Felting and Fiber Studio

How many of us have created and created, to the point where our creations are taking over our homes?!  I know I certainly have, and my partner Peter is reaching the point where he is considering moving into the garden shed!  I think there comes a point in everyone’s journey, when they realise that their hobby is taking too much room in their home, leaving little room for anything else.  Does this ring a bell or am I the only one who is feeling swamped by my creations?!

Talking with my friend Debi (who is a fellow crafter), we both realised that we have so many lovely creations that we will never use, never wear and have both saturated our gifts to family and friends.  So where do you go from here?

A while ago, I tried creating an Etsy account but I didn’t have much response.  When people searched for items like mine, my items were always at the bottom of the list.  Not being very experienced with online selling, I don’t have a clue how to promote my goods without spending a fortune.  But over a glass of wine (or two) one evening, Debi and I decided we should try dipping our toes into the world of Craft Fairs.  The thought of doing this on my own was terrifying!  But with my buddy by my side, the prospect didn’t seem half as scary, and I thought yes, we can do this!

Around the same time, I had created a new Facebook page entitled ‘Welsh Felters’ (what else would I call it?!!)

If you’d like to see my new Facebook page, please click the link: https://tinyurl.com/yvytnpkx   I’d love to know what you think?

Then, a day or so later, I was contacted by a lady called Jill, who has run a craft fair called ‘Made it Market’ for the last 8 years or so.   Jill introduced herself, and invited me to join in her next craft fair, which was to be held in St David’s Church, Neath on Saturday 23rd September.  Having shown the invite to my friend Debi, we agreed that we would give it a go.  How better to relieve our bursting homes of creations, with the prospect of meeting lots of like-minded people into the bargain?!

We both began sorting through our wares, to gather items we thought people might like to buy.  Debi, being a big crocheter, knitter and weaver, found a multitude of beautiful scarves, hats and Santa hats for wine bottles (bit of a theme here?!)  I gathered together various felted soaps, scarves, hand spun yarns and art yarns I had created.  I also had an idea to add to my wares by making wet-felted key rings…funny little creatures with googly eyes and hats!  Having started making the key rings, I discovered that they were really time consuming, so I quickly changed plans and decided to turn my wet-felted balls into cat toys instead…(yes, I probably didn’t need to think about making anything new but it’s so much fun to create!)

I found lots of feathers, ordered some ribbons and bells, and set about creating some cat toys.  I know, this was supposed to be about offloading some of my creations, not adding more to them, but I just couldn’t resist!  They were so much fun to make and far less fiddly than key rings!! I think they turned out pretty well.  I took one to Debi’s for her kitty to road test for me, and he absolutely loved it!  It also stood up pretty well to his best mouse-mutilating tactics!  So, having been thoroughly tested by Zeek, in the Quality Control Department, I was satisfied that they were good enough to sell in the craft fair.

One thing I hadn’t really thought about was the need for insurance.  However, once I received Jill’s paperwork, I realised that of course, we would need insurance!!  Have you looked at the cost of insurance?? Wow, it is expensive.  But, I then remembered that I am a member of the International Feltmakers Association.  I joined the Association about two years ago, when I heard they offer very good value for money, including a quarterly magazine… AND… included in your membership is insurance cover.  I had a look at the policy, and sure enough it would cover my stall, goods and also anyone with me (which included Debi!)  Having read and re-read the policy, I was satisfied that this insurance would suffice for any craft fair, so I was a very happy felter!  Having completed all the required documentation, we were duly booked onto the craft fair!! This was going to be soooo exciting!!!!

Having sorted out and prepared all of our wares, Debi and I were ready.  We had to have an early start, so we could get to the Church on time, in order to unload and put together our stall.   Jill’s husband Gareth had been tasked with the job of marshalling everyone on arrival, directing cars and ensuring that everyone could ‘stop, drop, park and then set up’!  It was clear to see that Jill was a school teacher in her previous role, as she had everything planned down to the minutest detail, including stall plans and directions for us all.  I was impressed with Jill’s level of organisation.  But to be fair, when you have a multitude of crafters arriving around the same time, you have to be organised or things could easily descend into utter chaos!

Once we had set up our stall, I took some photos to mark the occasion….

Some close-up shots of our stall….

We had a lovely time at the craft fair, meeting lots of new people and of course, selling our wares.  I even got approached by a lovely man who has opened a cafe, and who asked whether I wanted to rent a shelf to sell my creations…real networking in action!

After the craft fair was finished and we were at home relaxing with a well deserved cup of coffee (yes coffee, not wine!), Debi and I evaluated our day and considered what we would have done differently.  We both agreed that next time, we should have a table each in order to showcase our wares better.  The worry we had was not having enough to fill a stall, but having done our first craft fair, it was evident that we had more than enough!!! We also agreed that we needed a neater table cloth, one of those stretchy cloths that hook underneath the table legs.  The lady in the stall next door informed us that they are available to purchase online for around £10.  We also agreed that because we both have multiple health issues, the purchase of a wheelable trolley would be a definite asset to make loading and unloading far less challenging for us.    We agreed that we would definitely do this again, as it was a very enjoyable day, if very tiring!  I have to admit to falling asleep as soon as I got home! But all in all, we agreed that the day was a success and we are looking forward to our next craft fair!

With thanks to Jill at Made it Market  https://www.facebook.com/groups/197744683660217/?ref=share  for making our first fair such a positive and enjoyable experience!

