A nuno felted loop scarf in royal blue and rainbow colors is on a grey surface
Trying out recycled banana fiber: an easy loop scarf project

Trying out recycled banana fiber: an easy loop scarf project

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Hello all!

As you probably know, I firmly fall in the camp of the recycling fans: I love a good chance to use bits of recycled fabric, yarn or fiber, found objects and so on, often to surprising effects. Mostly the surprise is a good one, eh. My drawers and charity shops (or thrift shops, if you want) bargain baskets are source of plenty of materials to use in a creative way, and there is a particular satisfaction in using pre-loved materials and giving them a whole new life.

Some time ago I have bought 3 skeins of multicoloured recycled banana chunky yarn from Oxfam charity shop thinking that I was going to felt it into something and give that something a bit of jazz, much in the same way that I use recycled sari silk fiber. My idea is to use it by teasing the fiber away, but future experiments could involve using the yarn as is, as embellishment and to try maybe a bit of creative weaving with it, who knows.

Here they are:

Three skeins of colorful chunky yarn are displayed with their labels saying that it is a recycled banana yarn sourced by Oxfam. The top one is mainly bright pink, the middle one is mainly white and the bottom one is mainly red blue yellow
The Banana fiber yarns: they are colourful and shiny, they instantly grabbed my attention. They were a tad expensive, but I will have plenty of fiber to use, they will last me a long time.

I like the fact that they are not solid colours, as I can see them combine well with different palettes, without much thought about colourways on my part: when you are unsure about which colours to use together, a ready made mix of colours that you can already see is pleasant will hugely help you decide!

I have chosen to go for felting a loop scarf/cowl because it is a simple and fast type of project that I have already had success with. I have measurements that are fine for me, and I only had to find my rectangular resist that must be somewhere in there, maybe in the first drawer..or no, maybe in the second drawer..or no, maybe in the bubblewrap bag..or likely on the projects shelf..or..(do you think that I can blame the future guinea pigs or is it a bit too much?)

You know what, let’s forget the previous resist, I have my measurements in my project notebook (thanks God!) and I can just cut a new one from a piece of bubblewrap, of which I have an ever multiplying pile (they are possibly breeding in there, I started with just a couple pieces a few years ago, I do not know, they talk about rabbits but they are nothing to bubblewrap).

Here, so, my resist is a plain rectangle, 17 inches by 15 inches or 43 cm x 38 cm. The shrinkage was not supposed to be huge. I was aiming for a lightweight type of soft scarf with only 2 light layers of Merino wool.

A light blue bubble wrap rectangle is on a table covered by a white towel and clear bubblewrap.
My resist was in pale blue, so I guess you can see it, just barely.

I started by choosing my banana yarn, the reddish one that they have called Rainbow, then adding to it matching silk fabric from charity shop silk scarves, and I went on choosing the Merino wool colours to match and complement the other fibers. I toyed with the idea of a white background but I really did not have enough white Merino wool (I need to restock it), and I felt that a royal blue would make all the other colours pop out. So it was royal blue background, and coral, white and eggshell for the Merino wool accents.

There is the banana yarn in rainbow and there are small bags of Merino wool in royal blue and coral and white and eggshell. There are also two silk scarves in various colors, particularly red and blue and brown and yellow and pink.
Spotting similarities among different bunches of textiles is a lot of fun.

I was ready to start with a first layer of banana fiber: I teased it out by unraveling the yarn, and laying it in a clouds layout, trying to keep all the colours as mixed and varied as possible. I covered the whole resist, taking care of leaving maybe 1cm of free resist at the top and bottom (as the cowl needs a hole for my head!), and of going a bit out of the resist when covering left and right sides, to ensure that the design will run smoothly all around my cowl.

There is a hand pulling on a chunky multicolored yarn in the foreground, and a wooden floor in the background
Pulling at the yarn to release the fiber.
In the foreground there is a hand with a small piece of multi stranded yarn in it. in the background there is a clear blue bubble wrap.
The yarn was made of many small strands in different colours.
There is a rectangle covered in small strands of yarn in many different colors on a bubble wrap.
The effect is good and my first side is all covered.

When I was done with it on the first side, I decided for a thin layer of the royal blue Merino on top of the banana fiber before turning it to the other side, as I was afraid that the banana fiber would not stay put if I just wet it and turned the resist, as it was loosely laid out. That is not ideal, as I then had to carefully tease away the banana fiber from the Merino thin layer on the other side when I turned the resist, so by any means if you have a different design where you have a first uninterrupted layer, just wet it and turn the resist to the other side before adding a second layer. The right way to do it is to have the wet fabrics layer as first layer, I suppose, so that it is easier to turn: well, I just wanted to try out the banana fiber (shoulder shrugging), I have been waiting months to have the right chance, so that is what I used first! The felting police was nowhere in sight, so I guess I will get away with it, if there are no snitches here to make trouble.

I started from the edges all around, and then covered the whole resist with a first thin horizontal layer of Merino wool.

A rectangle shape is covered in rainbow fiber and in blue wool on three of the four edges.
Starting from the edges with the Merino wool.
A rectangle of rainbow fiber is almost completely covered in royal blue Merino wool fiber, and a hand holding more blue wool fiber is in the foreground.
First layer of Merino almost done

I put on it a net curtain fabric, wet and lightly soaped it, then carefully lifted the net away and turned the whole to the other side.

A green hand sprinkler can be seen emerging from the top of the image. At the center of the image there is a rectangle of blue wool under a netting, and it is becoming wet.
Wetting the side after putting netting over it.
There is a rectangle of colored fiber and some blue wool and colored fiber is sticking out from the sides of a rectangle of bubble wrap that is over the fiber.
The view from the other side, after folding the banana fiber coming from the first side.

As I said, I had to separate the banana fiber from the Merino where I had to fold it on the resist at the sides. Then I covered the resist with a layer of banana fiber, making sure that some would go also on the bits from the first side left and right, so as to make it seem a smooth continuum. You can not really see the layer of fiber on this second side of the resist on my photo, but it is there!

After laying out the rainbow banana fiber on the second side, I folded on it the blue Merino wool fiber that was along the left and right edges
Folding of the Merino wool over the left and side edges, over the first layer of banana fiber

Then, I folded over it the Merino sticking out from the left and right edges and went on covering the rest of the resist with a thin horizontal layer of Merino, exactly as I had done on the other side, but without doubling up on left and right edges, to avoid having two thicker areas at the sides.

After wetting and soaping it, I turned the whole again to the first side of the resist. I tidied up the upper and bottom edges with my fingers, pushing the wool fibers to form a neater edge. I do not care much about very straight edges, personally, but if you prefer them you can always cut your top and bottom edges with scissors and then seal them by rubbing them, towards the end of the felting process.

