i felt like it

Not A Bad Mornings Work

2012-02-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

I have been putting off doing the finishing work on more that a few items. This morning I wouldn't let myself felt until I got most of this done. My finished projects are whats pictured here.

I had made this felt collar three months ago, all it needed was a button and a button hole. I decided to use this black vintage button, and it only took ten minutes! I am such the procrastinator!

I made a few of these white merino cuffs with Wensleydale locks on the edges, I think they look so pretty, like natures lace. This one on the right has some pearl buttons and is for my lovely daughter-in-law, Alex. I made two more that I may put on the Etsy site or I may give them to my Aunt to wear to the Renaissance Fair.

This is a purple cuff that I had nuno felted some silk onto then put it in a dye bath of Brazilwood. I left it in a little to long and the silk totally disappeared and turned purple. So, I've tried to salvage it and did some free motion embroidery on it. Still not sure if it's up to selling standard. I do like the design though.

Below is just a pic of some of my favorite embellishment treasures. I am an avid collector of buttons and tend to like shell and bone ones the best. If any one knows what the name or the use is for the white pearl circles on the bottom with the two tiny holes at the very top, I would love to find out!

The Making of a Pillow

2012-02-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

I've had this idea in my head for a few weeks for a pillow cover and finally got a chunk of time to make it. The photo on the right is what it looked like dry, before I wetted it out. I laid down silk on the dark brown base then put these swirls of merino, bamboo, and wool yarn on top. Part of what I love so much about felting is how different the finished product ends up looking like. You have to be able to imagine the final outcome. I almost always learn something new with every project I do.

I laid down four layers of dark brown wool in a cross hatch for the base . The more layers you put the less it will shrink. I wanted this to shrink up quite a bit because I love how the silk crinkles up when you get a lot of shrinkage. The photo here on the right is what it looked out after I wet it out and rolled it once in the bubble wrap.

This is just a close up of one of the circles after wetting it out. The colors compress and take on such a different look. The picture below are the colors of roving I used to make the swirls. I blended some of them using hand carders to get my own colors.
The finished product is the large pic at the bottom. The colors are actually richer than the picture, I just love the outcome. It started out being 28 " inches square when dry. After fulling it, shrinking it,the

finishes size is 16" square. I probably could have gotten it smaller but I wanted it to fit on the back of my leather chair and it's the perfect size now.
My mission today is to find some fabric to back it with, if I don't find anything I may just make a large piece of brown felt for the back.

Felted Glass? Absolutely

2012-02-09T02:56:00.000-08:00

This is my latest fascination with felt...there are so many varied ways to use this amazing wool fiber! I've been playing around with encasing glass with merino wool and felting it so it's nice and tight around the glass. Then I cut out shapes on both sides of the glass so that the light can shine through. A friend of mine said it's kind of like stained glass only you use felt instead of lead....that got my head going! I have ideas now for designs that are similar to stained glass... soon. It is a bit tricky, I'll have to say. There were some failures in the beginning, but that's how you learn, right! If I cut too much felt away, I ended up with edges that are saggy and want to pull away from the glass allowing the glass to pop right out. I also have to factor in the weight of the glass, like the red one on the right. It is rather thick glass, about 1/4" inch, so the design is also helping the glass stay put. I had to also pay a lot of attention to

cutting out the design, it had to be the same on both sides. I finally figured out that holding it up to the light enabled me to cut more precisely on both sides.
I love the purple one at the top! They are large pieces of beach glass so the color is muted, it looks wonderful when the light comes shining through it. I used a short fiber merino batt and some silk for this one. The purple and yellow one here on the left is the bottom of a bottle that a friend in Florida found on the beach, she sent me some round ones too, they're next! The edges are all bumpy and soft from being ground down by the surf, I really wanted to see those so I cut away the felt to expose them. Actually, all the glass I use is beach glass, except for the red one, that came from an old piece of stained glass that had an accident. Below is a picture of where I hang all my little creations, it's the door to my cabin where I do all of my felting. Around two o'clock the sun comes shining through and lights them all up,

beautiful. I really am so lucky to have such a magical place among the redwoods to do this work that I love so much! I got a card last week that sums it up perfectly:

Do what you
LOVE
what you do

And i do!
This is the perfect time to mention that all of this is possible because of my husband, Jack, who supports me completely in my fascination with felting. He is my most honest critic, he too is constantly amazed at what can be made with felt. It is so important to have the support of your family and friends in any endeavor one takes on in life, and I have such a great network of both, thank you all. Sometimes I marvel at my good fortune!
When I finish my big "stained glass" piece, it still needs more mulling over in the brain, I'll post it up here. If there are any wet felters out there that want to experiment with this and want more info on how to do it and what materials to use just drop me a note and I'll be glad to lay out the steps for you. You don't need to use beach glass, any glass will do. If you want to use beach glass though, Etsy is a good source, I've seen some good collections on there. All of these are wet felted by the way, that's mostly what I do.
Thanks for stopping by! Terry

