From homemade bread to handmade creations

We started our day with yummy homemade bread and delicious soup from our hostess Laine before getting stuck in to some great felt creations. There were some new members to the crafty circle today who hadn't tried needle felting before and it wasn't long before they were getting the knack. Laine started with an abstract piece, regaling the stories of her ten year old beads she was sewing onto it...now they have a new lease of life. 

It wasn't until the end when the needles started breaking! I was impressed that there wasn't much finger stabbing happening, hmmm, I make needle felting sound like an extreme sport... but with lots of cups of tea of course. The felt balls are a necklace work in progress that Alessandra will be finishing the next time round, as she was layering different colours around the balls to wet felt them again.

This picture is before the finished felt brooch is put together. They were completed in time to wear out the door. How good is that? 

Back to felt

It seems like ages ago since we were felting, but as the circle changes, this is a new craft again for many. Because felt is such a versatile material you can use it to make all sorts. I never get bored of it.  I collected the acorn tops in the Autumn last year so we used them to make new felted friends. There were also more colourful creations made by others but they were not dry on time to glue their hats on!

Summer is here!

We continue another crafty get-together with felting and welcome another new member Cecilia who is one of the founders of the Chile Makers.  We were in the garden for this workshop on a beautiful sunny day, perfect for sloshing around lots of water. And hard to believe that the summer is here? Let's see if the sun sticks around. 

The pictures above shows Pepa's fleece before it is felted, we use the white fleece as a base. And below sort of half way through the process, we are fixing on some of the yellow dots. These little details can move around when you are rolling it in the bamboo and bubble wrap, but you can always needle felt in fine details afterwards. 

Some more beautiful felted beads...quite a production we have here.

And here is the whole process in situ. I'm doing some carding with those strange wooden things that I am holding.  

Wet felting continues...

Combined needle felting and wet felting going on today... and more members both little and big. The wet 2-D stuff can get messy with lots of water all over the place, but the results are worth it. This is the start of so many things you can do with this fantastic material. 

And also lots of friction needed. This is a bamboo blind that you can pick up very cheaply and it's the best thing for rolling the felt so that it shrinks. 

And voila! the finished piece by crafter Clare...you can use this to make all sorts of things with some needle and thread, or just keep it the way it is. 


The wool that I use in the workshops is Merino 70's which is super soft and I get it from Wingham Wool Works. It needs to be carded first before it's made into felted pieces. I'll have to get a picture of this process the next time we have a felt making gathering.  

Wet felting - an introduction

We combined needle and wet felting today and started making felt beads or balls which ever way you want to call them! Lots of elbow greece needed to felt a piece of sheep fleece into a nice round shape. Soap and hot water too of course.

You can felt a piece of fleece into a ball without needle felting, but for a nice even shape with no lumpy bits we needle felted them first into rough ball shapes before plunging them into hot water.

We welcomed Varignia to the group of makers - she is a very talented crafter herself and uses recycled materials in her own creations. 

Ah...another member of the group, Simon, all tangled up...

And the transformation of all those felted balls into a stunning necklace. This is Clare's masterpiece.