubble wrap, olive oil soap, netting, water.


Two of the finished flowers.


Our finished flowers. Now I just want to make an entire garden of felt flowers!


This is Judy's silk scarf that she embellished with pieces of felt, along with her flowers.

Warming Up To Felt

Once a month I attend a felt study group. Last week we had 10 women pulling out wool fiber and laying it down to make wrist warmers. Mine turned out to be more like glamorous gauntlets. I really do like them and the really do keep my wrists warm. They're dreamy.



These are Roz's before warmers. . .


. . .and after. Like a pinto pony.



Paige's before. . .

. . .and after. They are like elegant gossamer fingerless gloves.


Grace's warmers


Chris's fingers sticking out


Cindy's new wedding ring


and Bev proudly showing off her adorable warmers.


Zita and Sharon taught this class and were so well prepared. They had even made at least 10 pairs of warmers to show us how fabulous ours could turn out. They cut templates in 4 sizes to make it so easy for us to see how big we should make ours. Our work stations were good to go and we got to work felting. We all had various colors of wool roving, silk, yarn, scraps of silk and embellishments. They all turned out so differently, but all were wonderful.


More samples that Zita and Sharon had felted previously.




And at lunch Paige and Grace showed us their bouquet of flowers and their hair sticks with felted tops.


And that Sharon finished off the 'Show and Tell' with her amazing, astounding and awesome felt rugs that grace her award winning bathroom. I'm proud to say that she used my hand dyed roving. It never looked so good! Felt on!

Felting Folly

This is how it all begins. Well, not really, because it really begins with the sheep and their wool. But this is the washed, carded and dyed roving ready to be made into fantastic felted pieces. This is an example of my 'Fiber Folly', a bag full of a variety of colored roving.


I had a small felted purse class with just 2 sisters (one from CA and one local).


Even though they started out with the same size template, the purses ended up very different sizes.



I belong to a felting study group that meet once a month at a member's studio. Sharon has the most fantastic space and creates amazing pieces. Above is a scarf and coat that complement each other nicely.


A grand display of her many nuno felted scarves.


A natural colored fleece vest.


Sharon bought this headpiece at an art show. I don't know the artist's name but her work is impeccable, I mean PERFECT! I was in awe of the beadwork.

This photo does not do this hat justice. The flower is whimsical and wonderful.



I'm working on a commissioned piece. This is the before....


...and this is the after. MUCH smaller, in fact, too small. Hafta try again. This will become a small rug in my studio.


I have another felting class tomorrow and we'll be making more felted purses. Felting a purse makes for a good workshop as I cover wet felting, dry (needle) felting, making felt balls, 'snakes' for handles, and a few kinds of embellishments. I made this purse awhile ago, but it's one of my favorites, probably because of the colors.


An example of beaded embellishments on a simple bolero.