Beginning My Third Year

2012-01-20T04:42:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I've been felting for two years now, I started in January of 2010. It feels like I've been doing it much longer! Maybe that's because I can't imagine myself not felting, it's such a huge part of my life now. Yet there is a part of me that say's, yeah-just two years, because I have so much still to learn before I feel I'm really on top of it. I look at the felters out there who's work I admire and they have quite a few years experience working with fiber and you can tell by the quality of their work. I have to keep reminding myself of that, often when I see some great work in felt I can feel myself getting frustrated because I'm not able to produce that caliber of work, both design wise and technique wise. So, I'll keep taking classes and try to

perfect what I've learned and continue experimenting with new ideas.

Lately I've been playing around with making jewelry with felt. I took a course this summer on felted adornment from Lisa Klakulak up in Mendocino and learned the techniques I'm using here to make these necklaces and the bracelet. The necklaces are wet felted cords and closures that I make with these beautiful beads my cousin creates. I love the simplicity of them and how well they show off her beads. I'm probably going to put some on the Etsy site since I love making them and a gal can only use so many.

The bracelet is made from a natural merino that I love working with and I used some dark grey partial felt circles that I wet felted onto the bracelet. I did some machine stitching on it also, another technique I learned from Lisa last summer, and then sewed on these great vintage buttons that have huge holes in them. I was told from the lady I got them from they originally were used to hold ones bloomers up-before the invention of elastic! There is a loop and post closure in the back that were also wet felted onto the bracelet. These bracelets are so fun to make, I'm working on two more now and trying to incorporate more of the things I've learned over these past two years.

A Contradiction to Consider

2011-12-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Can one be in a contradiction? Or does one feel contradicted about something? Either way I think I'm there. I looked contradiction up and it gave this meaning:
a combination of statements, ideas or features of a situation that are opposed to one another. Hmmm. Here is the deal...the holidays are upon us, and I love the holidays. I put the red stocking I made in the previous posting up for sale on my Etsy shop (ifeltlikeitbyterry) and it got lots of hits and was "favorited" many times. And, yes, it sold. One gentleman even asked if I could make four stockings in different colors with that design on them, they're pictured above. He was very flattering and naturally I said yes! I could really use the $$ too. So far I've sold 8 stockings off my site and I'm super happy about that.
Here is the "contradiction" . I would one day like to feel comfortable calling myself a fiber artist. That being said, am I getting off on the right foot creating multiples of something-the same thing over and over-like offering the above stockings again? I ended up re-listing them on my site, and I hate to say it but the main reason was that it was an easy money maker. OK, I know we're just talking Christmas stockings here, but it's a start. One reason people buy hand made is because they want to get something original. I would hate to buy a nuno felted scarf and a few weeks later see that same scarf on someone else, or even for sale again in the shop I bought it from.
A friend of mine said I'm being too hard on myself and that since I did design them I should feel free to make as many of them as I like. True too. But does someone who wants to consider herself an artist one day create the same thing over again or does she come up with new and original ideas in order to further her creativity?
Now I think I may contradict myself...I've started making these simple necklaces pictured below left. I make a felt cord with these beautiful lampwork beads my cousin makes on them. They are tricky to make since you have create the cord while the bead is on it. Anyway, I'm really jazzed at how they turned out, there is a felt loop and hook at the back. I just got a new batch of beads and plan to make some of the necklaces in different colors to put on my etsy site. Now here, I don't feel that making multiples of the necklaces is a problem like I did with the stockings. Hmmm. Now I could never make a replica of the scarf I just made, pictured below right. That would just be plain wrong in my book. Now, in another color with different yarns....maybe. Contradiction?
One thing I am sure of though is that I love making felt and feel blessed to be able to have the opportunity to do what I love. For that I need to thank my husband, Jack. He makes it possible for me to study the craft of felting and then run with what I've learned. I am such a lucky gal! And there is no contradiction there.

Wet Felting 101

2011-11-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

I've been emailing with a gal who really wants to learn wet felting and was asking me about some of the how's and why's so I told her I would try to do a photo/blog on some of the steps. This is my first try at this so go easy on me....just email me if I get confusing. I took pics while I was making a Christmas stocking.
First start with some merino or corriedale roving, pictured right. Then make a template from some plastic tarp or I use flooring underlayment, found at a home improvement

store. Make it 1/3 larger than desired finished size. Place your template on a piece of netting larger than your stocking. You are going to be laying down thin layers of wool, pull gently out of your roving a thin "shingle" of wool and lay them horizontally across your template, being sure to slightly overlap the template; light pic at left. Cover the template then go back over the horizontal layer and lay another layer crosswise.