At this point I added a second thin Merino wool layer, vertical layer, and repeated the wetting and light soaping with a bit of pressure on the net to make the soaped water pass through the wool and fibers, but still no actual rubbing. I flipped it to the other side and laid out the second layer there, repeating all steps.

A rectangle of royal blue Merino wool that is wet, on a white towel covered in bubble wrap.
Two Merino wool layers done.

After flipping it again to the first side, I repeated the tidying of top and bottom edges.

Time for the silk scarves fabric and the embellishments! Firstly I added accents with coral, white and eggshell Merino Wool. Then, I cut out my 2 chosen fabrics in irregular pieces and placed them on the wool alternating the 2 designs. I made sure to overlap the side edges of the resist, so that the design could run in a smooth way all around the scarf. I usually take a photo of my design at this point, so that I can use it as reference for the other side and not go on completely differently once I turn to the second side (It happened, yes).

A rectangle of wet blue wool is covered in a design of pieces of silk fabric and wisps of Merino wool in coral white and eggshell colors.
It looks like total chaos but it will turn out one single felt, I promise.

After turning my cowl again, folding the fabric and wool overlapping the left and right edges, and completing the second side as well by following the same steps as the first, it was time to go back to the first side, net it again and put a little bit more soap on it to start rubbing properly. The aim is to have the silk bits be grabbed into the wool fibers.

A rectangle of wet nuno prefelt with pieces of silk fabrics in different colors on a blue background.
Wet and soaped.

I did that for both sides, and then something not related to felting happened and I had to stop everything. Nothing dramatic, I just had to go out in a bit of a rush, and one thing that I love about felting is that you CAN stop, put some bubblewrap on it and leave it there, and then come back to it after a few hours and all is fine. Not only fine, the soaped water has probably better seeped into the wool fibers, so it can go quicker after the pause.

When I got back home, I got out my sander, checked that all the prefelt was fully wet and soaped, covered it with bubble wrap and used the sander to make sure that all the fabric was securely rubbed in. One of the silks in particular was slower than the other in getting felted in, so I had to work on it a bit more.

After being sure that all the fabric was securely attached, I rolled the cowl, still with the resist inside it, for a few times in all directions. I did not insist too much on the rolling, though, as I like to manipulate my prefelt to take it to the felt stage and be able to keep a close eye on how much it is shrinking. Well, to be honest, I do not enjoy rolling as much as rubbing and kneading and throwing and so on, so I find a lot of excuses to cut the rolling short!

A piece of prefelt is being rolled on a table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap.
I did my rolling, and I have proof of it!

Thus, after a bit of perfunctory rolling so the rolling gods be appeased, I took the cowl from the resist and took care of the left and right edge by opening up my cowl, folding it in a different way so that the edges were now resting in the middle, putting a hand inside the cowl and rubbing the edges on the bubblewrap underneath. I will agree that this is a bit yuk! in colder months, as you have your arm inside a cold wet thing, but it is very quickly done if you have taken care not to overlap too much wool and fabric at the side edges. You may have to open up a little bit the wool (very gently) if you have pinched together a small amount of wool at those edges, but a bit of energetic rubbing will help smooth it all to nothing.

An arm is inside a large wet prefelt tube and rubbing it on clear bubble wrap.
yuk! but needs doing.
A hand is rubbing a blue wet felt onto a bubble wrap.
This is fun!

After that, it was all swishing the cowl on the bubblewrap in different directions, gently kneading it and a bit of gentler throwing, keeping an eye on the forming of more and more wrinkles on the silk and on the shrinkage. I may have overdone it a bit, as the cowl ended up slightly tighter than what I wanted, but still a good comfy size when I tried it on after the drying.

The wet finished loop scarf is on its pale blue resist, showing the difference in size among the two.
I do not know if you can spot the light blue resist behind the wet scarf, it shows the shrinkage that I obtained.

I rinsed it with clean water, and put it to dry on a rack close to a radiator.

Here it is: I hope that you like the effect of the banana fiber as I do! it felted so easily that it was comparable to silk or other plant based fibers that I have tried (mint and rose), and I definitely liked to work with it as fiber, as it was easier than silk fiber to lay out, due to it being less fine and less prone to flying away at a wrong breath.

A finished and dry wet felted loop scarf with rainbow fiber over a royal blue background is resting on a grey surface.
Side A
A side of a nuno felted loop cowl in blue, red , yellow, pink and white, on a grey surface
Side B
A person that is cropped out of the photo is wearing a nuno felted loop scarf in blue and rainbow colors by Kiki Peruzzi
How it looks like when you put it on.
Kiki Peruzzi is wearing her nuno felted loop scarf on her hair.
You can also wear it on your hair, very comfy, warm and soft, keeps your ears all warm if you like.

I also made a normal cobweb scarf with the smallest amount of yellow Merino wool and the pinkish banana yarn, just to try a very bright combination of colours:

In the foreground there is a tall oblong white paper lamp with a bright yellow and pink scarf wrapped around it with a knot.
Two bright colours for this cobweb scarf, daring a little bit more than my usual. It was fun to use this recycled banana fiber!

Now the only banana yarn that I have not used yet is the white one, so that will be the next one to try.

Do you also have an irresistible new upcycling material to try out?

Kiki

http://www.kikistextileart.com

Instagram: @kiki.textile.art

Paddling our way into the “Deeply Felt” birthing pool

Paddling our way into the “Deeply Felt” birthing pool

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Sitting here, collapsed in an exhausted heap in front of my computer I find myself wondering if organising a group exhibition is a bit like giving birth? All the weeks of late nights, stress and anxiety are quickly forgotten the day the exhibition opens and 6 months later you’re thinking… “Shall we have another one?”

The Auckland Felters 2026 exhibition is now in the final stages of labour, and this time we have a midwife (curator) helping us with the delivery. Working with a curator (Matthew) and his installation team has been a new experience for me. In some ways it’s a relief, not worrying about which pieces look good together or figuring out how to hang some of the less conventional creations but the flip side is that we have little control over which pieces get selected and how they are presented. For a control freak, this is very unnerving! 🙂

A new piece for the exhibition

I have been working on a new piece for the exhibition and inviting the readers of my monthly emails to guess what it might be. There were some interesting responses but none were correct. Can you do any better? This is the first image I shared:

Thank you so much for all the poppies!

We have been blown away by the wonderful response to our call for help with making felted poppies. Clare Hocking had the wonderful idea of creating an ANZAC day commemorative installation to fundraise for the Returned Soldiers Association in New Zealand. We all thought her idea was especially touching given that our exhibition open day will be on 25th April (ANZAC Day). The response from felt-makers all around the world and the lovely stories and letters that accompanied many of the poppies has been heart-warming. Sarah and Clare have been hard at work, assembling the 285 poppies into an installation with some felted “barbed wire” made by Jaq Spirrett.

