How do I give my needle felted animal cute detailed feet or tiny toes? This tutorial will hopefully inspire you with some ideas for how you might tackle felting animal feet and a step by step guide…
My ‘Ultimate Guide To Needle Felting’ is jam packed full of how to, top tips, do's and don'ts, written tutorials and videos. Just click on the drop down menus above to get started. Every page is designed to guide you on your needle felting journey, step by creative, confident step. All you need is a
Foxglove felts - A blog about feltmaking
Äntligen har sommarvärmen kommit även till Jämtland! Då får man passa på att tova utomhus, och ta sig an ullen som klipptes i våras. Vinterull, som klipps på våren, anses ofta vara av sämre kvalite…
Unable to find a model with time I've resorted to the one that can't move. I bought this at an antique auction and it really is falling apart. It needs some shoulders to show this well but it will have to do.. The first pics are the preliminary work of the wrap before the final dye. One learns many lessons on the samples you take away from a workshop. I learnt a valuable one WRAP VERY TIGHTLY. It all ended up very orange and the more subtle parts were lost. Luckily I spent many years as a potter and have learnt the art of moving on and not becoming too attached to pieces. India's piece of London scrap has played nicely on the front leaving an interesting mark from the hinge. I've called this one the "Felt Pelt"
Shibori is a Japanese technique, often used in dying textiles, which involves twisting, stitching and tying fabric so that the dye creates interesting patterns. In felt making it can be used to create interesting textures too, using the capacity of wet felt to mould and form permanent shapes as it dries. If that makes me sound as if I know what I'm doing, don't be fooled - this is my first experiment. I made a roughly circular piece of felt layering different colours and finishing with some black in the centre, then some silk strands to add some shine. While still wet, I pushed some wooden beads into the back of the felt and used elastic bands to secure them in place. When the felt was completely dry, I removed the bands, popped out the beads, and found that the felt retained its "bubbles" where the beads had been, leaving the excess felt around the border prettily ruched up. I snipped some of the bubbles open so that the coloured layers were revealed. I tried this on three smaller pieces, as I thought they might make flower brooches. They are quite thin - almost transparent, at the edges, and thicker in the middle. I might add some beads in between the "bubbles". A close up view of the bubbles And the back view - you can see the spaces where the beads were.
In April, I traveled down to California to the Tin Thimble to take a class from my friend Leiko Uchiyama . I was finally able to get the...
Lisa Klakulak focuses her instruction on understanding the material and process in order to apply good technique and craftsmanship in implementing the elements of art and the principles of design.
How to Fully Full your Felt – Instructions for making the best possible felt using Superfine Merino tops To understand how to make great felt you must first understand the basis mechanisms of why wool felts and the different stages … Continue reading →
Filzen geht schneller als stricken.
This simple, step-by-step, free wet-felting tutorial utilizes a tumble dryer, a balloon, a bubble-wrap template and some beautiful, brightly colored merino wool roving to create this stunning bird pod.
La semaine dernière j'ai donné à nouveau une formation à Felletin au Centre de Formation LAINAMAC. Pendant 5 jours les participants ont pu découvrir des possibilités de création des reliefs dans la surface feutrée, ainsi une manière de réalisation...
As I have may have mentioned, I will have 5 students in my studio for a bag class this weekend. I have no samples here of the collage bag as they are all at galleries or sold. Decided I would make a small one to show them a design option. I think we will use the same shape, bigger and add a shorter strap. That is the plan, in any case. I will make another sample tomorrow, perhaps. The felting on this little bag was one of the easiest steps, the stitching and zipper can be a bit tricky. I have done it enough times, I have my own system down. I purchase the rings (in this case they happen to be "gate rings") and this particular leather strap on Etsy from these folks but there are lots of other sources on Etsy so have a look. So...now to show you some stuff... Layout done (resist inside), all silk and embellishments added and ready to felt midway though felting, showing texture. Terrible picture (dark) but shows the shrinkage- 40% at least, folks! Adding rings. deciding on placement. Yup. That's good. Pinned in Zipper Unzip and sew from inside. Zipper in. Added optional zipper pull. Funky bead and silk ribbon. Done! It is a little bag, so the sewing was fiddly. ...and the reverse! Visit my site www.andrea-graham.com
Work life has been very busy lately. To make the most of my art time, I've been looking at ways to streamline my process a bit. I've been wanting to do a hanging piece with my stones, without having the weight of actual stones. I've made solid wool stones before by needle-felting them firmly and then wet-felting them, but it takes time that I just don't have right now. This method allows me to make a batch of stones at a time with much less effort. Want to give it a try? You'll need: wool roving/batting that will felt felted wool sweater a knee-high stocking or a leg from pantyhose scissors washing machine felting needle (optional but helpful) plastic bag dish soap If you've followed my tutorial for felted stones, this will be pretty self-explanatory. We'll substitute felted sweater for the stone, following the same steps, but allowing the washing machine to do the felt work for us. From the wool sweater, cut a basic stone shape. You'll want to cut one larger piece for the center, widest, part of the stone and two smaller pieces, one for the top and one for the bottom. No need to get exact here as the felting will alter the shape and make it nicely rounded. Next you'll lay out a little mat of roving for your stone slightly wider and about 3 times longer than your stone. Lay a thin layer out with the fibers running horizontally, and a second layer with the fibers running vertically. This will encourage the fibers to tangle together more easily around your "stone". Roll the wool "stone" up in the fiber, tucking the sides in and making a neat little package. Using your felting needle, tack the edges and ends in place. No need to