The fibers will be making a cross-hatch, pictured right.... Cover the template the same way with this second layer, again, slightly overlapping.
Now lay another piece of netting gently over the whole stocking lay out and using a scrunched up plastic bag, apply some room temp. water with just a light amount of liquid soap dissolved in it. Just press the wet bag onto the netting . You just want to wet the two layers so don't be too over anxious with the water at first. Once

it's wet, leave the netting on and using the netting it's laying on carefully flip the whole thing over, right. Remove to netting. Fold over the excess wool, right, this will help create a solid piece. Now you are going to lay two layers of wool, as above, to fill in. Layer the wool slightly overlapping the red already on the template, wet as directed above. Now you have one layer completely wrapping the template. Now you need to lay the beginning of your second layer. Lay two layers of wool over the template and have it over lap the edge of the template like you did at first.

This is the layer you get to decorate. After you have laid out your wool put down a design. I used green wool yarn and white swirls of white merino roving to make this design. Use any color of roving or wool yarns to decorate. During the felting process they will fuse with the wool, it's very cool. Be sure not to overlap the edge with your design. Lay the netting over the whole thing and wet. Carefully flip this over....

Now you're going to fold the overlap over the edge of the template again and finish adding the rest of your second layer, filling in. Are you getting how this will all become a solid piece?
Now you are going to get a sheet of bubble wrap that is at least 24" inches wide and 5-6' feet long and either a pool noodle or pvc pipe(we felters are very inventive) and put your stocking on the flat side of

wrap and roll the wrap around the noodle so the bubbles are going to roll on top of your stocking (or if you have 10' of wrap like I do you fold it in half and have bubbles on both sides....) Pic left. Roll it all the way up and tie it with 3-4 strips of nylons or t-shirt strips in evenly spaced intervals, below. Roll it back and forth, pressing lightly at first then getting to a medium pressure, 150 times-back once and forward once is one time!

Unroll it, flip it over. If you started it rolling up the sides, now you start rolling it up with the top or bottom. Alter that way each change. Lightly wet it with the soapy water, roll it and tie it back up and roll 150 times medium firm pressure from now on. Unroll, flip and alter side or top/bottom, wet, tie and roll 150 times. Unroll, flip and alter, wet, tie and roll 150 times. After doing this 4 times, rolling it 600 times, it's time to do the fulling, or shrinking. What you just did was to compact the layers of fibers, now your going to make the fibers integrate-the ends of the fibers will move closer together- and form a solid piece of fabric, this is fulling.
First cut a slit along the top and gently remove the template. Place your stocking on a solid surface that you can get wet... Don't pick at the decorations to see if they stuck!!

Lightly wet the piece, take some bar soap and lightly put some soap in your hands and pat it on the stocking. Now start at the top and roll all the way down, jellyroll fashion, and using a light touch roll it back and forth on itself, about to the count of 20, unroll. Put your hand in to see if it's sticking to itself and pry it apart.(you'll have to do this after each rolling-don't forget to do this!) Now roll from the bottom, 20 times, unroll and put your hand inside. You should notice some movement in the fibers, shrinking up just a little. The decorations will start to grab now too and shrink. Now re-wet and soap it, then roll from each side, 20 times each. Then repeat from the top. You will do this cycle until your stocking has shrunk about 1/3 of it's original size, above. The felt should be firm and solid, pinch the fibers on the surface and if they are loose at all keep fulling it. See how the yarn and the berries have totally integrated into the wool. By wrapping and overlapping the wool you have made a solid form. Isn't it magical!
Now thoroughly rinse your stocking of all soap. If you like you can soak it in a vinegar bath to neutralize the ph of the soap, about 1TBS per 2 gallons of water, for 15 minutes. Rinse well. Squeeze out water and then roll it in a towel to remove excess water. Reshape and dry flat-NEVER in the dryer!
Add a loop and you have a lovely Christmas stocking to hold all kinds of goodies!

Please don't hesitate to email me if you have questions about absolutely anything!
A few after thoughts:
I use a mild liquid dish washing soap to wet out the wool
My favorite bar soap is a pure olive oil soap
Have towels around to control the water, especially when rolling
Hope this helped...