Sorting the poppies by size and colour – the purple ones are in remembrance of the animals who have served in our defence forces. Can you see your poppy(ies)?
Sarah and Clare starting hang the poppies on invisible threads.
Clare planning how the felted barbed wire will be entwined through the poppies.

What did you guess my exhibition piece might be?

This is the second photo from my newsletters, it’s not too late to change your guess… 😉

Unexpected Benefits from the Poppy Appeal

One of the groups who sent a batch of poppies was Les Hookeuses du Bor’de’lo, from Canada and one of their members, Janice Goguen, reached out to say she was planning to visit Auckland and could we recommend any fibre-related events / activities?

She was in luck (and as it turned out so were we 🙂 )! Auckland Fun Felters were meeting the weekend she would be visiting our fair city and she was warmly welcomed to spend the day with us. We had a wonderful time hosting Janice and she very generously shared her knowledge of Canadian rug hooking. A few of us are already germinating ideas of how to combine rug-hooking with felting… 🙂

Janice demonstrating the rug-hooking technique

The Big Reveal

I confess this piece still isn’t quite finished and I need to get a move on because we start hanging the exhibition a week on Tuesday but this is the last photo in the series….

I hope you can tell what it is now? 🙂 Were your earlier guesses correct?

This piece was made from LOTS of felt ropes and strips of commercial felt that I dyed in several batches because they wouldn’t all fit in my 30L tea urn. This was my first attempt to work in this way and I really was making it up as I went along, trying to create the form of the fish over the more structured woven background. This is definitely one of those pieces that I am enjoying more now that it is finished! 🙂

My next post will be about the exhibition and contain more information about the “In Remembrance” installation, stay tuned!  

close up of hydrangea flowers from wool fibre and fabric
Hydrangeas W.I.P., a butterfly chaser and a magical bee

Hydrangeas W.I.P., a butterfly chaser and a magical bee

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Annie

I knew it was silly to say out loud that I was hoping for a few quieter weeks! Doh!

So I have not finished my hydrangea picture but I have made some strides into it.  It’s sitting on my table at the “messy middle” stage and you’d be forgiven for thinking a colourful whirlwind had passed through for there is not an inch of floor or desk to be seen due to it all being covered in fluff and fibres and fabrics!

Next job is to clear down so I can see the wood for the trees then work on the contrast in the picture and bring some clarity to some of the shapes so it can be read more easily.

I decided not to stick to only hydrangeas, although they will be a main feature, but also to add a hanging fern and some smaller flowers etc to make a display of pot plants and cut flowers in vases. There isn’t enough room in the layout for everything I want to do, so I may need to make another one!

Here are a few W.I.P. photos.  I’m away for a few days, and forgot to measure it, but my guess is about 80cm x 60cm ish (32” x 24” ish).

Wool fibres and fabric to make a floral picture

Wool fibre ferns added to the floral picture

close up of hydrangea flowers from wool fibre and fabric

Lyn

“The Butterfly Chaser” – a picture made using scrap felt.

I cut a paper pattern of a bird in flight and a butterfly then cut the pieces from some lightweight scrap felt.

scrap lightweight felt cut into pieces to make a bird and butterfly

I made a base from four layers of white merino wool fibres then made it into soft pre-felt.  I then placed the scrap felt pieces on top.

Wet layout of white merino wool fibres with felt inlays

I covered it all with net then wetted and soaped it.  Using a small sponge I gave the scrap felt some gentle persuasion to sink into the white base a little.  After some careful agitation I turned the whole thing over and replaced the bubble-wrap that was underneath with another piece of net.  I worked the felt, between two pieces of net, from the reverse side until the felt was done.

Then I added an outline and detail with needle felting.

Felt picture of a bird chasing a butterfly

Inspiration for a picture can come from the strangest places.

Annie bought me a desk calendar for 2026 that has a different word and explanation of it on each day.  I keep it by my pc and look forward to tearing off a page to reveal a new word.  Apparently ‘Dumbledore’ isn’t just the name of a fictional wizard – it’s also an old word for ‘bumblebee’.

desk calendar with explanations for rare words

My imagination went into overdrive.  Can a bumblebee wear a wizard’s hat and cloak?  Would he have a wand?  Would a bumblebee visit the plants in Hogwarts? Yes, because the flower of the ‘Mandrake’ plant attracts bees. Harry Potter fans might know the plant from the herbology classes in ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’.

I gathered up bits of fabric and some iron-on double-sided fabric adhesive.  A bit of cutting, cussing and sticking and I ended up with this whimsical picture.

Fabric collage of a magical bee and mandrake flower

What’s the most unusual source of inspiration that you have found?

Test Felting New Materials

Test Felting New Materials

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My wonderful local arts centre (The Horsebridge Community Arts Centre in Whitstable) has an art bank.  People donate all sorts of lovely (and sometimes slightly odd) materials. Anyone can visit the art bank room, select things they’d like, then pay what they can.

I often have joint exhibitions in the arts centre’s galleries and do some volunteering for them too (mostly bar work). They work very hard to raise funds to keep the centre going and supporting the community. I live nearby so frequently pop into the art bank to see what’s there, and I sometimes walk away with a little challenge for myself. I’m going to talk today about felt testing two materials that are new to me: silk carrier rods and fine metal mesh.

A few months ago, I was unable to resist some beautifully dyed silk carrier rods. I enjoyed separating and sorting them; they reminded me of fish.

They got bagged up and filed in the ‘to do sometime’ section of my brain.

A couple of weeks ago, their time had come. If you’re not familiar with silk carrier rods, they’re a waste product of silk production. When silk is removed from silk cocoons, it is reeled onto a machine. Some of the silk thread and gum gets caught on the winding rods and has to be cut away. They resultant silk carrier ‘rods’ are quite thick and stiff with sericin gum.  You can peel each one into layers.  You can also stretch them length-ways to thin them out, but they don’t have any appreciable movement across the width of the rod. I suppose it’s because that’s the direction the individual silk threads lie and silk thread is strong.

I checked the internet for felting with silk carrier rods and although there were some images, it wasn’t clear to me how thin the rods that had successfully been felted were. I’d peeled mine as much as I was able but I didn’t want to stretch them out too far along the length as I wanted to keep as much of the shine and colour of the silk as possible.

I’d like to felt a school of fish shooting up through the ocean so decided I’d better make a small test picture to see how the carrier rods felted.

I selected a lovely red / yellow / green rod layer and trimmed it slightly to create a fish shape.

