In a few weeks, Cathy (Luvswool) and I are going to attend the Midwest Fiber Fair in Grayslake, IL. I started thinking about what a great opportunity it might be to introduce some people to the Felting and Fiber Forum/Studio. But I didn’t have any business cards.
So, while working on one of my felt projects I decided that if I’m representing a fiber collaborative I should have business cards that reflect that concept.
I pulled out a bunch of prefelt pieces leftover from other projects and piled up a stack of embellishments and went to work. Of course, I forgot to take a picture before I felted them. I used just one layer of prefelt so that it wouldn’t be too thick and proceeded to play with the embellishments using yarn, silk, silk habatoi, silk hankies, sari threads, throwsters waste, silk gauze with sequins and ribbons.
When I finished felting/fulling the pieces, I cut out a business card size plastic piece and cut out the cards while the felt was still wet and soapy. Then I worked the edges some more before rinsing and drying.
After they dried, I steamed and shaped them a little more. Some of them shrank while drying so I did a bit of pulling and stretching.
I didn’t want to sew them on, so I used three different types of glue (Elmers Clear, Sobo and Tacky Glue) to see which would work best, but all worked nicely and didn’t leave any residue. I applied it using a wooden stick so it was evenly covered. The nice thing about the glue was that while it was wet I was able to stretch and manipulate the felt to cover the card. To make sure they stayed put I piled a couple of heavy books on them to let them dry and flatten. I left the organic edges because I like that look.
I’m not sure how people will react to wool business cards, but I think it sends the right message. I’m definitely a fiber enthusiast.
The next time I make more cards I will stick to silk and embellishments that are flatter. While the yarn and ribbon are nice and very textured, it is a bit more bulky. What do you think?