The Making of A Pair of Boots

2011-11-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

I just completed the finishing touches on a this pair of felt boots I made a few weeks ago. The finished picture of the boots is here at the bottom, I think they turned out amazing!
The picture up at the top was the very beginning for this pair of boots. Here is the templates wrapped with a natural colored fleece and some wool yarn on the side flaps for a simple design. To give you some idea of scale, they started out being about 20" inches tall and 18" inches wide along the foot area. After rolling them about 800 times I removed the templates and begun the fulling process-that's where you get all those little fibers to come together and create a strong piece of felt-that took about an hour. When you think they are

close to being the size you want, you get to
put them on your bare feet, yep, all cold, wet and soapy, and rub them until they fit your feet. I actually made these bigger than my foot because I was going to be dyeing them and was afraid they would shrink up during that process...and they did! I made up a natural dye solution using Brazil wood-this makes a good solid red color. Since the wool I used was naturally a light brown I was hoping they would turn out a dark red/rust color...and
again, they did-as you can see.
To finish them off I stitched around the yarn design on the flap to help it stand out since it got a bit washed out in the dye process and added some brass steam punk buttons. The last step was to sew on the soles. These are great soles that you can get from a web site called Simple Shoe Making. You give her the length of your foot and pick out the soles you want from a number of different styles and colors, and she sends you custom soles and the material needed to sew them on-waxed linen thread and a leather needle. Mind you, sewing them on is a bit challenging. Just reserve a few hours and gather your patience. Once on though they really make the look of your boot stunning! But...are they comfortable and functional? Absolutely. I love wearing them. Now I have to find the perfect, long denim skirt to wear them with so you can see the whole boot.

My Felting Community

2011-10-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a week of felting with my two dear friends Jodie & Carin. Twice a year Carin opens up her workshop to Jodie and I; we bounce new ideas off each other, experiment with new techniques and felt our hearts out. I am so lucky to have such creative & intelligent "felting buddies"! I know that I have become a better felter because of them, I truly believe having friends that share and understand your creative passion

is really key if you want to continue to grow artistically.
We are a little felting community! In fact, Carin held a felting weekend for a group of about 12 women this past summer, sharing her expertise and amazing work space. Usually Carin travels to teach day long classes in Los Gatos, Lumis and throughout California, she is a highly sought after instructor, but this summer the students came to her. It was such a success she'll be doing it again next summer. Having a community of felters is partly why I started this blog, I am hoping to connect with other felters so we can share experiences and support other like minded, creative souls.

Here are a few photos of some of the things I made during the week at Carins.

Above is a scarf I made for me, this won't show up on the Etsy site! I don't even know what the style is called... It's an open weave pattern similar to the one I blogged about earlier. It's made from a super soft blend of 50% merino wool and 50% silk, I am so happy with how it turned out. The pic doesn't do the colors justice, dark burgundys, browns, dark gold-just yummy. This will be around my neck all winter.
To the right is a pair of boots I made out of some natural colored romney wool then I dyed them in a natural dye of Brazil wood to get the dark red. Now I need to stitch the leather soles on and add some buttons to the side flaps. I also made a pair of gloves from natural merino and white silk and dyed those also in the Brazil wood. Luckily I made both bigger than need be, I was right to be concerned that they might shrink in the dye pot. The dye needs to be at a low simmer for an hour and we all know how wool shrinks up in hot water!

The cowel on the left was the first thing I made and had intentions of dyeing it...but it looked so good as it was with the natural colored merino on the inside and the white merino with white silk on the outside. If Carin and Jodie hadn't have been there to give their "don't dye it!!" opinion it might be red. I now need to put a button on it then list it for the Etsy shop. It should go to someone who lives where it's really cold because I would get much too hot wearing it here in California! I wish the close up of the nuno silk showed up better because I was able to get
the silk to ruffle up, something I have been trying to do lately.
The piece to the right ended up being my favorite piece of the week . Carin showed me how to do it using her hand dyed Romney locks to make a kind of water color effect with the flowers. I played for hours "painting" flowers and leaves, I was in heaven. I had intended to make a pillow for my living room out of it but it ended up being a 24" square, much too big. That's fine, it's hanging in my felting cabin and I made another when I got home that can be a pillow.

Just for Wet Felting!

2011-09-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you come across an actually amazing tool for your craft and I have! In felting we use so many tools that were meant for something else; bubble wrap, pool noodles, sponges, plastic bags, wash boards~I could go on and on! These little multicolored tools to the right were created just for wet felting. In the other pictures you will see that they have raised ribs along the sides. You use the colored ribbed side to rub on your wet felt during the fulling or shrinking stage, be sure you have plenty of water and soap so you don't pill your felt. They are so cool! I just used one on a pair of boots I'm making and they shrunk down the instep and heel part wonderfully. Because of the glazing on the working side it slides across the felt with out ripping up the felt or pilling it like some of the other fulling methods out there. They fit perfectly in the palm of your hand and are great for getting in those tough spots. They measure three and a half inches by two and a half inches and come in about four or five different colors. A friend of mine, Carin Engen, has them made and sells them on her blog site artfullyfelt.blogspot.com. If your interested in one just contact her. And they are actually really nice looking, we deserve to have nice tools for our craft !