 Here it is with a non-trimmed layer for comparison

 I laid out 2 layers of merino to look sort of ‘watery’, placed the trimmed shape more or less in the middle and popped on a small eye using tiny bits of wet & rolled dark grey and white wool.

The felting went pretty well, though I started to worry that they eye wouldn’t attach so gave it a few stabs with a felting needle before I started the fulling.

Here it is after felting, still wet, with the other piece of silk for comparison.

 

You can see it has shrunk a lot along the length but only a small amount across the width, which is what I’d expected

And here it is dry.

So, what did I learn from my sample?

I’d soaked the silk briefly in water before I used it to see if it was dye-fast.  It was.  I also thought the water might soften it a bit, though I don’t actually know if this made any difference as I didn’t try felting with an un-soaked piece (good job I’m not a scientist).

I deliberately only pulled it out a little lengthways so I was running the risk of it not felting in well.  I also didn’t trap the silk with fine wool fibres: the idea was to try it and adapt if necessary for a future picture. The fish is fairly secure – I couldn’t easily pull it off – but I’d say it’s not fully integrated in the felt. There’s some movement if you rub it, especially in the central body section.  It feels like it’s partially sitting on the surface. The tail is the most integrated part; I probably pulled that bit out the furthest.

It’s probably OK for a picture but I wouldn’t want to subject it to a lot of wear and tear. Ideally it should be felted in more firmly.

Things to consider for a future picture.

  • Soak for longer
  • Stretch out more
  • Add some fine strands of wool to trap it across the fish
  • Scuff up the under-side slightly
  • Put some light clouds of wool in similar colours to fish behind it (poss in addition to scuffing up the back)
  • Trap it with wool strands round the edges

I may not do all of these but would probably do some and almost certainly stretch it out more.

I’m also not keen on the eye: it’s a bit cartoonish & feels like it should be slightly higher up on its head. Maybe next time I will bead the eye on at the end, or use grey wool instead of white. I’m not sure if I will ever make the school of fish, but I’m satisfied that the sample did its job.

My second test piece is a very small one.  I recently saw in the art bank some tubes of fine metal mesh and, as I often do, wondered if I could felt them.

 

The mesh is in different coloured tubular strips: I think they are intended for jewellery making.  You could put some beads inside the mesh tubes and place other, perhaps smaller, beads between them, on the outside of the mesh.

I like the idea of having the mesh on the outside of some felt, perhaps to make a seed head. You can see the mesh can be stretched out.

Again, a sample seemed like a good idea. I made it quite small, just to see if and how it felted. I didn’t want to waste too much.

I cut a small square each of merino prefelt and metal mesh, approximately 6 x 6 cm (or 2.36 inches)

 

Although it doesn’t look like it in this photo, the mesh is light blue.

And here it is when felted & dry.

Conclusions? It felted very securely: the metal mesh is well embedded into the felt. I managed to get 1/3 shrinkage. I tried for a while but it just wouldn’t shrink more. Perhaps I need a larger sample to test this.  The mesh didn’t give the felt as much additional structure as I’d expected.  It does fold into a slight crease and it bends a little to hold a curve.  Again, I think I’d need a bigger sample to test these properly. On the other hand, it looks pretty and is quite sparkly.  Perhaps even a bit like fish scales?

For now I’m parking this experiment too.  One day I’ll think of a really good use for it.

I do wander around thinking about what would happen if I tried to felt different materials. It’s always pleasing to have a go and make a little sample. It doesn’t always behave as I expect – which is exactly the point of a sample – but the results get stored away in my imagination for the next time I need exactly that effect.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried felting with a new or unusual material and what happened.

 

 

Needle Felted Nametags (and another picture felting workshop)

Needle Felted Nametags (and another picture felting workshop)

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Since last we chatted, I have been busy.

I ran another needle felted landscape workshop for the local guild. How did I not notice it was scheduled on Valentine’s Day (?). I also forgot to take progress pictures as the students worked. I did remind them to take photos, since it is helpful to see your image digitally. Seeing the picture in a digital format, helps your brain focus and actually see what you’re working on, rather than saying yes, that green blob is a tree. You can also look at your picture in a mirror or rotate the image to help see spatial relationships (negative space) and proportions more clearly.

5 Students from the Feb 14th guild workshop of picture felting, each is holding there pictrure1.1) the students and their pictures

interior room with shelve to righ, tables in front have abandoned bits from class, on table in back many big bags of wool they were working from1.2 post-class debris (this is not the studio where I usually teach)

examples of needle felting both 2D, 3-D and partly 3-D as well as 2 books 1.3) Display of 2-D and 3-D needle felting (Shark boy and the mer-pets volunteered this time), you can just see the front book is my early birthday present.

The Ultimate Guide to Needle Felted Animal and Bird Art: A step by step guide to creating stunning felted artwork, picture of cover1.4) My new book, an early birthday gift from Glenn. it looks very good, but i will get a chance to start reading it after I get this posted.

 

Now on to what I have been working on:

I have misplaced, or possibly lost, my nametag sheep, with the magnet. I think the seatbelt knocked it off when I got out of the car. So, I may still find it when the snow melts!  Which means I went into the guild social to work on the library without a name tag. I felt naked, even though I was well covered in my late mother-in-law’s apron and I even had clothes underneath it. I need a new nametag.

I do want to keep the sheep theme, so let’s do a little Google image search and see if I can find inspiration. I also checked the computer and found an old Word document with 29 pages of sheep pictures. I added it to the new 3 pages focused on Swaledales, Icelandic and “Other” like Badger faced Shetlands.

printouts of various sheep photos2.1) Some of the images I had collected

Then I narrowed the images down to 4 that I particularly liked. I inverted the images, so I could pick a left or right-leaning sheep (not political, just position on the tag).

4 images of sheep i had narrowed the options. Drawing of swaiesdale with butterfly, 3 iclelandic rams. photos are merorred execp the last which one is a photo and one a drawing fo the same image 2.2) Flipped pictures to see both direction options

You may have seen photos of the booth selling 100% wool at Twist Fibre Festival (in Quebec last August). The felt comes in lots of different sizes. You can see the large role behind the Field & Fleece sign. The ground felt I chose was the Garden Felt for Seed propagation rolls “Snailes”, which you can see on the shelf by the plants.

close up of part of the booth selling felt and felt garden products and bags of wool (at Twist aug. 2025, Quebec Canada)3.1 Felt selling booth at Twist 2025 (Quebec, Canada)

I have not tried to use it for its intended purpose, but it makes a good ground felt for name tags! It’s 100% wool but has a bit of VM still included. The fibre is coarser, than the fine Merino 100% wool felt, but it’s also cheaper. the Garden felt doses have Kemp, (you can pick out quite a bit of the Kemp, if you are really board and want to.)  If this sounds intriguing, for name tags or pictures, or you want to try planting seeds in a wool snail, the company is called “WoolGrown Company” and can be found on Facebook or online http://www.woolgrowncompany.com).

wool strip with soil lieing on top with roll and lable sitting behind it.3.2) Seed Snail, add good soil, then roll up and add seeds. From Wool Grown Company (Canada)

wool roll with soil has seeds growing out the top of teh rolle 3.3) Seed snail with sprouted Seeds  From Wool Grown Company (Canada)

Since the felt is meant for garden applications, it’s a good idea to check and remove any VM (Veggie-Matter) found on the surface.  I purchased a few rolls. I wound up with a thin one and a couple of wider ones, as well as a piece from the main large roll. If I put a few pieces of the narrow one together, so I can add one of the sheep pictures.

