Dec 11
2006
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I am now two weeks into a felting class with a third class coming up tomorrow. This is so much fun!
You take a bunch of soft squishy wool in yummy colours, lay it out, squirt some soapy water on it and gently rub the suds around. After a little while it starts to feel a little different and you can a rub a little harder. Eventually it begins to feel kind of solid and you can roll it around a dowel on a table or toss it back and forth or throw it on the floor and it will just get firmer and firmer. When it feels right you rinse it out and let it dry and there you are. A beautiful felted project made by your own two hands.
For the first class we were learning the basics about wool and felting and we made a sort of a place-mat-like project. I ended up with a neat (accidental) effect when I was done mine. To prepare the wool for felting we lay fibers in crosswise layers. I made four layers for my place-mat so when I was done I had the colours blending in one direction on one side and the other direction on the other.
Last week we made a purse by felting two place-mats worth of wool around a piece of cardboard. The cardboard meant that when we were all done we had a pocket with felt wrapping right around three sides.
I added some silk fibers and sparkly pieces to the outside of my purse before felting it. It was hard to tell how they would look when I started but the fibers were so fine that the colours blended beautifully. I still need to make up a handle for my purse. I’ve got some of the dark purple for it but I had a little bit of the pink left and I’d like to work that in somehow.
You take a bunch of soft squishy wool in yummy colours, lay it out, squirt some soapy water on it and gently rub the suds around. After a little while it starts to feel a little different and you can a rub a little harder. Eventually it begins to feel kind of solid and you can roll it around a dowel on a table or toss it back and forth or throw it on the floor and it will just get firmer and firmer. When it feels right you rinse it out and let it dry and there you are. A beautiful felted project made by your own two hands.
For the first class we were learning the basics about wool and felting and we made a sort of a place-mat-like project. I ended up with a neat (accidental) effect when I was done mine. To prepare the wool for felting we lay fibers in crosswise layers. I made four layers for my place-mat so when I was done I had the colours blending in one direction on one side and the other direction on the other.
Last week we made a purse by felting two place-mats worth of wool around a piece of cardboard. The cardboard meant that when we were all done we had a pocket with felt wrapping right around three sides.
I added some silk fibers and sparkly pieces to the outside of my purse before felting it. It was hard to tell how they would look when I started but the fibers were so fine that the colours blended beautifully. I still need to make up a handle for my purse. I’ve got some of the dark purple for it but I had a little bit of the pink left and I’d like to work that in somehow.