Make A Wish

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

I had such a great week last week at my Etsy shop! All in the same day......someone from London purchased my sunflower pillow for a nice sum and the Make A Wish Foundation contacted me and asked me if I would contribute my other commission flower pillow to their upcoming auction that is being held at Clint Eastwood's Tehama Golf Club in Carmel, CA on October 22! Pretty darn cool! Of course I agreed to make the pillow. I just finished it last night and it's all boxed up and ready to ship.

This is a picture of the finished pillow for the Make A Wish auction. You'll recognize it from the side column of the blog, that pillow was one of two that was commissioned by my friends client for her new home. I decided to put the same design up on my Etsy site as a commission piece since I love how it turned out. Here is the link to my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/terrysifeltlikeit?ref=si_shop
Below is a close up of the center of the flower, the gold center is a piece of silk from a scarf I found in a charity shop in San Diego.

While there is a simplicity to the design it definitely wasn't simple to make. For those new to felting I'll briefly describe the process, this is what I did to end up with this 16" square pillow....The petals are a hand dyed blend of 50% merino wool and 50% silk. To make the petals I first had to make to large sheets of partial felts (or pre-felts). To do this you lay down two layers of the fleece in a 26" square on top of an extra large piece of bubble wrap. I wet it out, gave it a bit of soap then rolled it up around a 2" wooden dowel, tied it up then rolled it 200 times. I opened it up to flip it and turn it, give it some more water and soap then rolled it back up and rolled it another 200 times. Repeat and 200 more times. Now that it's been "felted"-all the fibers have been interwoven from the layers of wool, it's time to "full" it. This is where you get all those interwoven fibers to move closer together and become more dense. Since the fibers are moving closer together that means the piece will begin to shrink. When you make a partial felt you only partially make a piece of finished felt. I shrunk the 26" square down to about 21". Out of these partial felt sheets I cut out the shape of the petals exactly the shapes you see on the pillow only larger. Hang on, you'll get it soon. My next step was to lay out four layers of black merino wool in a 26" square on top of the bubble wrap. On top of this I placed my design just how it looks on the finished pillow only to the scale to fit a 26" square, remember the felt is going to shrink. First I place down the center piece of silk then around that I laid two rows of sari silk yarn-look closely and you'll see it. Then the petals went down. I placed a piece of netting over the top of the pillow cover and wet it out and then soaped it. I gently rubbed with soapy hands over the flower petals, coaxing the fibers in the petals to mesh with the black merino. Once I was sure they had begun to mesh I rolled it up in the bubble wrap and, yep, rolled it 200 times. I opened and moved the piece, gently, wet it and repeated this until I had rolled it (one roll is forward and back) 800 times. The piece was completely felted and now I fulled it to shrink it up. Fulling is where I roll the sheet up cigar style and roll it back and forth and this causes the fibers to move closer together and the sheet becomes thicker and stronger. This process of fulling took about 45 minutes. When it was done it had shrunk down to about a 17" square, that's close to 10" length and width wise! From start to finish it was about 6 hours.
This whole process that I briefly described never fails to thrill me. I was able to take loose, light & flimsy wool and with some soap, water and agitation I made a beautiful yet durable and strong piece of felt! I just love this craft! I'm hoping someone will bid high on my pillow so it can make some money for the Make A Wish Foundation. This is the first time I've been involved with them but I do know they bring a whole lot of joy to some very sick children, I'm truly honored to be able to participate in this event. If you want to find out more about the foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area you can go to www.SFwish.org. I know they are always accepting donations for their auctions from artisans so all you crafters and artists out there give it some consideration!

Natural Fiber Fair & Natural Colors to Dye For

2011-09-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I attended my first fiber fair. The Natural Fiber Fair is a Northern California event that was a two day event held in Arcada this year. There were weavers, spinners, felters, fabric designers, dyers, knitters, rug hookers.......it was fantastic. There was a main area with vendors selling all types of fibers and products made from fibers or to make fibers as well as demonstrations and classes.
This is a photo of Carin Engen and Sara in Carin's booth Artfully Felt. Carin is a dear friend and one of the organizers of the fair. This year she asked me to have a few things in her booth. I put in a few scarves, bags and luminaries. It was a first for me having my work for sale in a public venue, it was great to hear all the positive comments about my work from buyers and sellers alike. Thanks Carin.