There are two ways that I have enlarged a piece of background felt that is not large enough for the image I want to create (or I got distracted and ran out of background before I ran out of ideas). One is to just add wool off the side of the ground, needle felting it to create more background to work on. (You saw this happen on the moose Christmas card from a couple years ago.)

The second option is butting 2 pieces of wool felt together and using wool carded roving, like a glue-staple, laid across the butted edges to join the two pieces together. (i am sure that is clear as mud so let me try saying that with diagrams and photos!)

diagrams of putting two pices of wool background togeher4.1 Attaching two pieces of ground felt

You could try pre-felt instead of loose wool as a backing to join the wool felt pieces but the loose fiber works quite well. I found that pins run parallel to the join held the 2 pieces closer together while I worked vertically. Be careful not to work over the pins!

Photos showing attachment of 2 pices of felt4.2) Attaching two pieces of felt together

  1. To join two pieces of ground felt together, start by abutting the pieces, use pins to hold them adjacent, then lay fibre perpendicular across the join. Work vertically fist, to adhere the fibre to the background. Then switch to an oblique angle to pull the pieces closer together.
  2. Turn over the joined pieces to show the backside. On the back, you will see the fibre extending through the felt ground (similar to the effect seen with a reverse needle). Use a clover or fake clover punch tool to lock these elevated fibres into the felt (this is usually the side you will decide is the good side)

working on the other side of teh wool felt useing a punch tool (fake clover vertion)4.3) flip to the reverse side, and needle felt flat

You can see a small gap, but if you are adding fibre for your picture to the backing, it will disappear, and the joint will become even stronger. (I trimmed the edges to make it a better rectangle after the photo.)

looking at the joyns held up to a light to see how the fiber is holding 3 pices together as one.4.4) looking at the joins

Now we have a wool felt base to work on, let’s pick the first sheep inspiration. I decided to use the Template technique.  You have seen that before here. The sheep had his or her head tipped a bit to the side, so I decided to tip it a bit further. I also used a piece from the wider seed snails for my first name tag.

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5.1-5.6) first sheep name tag

3 images for the next nametag6.1) One down, what should I choose next?

sheep image has been transfered on to wool6.2) The image has been transferred, and I crawled into bed to watch a murder mystery

NB: (I am not felting while watching the TV, I am felting during commercials (which I am not watching), so there will be less likelihood of blood dripping on the coverlet. That said, it’s not the best place to work; you don’t want to find a nice, sharp, pointy, felting needle as you roll over in bed! I only dropped my needle once and did find it before it found me!)

starting to add the black background, this is covering the lines i was using for registration marks6.3) The background is obliterating the registration line

Note the outline of the image (the rectangle). I used it to keep the registration as I trimmed and added the image. I could not find my extra-fine point marker (Sharpie), so there is a bit of distortion by line width, but I tried to adjust for that.  The registration line will disappear into the background, so I am not worried about it. If you are working on a lighter background, you can use a lighter colour of Sharpie (yes Sharpies now come in quite a few colours).

I am mostly using the short staple fibre, called Maori, which is a mix with Corriedale wool. It is a bit stiffer in texture than merino. Maori, can be needle felted to a very firm surface which will ware well for a nametag. it also works well with a Watercolour technique; using thin wisps, or washes of colour  in layers, above a base colour.)

working at my messy desk, i have the image and a colour blocked vertion of the image pinned to the wool mat.6.4) moved back to my horribly messy desk in the office. (I will tear the room apart and fix it……eventually….. maybe later.)

there is something that looks odd about ythe jaw, i checked with the section of the template for the face and found the problem6.5) Colour in progress, and there is something odd about the angle of the lower jaw. Checking it with the face section. It is sometimes helpful to keep the pieces you have cut out as you transfer the image.

Ok, that is 2 options, lets try one more. I need some samples for the nametag workshop I was requested to do for the local guild. (It’s nice to know the names of other guild members. I can’t blame not-remembering names on 7 hours of anaesthetic forever, can I?)

I tried a variation on template transfer this time. I was able to find a small pad of transparent stickies (like the yellow ones, but clear and feel a bit plastic-y).  i traced the image and then cut out the outline.  I could then position the sheep wherever I wanted it.

a different way to template using a see through stickie (it feels a bit plasticy) traced image then cut out the shape posisioning it where i wanted it on the ground felt7.1) A variation on the template method of transferring an image.

Name tag number 3 has me thinking more 2 and a half-D again…. ok it’s really 3-D in spots…. So I have trouble keeping pictures flat. Well, I am particularly good at being dyslexic, which suggests that I do see the world in 3-d and struggle with mere 2-d concepts  (b/d/p/q are the same shape, some have turned the other direction, others have fallen over, but they are all balls with sticks stuck to the side of them!!! Really, I don’t see why it’s not obvious to the rest of you <grin>. If I must, I will bow to the greater number of you who see a difference. Let’s not discuss the horrors of E shapes and U shapes, thinking they are other numbers of letters!!) That said, I again fell off the wagon and decided that ears and horns and a head would be better if it had more space, so off the background they leapt. (I apologize for the brief rant about letters…they are troublesome still.)

sheep now has a partly 3-D head and ears but has 2 wires (floral) sticking out the top of his head. they will be horns and not antennii7.2) no that’s not antennae, they will be horns shortly.

I could not find where I had put my swax (from Sarafina fibre arts) –it makes the wire sticky so the wool wraps easily. Well, comparatively easier. I also could not remember where I had put my tacky sewing glue. I will have to either go through all my teaching boxes or buy another bottle. So I proceeded without them.