needle the whole surface, just get it to stay put long enough to get to the next step. Now repeat those steps until you have a pile of little wool stones-to-be, and grab your stocking. If the stocking you're using has a seam in the toe, turn it inside out. I've found that the seam will make an indent in the stone, which is fixable, but easily avoidable. Now slide your first stone down into the toe of the stocking and tie a knot right above it. Keep adding stones and tying between each one until the stocking is filled. Resist the urge to whack people with your stocking of stones. The kids will see and follow suit. (I make the mistakes so you don't have to) Now, if you want to make lots and lots of stones this way you can save up all your stone-filled stockings until you have a washer load full. If you want to make just a few, or if you are impatient, toss that stocking in with a load of jeans and let 'er go. I ran these for one cycle, but if you see they're not felting well enough, toss them in another load and let them go again. They're pretty gnarly looking when they're done. Get out your scissors and set them free. Cut above the knot and peel the stocking off of your stone. Whoa. The surface is pretty unruly, but that's okay, we can fix the surface. We're more concerned about the center being pretty well felted. That's the step that takes time if you were to do them by hand. These are well-felted so we'll just address that surface fuzz. Take your fuzzy stone to the sink and wet the surface with a little warm water and a drop of soap. Rub the stone using the plastic bag for about 30 seconds. Rinse off the stone and set it aside to dry. See? So much better. In a relatively short amount of time and with minimal felting effort you can have a whole pile of solid wool stones that you can use in your projects. A few things to keep in mind: Choose a wool center that won't bleed color, or choose a color that will work with your design if it does bleed. Grey is a safe choice, red might not be. Some plastic bags are printed with ink that will transfer once wet. Turn your plastic bag inside out and avoid using the printed area. After you rinse your stone, just set it down and let it dry. You can trim off any stray fuzzies with small scissors once it's dry. ******** Soon...well, soonish...I'll show you what I did with mine. If you try this out I'd love to see what you're doing with them. Drop me a line or leave a comment and share! If you find this, or one of my other tutorials, helpful and would like to make a monetary contribution to help me keep wool in my basket and ideas flowing, I'd be so grateful. By clicking the "Buy Now" button below you can choose your own price for the tutorial. It's completely optional, but oh so appreciated.
A few weeks ago I have met Anna Gunnarsdottir, a very calm and nice felter from Iceland. She was teaching a workshop in making shells of felt. Anna made a big swift in her carriere. From being nurse first she is now a great felter. Her shells are famous all over the world. The last ones she has made are more than 1 meter long and travelled the whole way from Iceland to Australia. She is using special techniques to create the form and the stifness. In this workshop she shared all her secrets with us in making these objects. From shells, to boxes and harmonica's. Not all my samples were finished, but I had a wonderfull time in this workshop, learned a lot and I went home with my head spinning around full of new ideas... Twee weken geleden heb ik kennis mogen maken met Anna Gunnarsdottir, een bekend viltster uit IJsland. Ze gaf een viltworkshop in Amersfoort. Na jaren als verpleegster te hebben gewerkt, besloot ze een carriereshift te maken. Met een gedegen kunstopleiding als bagage heeft ze op een gegeven moment de IJslandse wol ter hand genomen en is gaan experimenteren. Het maken van schelpen zijn haar handelsmerk geworden. Moment wordt er in Australie reuzeschelpen van meer dan 1 meter lang tentoongesteld. Zij heeft een eigen techniek ontwikkeld om deze speciale vorm en stevigheid te krijgen. In deze workshop was zij zeer vrijgevig in het delen van haar kennis. We maakten schelpen, doosjes en harmonica's. Het waren twee dagen waarin ik toch weer veel heb geleerd. Het duizelt in mijn hoofd van ideeen om dit in mijn eigen werk te gaan toepassen. Hieronder een eerste poging om de harmonicatechniek te gebruiken als een mega kralensnoer. Nog verre van perfect, maar wel heel leuk om verder uit te diepen.
Äntligen har sommarvärmen kommit även till Jämtland! Då får man passa på att tova utomhus, och ta sig an ullen som klipptes i våras. Vinterull, som klipps på våren, anses ofta vara av sämre kvalite…
Lets talk about quality of felt today. I have seen many felted items of amazing quality and texture and I also saw some which needed just extra 5-10 minutes of attention. When making a felt item, we are looking to make sure that it functions according to its purpose. A felted hat has to keep the shape, felted clothes look beautiful if felt drapes well, a shawl or scarf to be soft and light.How to understand if the felt is ready or requires another 5 minutes of rolling or fulling? It is very dif
It's hard to understand : yesterday (and the day before) I was sitting in the garden in bright warm sunshine under a blue sky, today (going by boat to Rotterdam) I was wearing trousers, socks and my winter coat .... and was still sssshivering ! I'm soooo glad I finished that other pair of socks Though Mother Nature is definately telling us that Spring has begun (so good they're wearing their down feather coat !!!) And although I'm quite late with my present this birth mandala gives a bit of "Spring feeling" too (it will go in the mail tomorrow)
Lisa Klakulak focuses her instruction on understanding the material and process in order to apply good technique and craftsmanship in implementing the elements of art and the principles of design.
Experimenting in feltmaking, using references to acrylic painting (book in photo is by Flora Bowley) Annie We've been enjoying trying out other types of art and craft recently, to feed back into our feltmaking and give us a different perspective...
Jag har länge varit sugen på att tova en halskrage med Gotlandslockar, och nu har det blivit av. Eftersom de klippta ändarna på lockarna kan kännas något stickiga valde jag att bara sätta lockar ru…
Adding the bottom part of the garment and the attachments
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Jag har tovat tre väskor och lagt till lockar på lite olika sätt. Alla tre väskor är i grunden gjorda på samma sätt. Mellan lagren av kardad ull ligger ett glesvävt bomullstyg, för att ge väskan li…