On Sunday I took a class in natural dyeing from Linda Hartshorn. It was so amazing! I was in wonder of all the colors available from nature! We dyed wool yarn, most of the instruction covered dyeing wool, or protein fibers. You begin with soaking your wool in a mordant, we used Alum, which was then dissolved in water. A mordant creates a chemical type of reaction with the wool that will allow the wool to absorb the dye. While that is going on you make up your dye. Some things need

soak over night while some can be made up right away. They need to be heated and allowed to "cook" a bit, then strained and re heated. When the dye is ready the wool is removed from the mordant bath and excess moisture is squeezed out. The wool is put in the pot of simmering dye and allowed to remain in the dye pot until the color reached is slightly darker than what is desired-rinsing will remove some of the dye. You have to be careful not to boil your wool yarn or roving other wise you'll felt it and ruin it.
After you remove your wool you let it cool off a bit then rinse out the excess dye and hang to dry.

The dye pot here is a dye made with Logwood.

Here is a variety of the colors of yarn that the class dyed on the drying racks.

Here on the right are the colors I dyed. Here is a list of the colors and what they were made from:
green=marigold blossoms
yellow=onion skins
orange=madder root
purple=logwood
light purple=cochineal
red=brazil wood

I thoroughly enjoyed the class! I can't wait to make some white felt and then dye it from some of the natural dye stuffs I picked up at the class. Now I get to roam the forest for things to make my own dye from.

I've Been Wanting to Make This For Awhile......

2011-09-09T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have seen these scarves in books and on etsy and have always wanted to make one, so the other day I did. I didn't have instructions so I just did what I thought would work. If any one wants detailed instructions I'll be happy to write them out, just ask. I wouldn't recommend someone who was new to wet felting try it first but it wasn't too difficult, just had to make sure fleece stayed where you put it-both laying out as well as rolling it.
Here is some photos of the lay-out:

I used a 50% merino and a 50% silk blend that I got from Capistrano Fiber Arts on Etsy. After rolling and rolling and fulling here is what it turned out like. I'm quite happy with it, looks real interesting wrapped around the neck with one end hanging down. If I try it again I want to have smaller holes in it.

Natural Dye Class at Fiber Fair

2011-09-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be taking a natural dye class this Sunday. We'll be dyeing wool skeins of yarn using dyes made from plants, minerals and insects. Some of the more exotic materials are madder, Brazil wood and coachineal, we'll also be using more common ingredients like marigolds and onion skins. It says we will dye six skeins of red, orange, yellow, green, purple and magenta and if we have extra time we can dye things we bring ourselves....I already have different types of wool felted up to experiment with and I will bring some roving too. I have tried to dye roving before and ended up with a matted mess so I hope she has time to give me some tips on doing that. Natural dyeing has always fascinated me, and I even have a book on it, but have been intimidated by things like mordants and fixers. When I am shown how to do something I learn so much more!

It is being held at the Natural Fiber Fair in Arcata, California-just north of Eureka. The class is called Natural Colors to Dye For and is being taught by Llinda Hartshorn.

I'll be sure to post details of the class as well as pictures of what we dyed.

Where This Felter Works

2011-09-06T04:01:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd share with you this amazing space I get to felt in. My husband and I recently fulfilled one of our dreams and moved up to the Santa Cruz Mountains to live amongst the redwoods. I am so fortunate to live in this amazing space and be able to stay here and felt during the days. My husband, Jack, is so great and supportive of my work, man~am I a lucky woman!
There is a little redwood cabin on our property and I've turned it into my felting workshop. There is a little wood burning stove to keep me warm in the winter and Jack built me a felting table that is the perfect height for rolling out felt and saving my back.

Here is my buddy Kaia, who is always by my side. She loves our new home too!

These are the results of my venture into wrapping glass with felt then cutting out an opening on both sides so the light can shine through. Some of it is glass from an old stained glass door and most of it is beach glass. It was so much fun figuring out how to do this and making these!

Lost In Translation

2011-09-06T03:06:00.000-07:00

Part of learning to felt is experimenting....and it always doesn't turn out like you had hoped. Here is one example. I started making felt stones early on, they look just like the one's we find at the beach (pictured below). That was a good experiment, they turned out looking like the real thing after a couple of tries. For awhile now I've had it in my head that it would look cool to make a vessel that looked like granite with the white veins running through it, similar to the rocks. I thought since I've got the rocks down I should be able to translate that into a vessel. Well, I wasn't able to pull it off this time. It's the color of granite (the photo isn't so hot) and there are white veins but this doesn't resemble granite. So now I have to evaluate why it didn't work and what can I do to make it look better next time. A couple of things come to mind: the veins aren't very realistic-they're too linear and too chunky and to have thinner veins I'm going to have to reduce the size of the vessel so they don't get lost and maybe put some darker gray along one side of the vein to make it look inset. I'll have to think about it for awhile to work out all the angles. Back to the felting table.