You may have noticed from the fabric behind the wool mat (in its freezer Ziploc bag) that I have again retreated to the bedroom to watch Midsummer Murderers and felt during commercials.

one horn is doen and carefuly stisted into shape . the other is bare wire7.3) first horn wrapped about to start the second

sheep now has body and background is starting to be added 7.4) body added and starting to lay in the background

insperational sheep with needle felted sheep on name tag 7.5) Remember to check back with your inspiration and reassess as you go. You don’t have to be identical to your inspiration. It’s the same as landscapes; you are the God of your landscape, you can move trees, or make them thinner, or just remove them if you don’t like them.

i have added felt shadeing for the eyes but may add fine beeds i am still thinking about it7.6) I have added eyes, but am now considering adding tiny beads for the eyes. I will put it aside and consider eyes again later.

If you get stuck, and are not sure what needs to be tweaked (you tried the mirror, digital image and inverting the image and reference), or if you’re not sure it is really done, you may want to go ask friends. This can be online, or if you are lucky, you can wander off to a guild social. I took the nametags into the social to get Ann’s opinion. I also wanted to decide which one I wanted to add a name to first.

nametags in zip lock bags sitting on the computer table wating for Ann to arive at the social.8.1)  taking the 3 name tags to the guild social

She liked them, but thought I should try a different theme, other than just sheep. I have other, non-sheep images collected and ready to try next, so we agree.

My husband had kindly stopped at the dollar store to pick up a roll of “Black satin ribbon”. When I opened the roll it was dark green velvet. It was very nice, but did not go with the tone of black I had used on the name tag. Second try at a different Dollerama, he returned with 6yrds of black satin ribbon. The ribbon is to make a necklace for the name tag. I sewed down one end and measured out extra length, using a pin to secure the other end. Once i have decided the length that is comfortable to take on and off i will sew down the other side or i may decide to add velcro to make it easyer to put on and off.

For the letters, I used fibre that looked pin-drafted, possibly merino. The section I have feels slightly felted. It was very easy to work with, even more so than the yarn I have used before.

picture of name tag with name added, labled arows indicate velvit green ribon, black satin ribin and white unspun pencil roving as well as 2 needles stuck into wool pad8.2) The green and black ribbons and unspun fiber I used to finish the name tag

Tools and fibre for this project:

If you were curious about what needles I was using, you can see the two single needles in the wool pad. On the left is a Spiral, also called a Twisted (Triangle) 42-333 , this one has a purple shank. On the Right is an uncoloured T38-333. I also used the fake blue clover tool, which is full of T-40’s (the real green one is smoother and less noisy, but it’s somewhere in the boxes of workshop supplies).

The wire was the 18inch black unlabeled(no gauge) floral wire from Dallerama. I suspect it is around a 20-22 Gauge it was strong enough to hold the horns in position.

The fibre I used were small amounts of carded short-staple Maori (a Corriedale mix) and a bit of off-white core wool from World of Wool. I was working with sandwich baggies of mixed colours.  Greys black and a blue, the white/beige and yellow (both from the chickadees), a mix of browns (from the Moose bags), pastel colours mix from Fibercraft and some brighter greens and yellows from The Olive Sparrow. These were all small baggies of fibre, most of which I had previously mixed for other projects and did not use. The short crimpy locks were from a sheep pin project, and some of the long locks I have been collecting for Mer-person’s hair.

3 pictures of various colours of mostly short staple wool in ziplock baggies. these are all left over from previous projects8.3) Some of the baggies of fibre I was working from.

If you don’t want to start a big project or are looking for one that is small and portable, you might consider making a name tag. They are lots of fun, you can have more than one and people remember you if you remember to wear it!

A little project using differential shrinkage (and upcoming workshops)

A little project using differential shrinkage (and upcoming workshops)

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Imbolc heralds the start of spring in the Celtic calendar.  In recent years, a bank holiday has been established in Ireland to celebrate it.  It is known as St Bridget’s Day and it is celebrated around 1st February.  Before Christianity hit Ireland St. Bridget was the Celtic Goddess Brigid and like most females she was a real multi-tasker when it came to her role in mythology.  If you would like to find out more about Imbolc here is a link to a good read on Wikipedia.

Seeing as how spring has supposedly sprung here (although personally I would question that given the amount of rainfall we are experiencing), the daffodils are making an appearance so I am writing this with a sense of renewed energy for the longer days ahead.  I thought it might be nice to share my process from a recent little project I did.  It was more out of curiousity than need that I did this.  The focus is on differential shrinkage.  You will not need a lot of fibre for this – you should have plenty left over if you set aside 15g.  I used merino.  I also used some felt ‘ribbon’ that I bought before Christmas from DHG Italy  But you don’t actually need to buy this.  You could as an alternative make up a rectangle of prefelt – lay down 4 layers for this as I have doubled up on the ribbon (each layer of the industrial prefelt ribbon is equivalent to 2 layers of fibre) then you could cut the prefelt into strips arouond 1cm wide.

You will also need your usual felting equipment and a few extra bits.  I used decorator’s plastic (the really light plastic to protect the ribbons as I was felting them down.  I also used underfloor laminate for my resist but you can use whatever you normally use for this.  I am fortunate that I have some lovely wooden tools to help me with shaping but these are not essential as working the piece with your hands will also do.  So now, I am going to take you through the making process:

First of all, I prepared my resist, this is oval shaped and measure 38cm at the longest part by approximately 24cm on the fattest.  This was covered with 2 layers of fibre on each side – each layer will be perependicular to the other. 

  • I have laid out two layers of fibre here – this is the first side
  • Both sides have been wet down

After this, I spiralled the ribbon prefelt around the oval. I tried to keep the blue spaces between as even as possible but it was not something I fretted about. Because the ribbon was only 2 layers I repeated the process. So I ended up with 2 layers of the blue on the main body of the resist and 6 layers of the blue/red on the parts that I wanted to highlight. I added my net, a little more soapy water and after a little gentle rubbing I covered the surface in the light decorator’s plastic. I made sure that this was air tight as then there would be less likelihood of the added layers moving as I felted it. I added extra soapy water to the top of the plastic so that my hands would slide easily over the surface. A little extra attention was paid when rubbing; to the sides so that the fibres stayed snug with the side of the resist and to the added layers. Then I started some light rolling. I did 100 rolls along the north/east/south and west of the piece, flipped it over and did the same on the other side. (800 in total) I kept at this until it was well prefelted and had started to shrink:

  • Here I have spiraled ribbon prefelt around the resist. I did this twice
  • Both sides have been wet down and covered in decorators plastic

At this point, I cut a small hole in the piece. I immediately set about sealing the hole by rubbing the edge so that the fibres would not contract and make the hole bigger. This was important as I wanted to sew the hole up again after I took out the resist. Once this was done, I used nylon thread to sew up the gash. Nylon thread will not felt in to the work so the stitches can be removed afterwards.