One bummer about working big and having it not turn out is not just the time spent but it gets expensive. It's all a learning experience though. A friend said I'm being too hard on myself, it looks pretty good. Well, I don't want pretty good, I want a more realistic piece that looks great! I don't think any artist/crafts-person who is any good lets just average work go out there. If I'm not hard on myself I'm not going to get to that level of talent to produce the type of work I'm striving for.
Which brings me back to the subject of the rocks, a fun little thing to make but hardly much effort to make. Can you guess what my most popular selling item on my Etsy shop has been, yep, the rocks. While I've sold a few scarves and other things I'm much more proud to say I've made, I keep struggling with the decision to keep selling the rocks or not. Unfortunately, I have to think about business, it does bring people to my shop and so I have to hope they'll see the other things and maybe buy something else. And they are fun, I do have to say, they look cool all gathered together. I love seeing peoples reactions when they pick them up and realize they aren't really a rock!

No, I did not knit this first...

2011-09-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation with a woman in a local yarn shop today. I was wearing a bag I made, similar to the one pictured below, and a woman complimented me on it then said "that's felted, right?" I said yes it is then she asked me a question I was totally unprepared for: "what type of yarn did you use to knit that with, I can't even see the stitches?" I can only wonder at the confused look that must have been on my face while I was processing her question, no one has ever vocalized to me before that they thought my work may have been knitted first. I explained to her that it was not knitted, it was made by wet felting using roving, water, soap and some agitation. Now it was her turn to look confused. She had never heard of wet felting. Completely dismissing the subject of wet felting she went on to tell me how she had knit several purses then "felted" them in the washing machine and said how great they had turned out. I just nodded and said how nice, I wasn't about to get on my soap box about the difference between felting and fulling.
How many other wet felters have had this happen? I will admit that over the last year I have become what my friend and I call a felt snob. No, I don't feel bad about it at all. There is a place for knitting something with wool then fulling it to shrink it down-some bags I've seen look really good, but don't call it felting. When that woman asked me about knitting my bag I was surprised that my defenses went up, I almost felt like I was being insulted. To be fair, she didn't know the difference, but it was the snob in me being proud for my craft. What is the difference? Let's see if I can get this right. After you have laid out your wool and wet it the next process is felting it. I roll my work in bubble wrap and roll it about 800 times, stopping numerous times to re-wet it and turn it. Some people cover it with plastic and rub over it. Whichever, what you are doing is getting all those little fibers to interlock with each other by keeping them wet, slightly soapy and agitating them-this is felting. Next is the fulling stage, getting the interlocked, felted fibers to move in closer to each other creating a denser, stronger piece of felt and in doing so the piece becomes smaller than when it started out. There are so many ways to do this! I take my piece out of the bubble wrap, remove a template if I'm using one and place it on a slightly ribbed piece of rubbery plastic and roll it up jellyroll style and roll back and forth, doing this from all angles. Occasionally I use a felting stone, the ridges on my plastic mat, I even have a rice paddle I use. As the fibers move closer together the piece it getting denser, creating a strong piece of felt. Some use a wash board or throw the work against the table or roll it up in a reed window screen and roll it. Without this process you would have a weak, flimsy piece of felt. This fulling is what knitters are doing with their knitted work, they knit the fibers together-not felt them-then by throwing it in a washing machine of hot soapy water that is agitating the wool yarn it is causing it to become denser by moving the wool fibers closer together-shrinking it basically and creating a denser fabric.
Am I being too picky? Over sensitive? Maybe. I just want to clarify the difference. To me felting is a rather magical art form. Taking loose wool in the form of roving and creating felt is amazing and it is hard work too. I think any wet felter will agree with me on that. I never tire of the feel of wet soapy wool and watching the transformation from the loose fragile beginning stage of felting to the finished piece of good sturdy felt, soft and flexible as well. Go on the internet and type in "felt artists" then spend some time looking at what some incredibly talented people are making, it truly is an art form. There is a new book out this past month called 500 Felted Objects, check it out and you'll see some felt that will blow your mind. I'm anxiously awaiting my copy, but I've seen some of the work that is in the book and am really impressed. As soon as I figure out how to do it I want to have links on the side column to some of my favorite felt artists. Ok, I'll list my favorite felt artist and her site; I have yet to see any other felt that has impressed me like hers, her attention to detail sets her apart. Her name is Lisa Klakulak and her site is Strongfelt, just google it. In fact the bag below was inspired by her work.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts about this difference. Being new to the world of felting this subject just amazes me. I probably pissed off some knitting felters. I'm not saying it doesn't create a good looking piece of work, it does, it's just not felting. Has any one else run into this? Let me know.