  • I cut a hole in the prefelt
  • pulling out the resist
  • sewing the hole with nylon thread

I want to show you all the bits and pieces at this point. You can see how much the felt has shrunk already when compared to the resist. You can also see three felting tools which I am using to work the piece and direct the shrinkage. The ball like one I found on a wood turners stall at a show. I wanted to buy it from him but he could not sell it to me so he generously donated it to the cause! The unusually multiangular shaped tool is most cherished as it was a gift from a friend who had travelled to Japan. ‘The third, more pointed one I purchased from a friend who is based in Germany.

all the equipment. the shrinkage so far!

Then I got down to the job of some serious fulling and shaping. Lots of rolling and rubbing with the well soaped tools happened at this stage. It would also be possible to do this stage with your fingers but it might be fun to see what you have around the kitchen that could also work. Here are a few photos of the work in progress:

  • focussing on in between the red sections using tools
  • another view with the tools to hand

Of the many joys felting brings into my life, I simply love the stage in the process where the wool begins to act like clay and starts moulds to my will and desires. These are always happy moments and they make what can often be lots of hard work seem very much worthwhile. Once I removed the nylon thread, I continued on to the final shaping and drying. And here is the final result from a variety of angles:

  • Spiral and its reflection
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished) (I like this angle!)

I may continue to play with the shape a bit more when I have time. I have since made a bigger version where I doubled the size of the original oval and used a different breed of fibre. This piece was made with a natural cream coloured fibre and I have to say I prefer the two colours as it highlights the spiral shape better. That said, I enjoyed my explorations into differential shrinkage.

I hope that this post will tempt you to try some differential shrinking. If you decide that this project is for you, please let me know. Better still, show me your results and let me know what tools (if any) that you have discovered around the house to help you with shaping.

Happy felting to all!

Helene x

Upcoming workshops:

I currently have two on-line workshops on offer through the Felting and Fibre Studio College of Fiber and Arts. The 3D felted pod is available all year round so you can apply to join it anytime. The workshop is recorded in real time so you can work alongside the videos. There are also PDFs that fully follow the video recordings. I am also available in the virtual classroom should students want to ask any questions or share their beautiful creations. Here is a link to further information on the course: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/online-course-wet-felting-a-vessel-using-a-simple-resist/

  • Wet Felting a Pod!
  • Laying out your fibre
  • Checking for ridges
  • The finished pod
  • Different shapes …

Registration opens on 13th March for my Wet Felted Hanging Spiral course. The course will start on 27th March and will run until 24th April. If you would like to find out more about this course, please head over to the page at https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/hanging-felted-spiral/.

Here are some photos of students’ beautiful work from past courses:

  • Els’ spiral is a lovely shade with beautiful surface decoration
  • Elizabeth used a variety of autumnal colours on her lovely piece. Her decorative leaves are die cut. Inspiring!
  • Debbie’s beauty!
  • Margarethe P (Northern Italy) Isn’t it stunning!
  • Marie’s second beautiful spiral, spinning in the spring sunshine

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Stitching and trimming completed around edge to hold everything in place.
Watercolors in Nuno Felt

Watercolors in Nuno Felt

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I have been continuing with my experiments with trying to create a “watercolor” effect in nuno felt. I decided to take a few of the pieces that were the least successful with the dye/paint application and add more. The first addition of “more” is with sheer fabrics.

Nuno felt landscape created with silk dyed flat on paper and then batched (fiber reactive dye).

This is the piece I decided to start with. It had lost a lot of its color and still looked like a landscape but I felt it could do with “more”.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees.

I started with adding in some torn tulle trees on the right hand side.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees and sheer green "hills".

Then I took some sheer green fabric and added it on the left to give a feel of hills in the background. Some of these steps might be hard to see as the fabric is very sheer but it’s the layering that achieves the final effect.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees and sheer green "hills" with additional green layer.

I then cut off the left edge of the green sheer and added it back into the “hill” area. This gives a bit of value change as you add further layers of sheer.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills" and tulle trees switched to sheer purple/maroon trees.

After looking at the tulle trees as compared to the green sheer on the left, I decided to change the trees. Since the background was mainly yellow, I thought the addition of purple/maroon trees would give a neutralized tree color but still feel there was additional color added. That seemed better so I added in the shadows too. I added a bit of the purple/maroon on the left for a bit of foreground in front of the green hills.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky.

Next up was to try and change the “straight line” over the trees on the right. It felt too abrupt a change in color. So I added a couple of layers of light blue sheer over the trees and then a full piece of blue sheer over the entire piece.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky with added stitching in foreground.

The next step was looking over the piece to see anything else that stood out. I noticed that the green sheer I had on the left needed a little work. It felt too straight along the bottom and there was a weird kind of ‘flag’ in the middle of the hills. So I changed those and then began stitching. It’s hard to see but there is light yellow stitching in the foreground. That wasn’t meant to add a hard line, just to hold the blue fabric down and keep the smaller sheer pieces underneath in place. I did add a broken darker brown horizon line which you can see I have started on the left.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Adding stitching in sky.

I continued adding stitch to the horizon line as well as the sky. Again, in the sky, I didn’t want a hard line so I used a very light gray thread, not pure white that might “stick” out too much.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Stitching and trimming completed around edge to hold everything in place.

The final step was to make very small stitches all around the edges of the piece to hold everything in place. I am happy with the result, a bit more color but still an abstract, dreamy effect.

Photo shows a close up of a wet felted Wallhanging.
The Passage of Time

The Passage of Time

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I thought I’d show a few things I’ve been up to since my last post in December, starting with some pendants.
A while ago I did an online workshop with feltmaker Aniko Boros to make her beautiful wet felted Fuchsia pendant.  It wasn’t my intention to carry in making more fuchsias but rather to learn Anikos technique for making complex pendants so I could apply it to my own designs. And so the fuchsia led to this yellow/grey pendant which in turn has led to a recent request from Region 8 of the International Feltmakers Association to teach how to make it.

Yellow/grey necklace

I was concerned that some in the group I will be teaching may not be used to working with Superfine fibre on such a fiddly scale, so over the Christmas/New Year period I created three more sample pendants. Two of these involve some different techniques to Aniko’s, making them easier and quicker to create than my grey one, but they will produce a similar look. The third sample is made without resists and aimed more for absolute beginners, just in case we have any attend. The other obvious difference with these new samples is the addition of beading which can be optional. I’m looking forward to teaching this class on the 8th March.

Another project I’ve been working on recently is a planned IFA exhibition of Feltmaking titled Felt Connected: Bringing People and Fibre Together. It came about after we surveyed Region 8 members as to what they wanted from their Regional Coordinators and one of our members, Jo Cook, suggested we organise an exhibition of members work. Since then Jo and I have been working together to organise the event which will take place next month in Harding House Gallery in Lincoln. We have a total of 17 IFA members taking part with the aim of not only showcasing their talent but demonstrating the versatility of fibre and what can be done with it while at the same time promoting the IFA and hopefully attracting more members. If you are in the area we will be holding a Meet the Artists session from 1pm – 3pm on Saturday 14th March and it would be great to see you there.

Examples of our members work

Earlier this month I started work on The Passage of Time, my submission for the IFA 2026 online exhibition “Time” that launches during our AGM on March 28th. When I first read the theme title I have to admit that for a day or two I struggled to see anything other than clocks! Then I had a lightbulb moment, I’d make an Ouroboros, the mythical serpent that is often represented in Alchemy art depicted eating its own tail. It’s a symbol of the cyclical nature of time, the universe, and self-renewal and represents the concept of eternity and endless return. Image source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20171204-the-ancient-symbol-that-spanned-millennia

I created my 3D mobius wet felted version using Merino fibre but when it came to photographing it, no matter what angle I took it from, it looked really dull and boring. So I abandoned that idea and instead I’ve taken inspiration from the beautiful sandstone slabs on Seahouses beach in Northumberland. Coastal erosion and fossils are both dramatic indicators of the passage of time so seemed a fitting replacement for the failed Ouroboros!

My inspiration for The Passage of Time
Experimental piece depicting fossils
Another fossil experiment
Work in progress
Adding free motion stitch

The base is a mix of Carded Corriedale and Bergschaf fibre with silk fabrics, wallpaper, Tyvek, free motion stitch and hand embroidery. I’ve included a piece of felt I made a few years ago which mimics fossils, it’s one of two experimental samples I made and didn’t get around to using until now. After auditioning both of them in the pre-made hole I went with the darker option, which doesn’t look as dark in the flesh as it does in the photo. I’ve submitted this piece for the online exhibition but I’ve since felted another slab to add to the first one. It will be embellished in a similar way, to create a larger piece of work for another exhibition that Jo and I are hoping to launch in July.  

I’ll leave you with a piece of work that was created by a lovely lady called Avie, also known as The Curly Sheep. Avie came to spend a day with me last month to learn how to wet felt a picture and how to do free motion stitch. Turns out she’s a natural at both as I’m sure you will agree!

 

3D Multi Part Resist Workshop Opens for Registration

3D Multi Part Resist Workshop Opens for Registration

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Where did time go? It is almost spring. The 3D musti-part resist (book resist) workshop opens for registration today. A Masterclass on Book Resists. You can sign up using this form on the workshops page: 3d-multi-part-resist

The class runs from March 1st to March 29 2026. The instructor is available multiple times a day to answer any questions and give advice, so you can take the workshop from anywhere in the world.

This class is for people who have done some basic felting and used a simple resist and want to try something more challenging, learn some new skills and have some fun with them.

Here are some pictures from the last class.

Renee 3D with balloon
Fay, red star 1
Fay Starfish
Fay, Red six leaved book resist vessel

There is a full class description and registration form here: 3d multi part resist

 

Metal bead shaft for decorated key ring, with a small ring on one end and a small globe screwed onto the other
A Few Oddments

A Few Oddments

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On looking through my file of possible posts I have found that there are several subjects on the list about which I don’t have a lot to say, so I thought I’d put them all together.

First, my work basket.  You may recall that I told you about the craft basket makeovers that I had done some years ago https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2023/06/12/craft-basket-makeovers-part-1/  After we moved to Dorset I acquired a marketing basket, can’t remember where from now but at the time it was “in” to be seen wandering around the shops with a basket on your arm.  I didn’t use it for that for long though as I was worried about my purse sitting on top of shopping and being a bit of a temptation.  So I decided that I’d turn the shopping basket into a work basket.  At that time I hadn’t been introduced to felt, I was still spinning, crocheting, tatting, sewing and embroidering so a market basket would be ideal for that.

I used some more of the fabric remnants which I had bought from the same shop in Maidstone where I’d got those which I’d used for the spinning baskets.  I lined the basket, having attached some internal pockets to the lining and made a padded/quilted lid.  That was fixed at one end of the lining and a covered button and loop held it closed at the other end.  I had found a miniature washing basket at a charity shop and I turned that into a pin cushion and I made a small pouch to hold small accessories like cotton reels.  That was fixed to the side of the basket lining with a snap fastener.

The basket got quite a bit of use, as you can probably see from the state of the lining.  One drawback I’ve found to sewing the lining to the basket is that it makes laundering it a bit difficult!

One of the first projects I undertook once I had learned to needle felt was a challenge from a company which used to supply packs of mixed yarns – at least I think it was from them though it might have been a Guild challenge.  It was back in 2002 and as I did not make any notes that I can find, I’m not entirely sure.  I seem to have taken some progress images as I have found lots of these though unfortunately they are not of particularly good quality.

What I do remember is that I had decided that I would make a miniature of a herb knot garden but |’m afraid that my memory of how I found/chose the design is now so hazy that I can’t be precise. I do remember that when I learned to needle felt our teacher gave us pieces of old woollen blanket on which to draw a design that we could fill in with needle felted fibres.  The idea was that we could then wash the work and it would become permanent.  I have amongst the progress pictures images of the design as drawn on a piece of blanket and of the lines becoming “box hedges” and the spaces being filled with “flowers”.  I can also see from the last couple of pictures that I added a “topiary tree” in each corner.

A couple of years later, I acquired a quantity of (I think) Jacob fleece which had been carded all together so that what I had was a sort of grey mixture.  I didn’t really want to spin it as I think I had been duped into buying a bag of really rough fibres.  At about that time I had become interested in stone carvings – gargoyles (water spouts), grotesques, and  heraldic beasts – particularly the Queen’s Beasts which are statues on display at Kew Gardens.  Anyway, I decided that I’d have a go at needle felting some gargoyles using the grotty grey Jacob.  No progress pictures I’m afraid, just finished pieces mounted on fabric covered card or canvas blocks.

Finally  you may remember that Ann M told us about some sheepy key rings that she had made.  https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/06/13/sheep-key-chain/ These looked so good that I’m afraid I stole her idea.  I told you back in December 2024 about the Norwegian Gnomes that I made at our local Museum Shop, for sale there. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/?s=The+Museum+at+Christmas

Ann’s idea made me think that some miniature gnomes impaled on the metal “spike” could look good as bag charm gnomes to sell in the Museum shop.  I had to change the description from key chains to bag charms because the gnomes were a bit too fragile to sit inside someone’s bag/purse, but should look good dangling on the outside.  Here are photos of the “shaft” on which the gnomes are made, and a few of the gnomes.