this bag is available on my etsy site: terrysifeltlikeit.etsy.com

Necessary Tools

2011-09-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not talking about the typical tools used in felting here. I'm talking about this very lovely dress form that is helping to display my beautiful nuno scarf. This one belongs to a friend, Sam, who lets me borrow her for photos. Recently I've moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains and Sam isn't so close any more. When you're in love with making felt you need to have an outlet, so to say, for all these lovely things your making. A girl can only have so many scarves or bags and you don't want to overload your family with felt so you do the next logical thing, you sell your work. I had my things in a few shops locally and sales were so so, then people started telling me I should open an Etsy shop.....I was probably one of the few people in California who had never heard of Etsy! I checked it out and after that I was hooked. There are so many wonderful artisans in one place, what a brilliant idea. (Sam has an Etsy shop too~Inklore http://www.etsy.com/shop/inklore?ref=ss_profile) It can also be a bit dangerous, so many original works to tempt you! Well, I was impressed with what I saw so I decided to open a shop. They made it so easy to get up and running, they also have a great support system and advice to get your shop noticed, which can equal sales. That is the one drawback with Etsy, there are so very many shops and goods being sold. Search for felt purses and there are over a thousand pics! How do you stand out, how do you attract buyers? There are lots of strategies but one of the most obvious to me is have a good picture. This brings me back to the necessary tools. I think the scarf is shown off beautifully on the dress form, your eye goes straight to the scarf, not someones face. I've already sold two scarves since opening my shop in April of 2011, not bad. Recently I made three more scarves and I need to photograph them, Sam and I haven't been able to hook up so I just did the next most logical thing~I purchased a dress form just like the one Sam has! She's coming Fed Ex all the way from Tennessee, I can't wait for her to arrive. If I'm going to have those great photos I'll need the right tool, a dress form! Where did I find one just like Sam's.....on Etsy of course! If you want to check out my etsy shop go to: http://www.etsy.com/shop/terrysifeltlikeit?ref=si_shop
Tell me what you think, I love constructive feed back.

My first post!

2011-09-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

Here begins my adventure into the world of blogging! I hope to share with you my love of felt, what I have created, learning new techniques and sharing my discoveries related to felt. Here is a quick history of my felting experience......I started out felting in December of 2010, I saw a program where a woman was demonstrating how to make a piece of felt by wet felting. I was fascinated, this was so amazing. I immediately went out and got a book on how to make felt, "Uniquely Felt", great first time book. I ordered some wool on line and a wet felting kit of netting & a matt. I still have that little red piece of felt. I kept experimenting with different wools and techniques and was just making so/so felt.

At the same time as I was discovering felting I was also learning how to knit again. I was in my local yarn shop, Yarn Dogs in Los Gatos, and I saw a felted vessel up on a shelf. It was wonderful, I had to know how to make it! Luckily the next week there were classes scheduled. The instructor was out of the area so they book 3 or 4 classes in a week while she's here. I signed up for three classes, one for a vessel, one for making a wall hanging and another for a purse. I just had to know how to make these amazing things that were in the shop, I was so jazzed!! That was the real beginning of my love affair with felt. The instructor was fiber artist Carin Engen from Garberville. She is an incredible teacher and artist. On the first day of class she had examples of her work to give us an idea of what we would be making and to inspire us, and wow, did it inspire. I really was in heaven. Carin has a natural ability for teaching and explaining the how's and why's so a beginner understands. With her coaching and encouragement I ended up with a beautiful vessel. The next day we made purses, I still have mine and it remains one of my favorites. In that class I met my now good friend Jodie Stowe, she's my "felting buddy" and fellow felt enthusiast. After three days of Carin's teaching I was able to go home and start creating and designing my own felt and I'm still going! Over the past year I have taken numerous other classes with Carin, building on my knowledge of felt. We've developed a friend ship over the months and I consider her a dear friend. She has generously opened her home and studio to myself and fellow felters for week long felting marathons where we stay up felting and gabbing into the early hours of the morning. Carin was the perfect first teacher, she set a good foundation for me. The picture is of a wreath pillow I made at one of our felting gatherings at Carin's. Visit Carin's blog at http://artfullyfelt.blogspot.com/