I often wonder how people first get into fibre crafts.  Whether they learned them from a family member or fell upon them quite by accident.  For Alex and I, we discovered felting during lockdown, but as a young girl, I had the opportunity to try spinning in school.  Our needlework teacher brought her spinning wheel in for one lesson, to show us how to spin fibre into wool.  I was lucky enough to have a go, and I loved it.  Sadly, it was a one-off lesson that was never to be repeated, but the love of creating wool from fibre is something that has stayed with me all my life.  So having  tried felting, and then moving on to weaving, the natural progression was to think about creating my own yarns to use in weaving.  I started to search online for a wheel, not really knowing enough about them! I came across an advert for an ‘old traditional Welsh spinning wheel’.  As it was local to me, I went to take a look at it and immediately fell in love with it.  It was so pretty!!

I had done a little research, and knew to check that all the relevant parts were still attached, so when I looked at this one, I did a mental checklist and was satisfied that nothing seemed to be missing.  The older couple who were selling it explained it had belonged to the lady’s great aunt, and she had inherited the wheel but never used it.  In my head I though fab, I’ve found a little gem and decided to call her Angharad (a traditional old Welsh name).  However, when I started to look at getting it to work I realised that there were some anomalies.  For example, the footman seemed much too long and something seemed wrong with the way it connected to the wheel hub.  Also, there was no sign of wear and tear anywhere, and I also realised another big mistake….there was no way I was ever going to spin art yarn on a flax wheel, even if I could get it to work! But I could still see the value in spinning other fibres, so set about trying to make it work.  Eventually, I had to concede defeat and started looking for a different wheel.  By this time, I’d learned a lot more about what I needed my wheel to do, and set my heart on an Ashford.

Social media is a great place to find little gems (as well as the not so good!).  I eventually found an advert for an Ashford Traditional, that was built in the 1989/91 that was still unassembled in its original box!  So, it was a vintage, but like brand new.  The chap that was selling it (Bob Granger), was quite local and told me that he works out of Craig-y-Nos Country Park, and renovates spinning wheels!! So I seized the opportunity to tell him about my Welsh wheel, and he kindly offered to take a look at it for me!! I was so happy  to have found someone with the skills and knowledge, who was only in the next county to where I live!!

When I arrived, I was in awe of both the location and Bob’s knowledge.  Having purchased the new wheel, I left old Angharad with Bob, to see what miracles he could do to get her working.  But what a fantastic place to work!! I was totally taken aback by the beautiful location of Craig-y-Nos… What a truly amazing work-life balance to have…

This is the view from Bob’s workshop!

Having taken my new Ashford home, I decided that I would call her Valerie after my late Mum.  That way, every time I spin I will think of her.  I couldn’t wait to start putting her together.  I opened the box and checked nothing was missing, before I waxed all wooden pieces ready to assemble.

  I couldn’t have found a ‘newer’ wheel second hand even if I tried!

It even still had the original packer’s details in the box!  I wonder if she’s retired now…

Having assembled Valerie, I couldn’t wait to start spinning!  I think I did a good job of the assembly.

Sadly, Bob and his friend tried their best with Angharad, but despite shortening the footman, shortening the flyer and fixing the metal part that connects the footman to the axle, it still wasn’t viable.  To be honest, I don’t think it had ever been used!! It seems ironic that someone would go to the trouble of putting so much time and effort into making such a beautiful spinning wheel that would never work.  The bobbin was fixed to the flyer – although it would spin, you can’t remove it and it’s so small, it would hold hardly any yarn!  I now have to decide whether to keep the wheel for it’s beauty or whether to sell it on as an ornament! Pete is hoping that I will sell her as the house is fast being taken over by my hobbies!

This was my first attempt at spinning on Valerie.  My friend and neighbour Debi was kind enough to give me some Corriedale fibre that she didn’t need, so this was my first go.

As you can see, it’s quite ‘chunky’!

But to be fair, as I want to use the yarn for weaving weft, I can still use it.

My next spin was a merino wool which I decided would look interesting plied with the corriedale.

I was quite pleased with the end result…

  I tried some experimenting with the plying technique, to see whether I could make some interesting bobbly effects.  It’s all a learning curve!

I think my next attempt was a lot neater.  I used an art batt that I purchased, and tried my hand at making a thinner yarn this time…

Around this time, we went up north to visit Pete’s family.  I decided to take my spindle, to practice my drafting.  It worked really well in the car and it also gave me a chance to feed my new-found addiction to spinning!  I think I managed to spin a much thinner yarn and it’s all practice isn’t it.

I’m still picking up the spindle in between spinning on Valerie, and it’s now nearly full!

I have purchased a lovely book to help me in my quest to learn spinning.  I have to say, when it arrived, I was so impressed with it.  I was lucky enough to buy an unused second-hand copy, and it’s like new.  It kind of matches my purchase of Valerie.  Both previously owned by someone who never used them.  For a novice spinner like myself, I can honestly recommend this book by Sarah Anderson for its clear instructions with beautiful illustrations. But it’s equally good for experienced spinners who want to learn new yarn designs…

Here are some of my creations, I hope you like them!

I also invested in a cute little Niddy Noddy, to help me put my yarns into skeins.  I opted for the type that can be taken apart and fits into one of my many fibre boxes (see Pete, I am trying to reduce the space my hobby is taking up in the house!!) I also bought the extension for it, so I can make 1 or 2 yard skeins.  I got it from a great little Etsy shop called Hairy Dog Crafts and it works really well! I love the names on some of these shops!

Of course, no blog from us would be complete without the usual interfering cats.  To say they are still as fascinated by wool fibre goes without saying but I have discovered that for Eccles, it also extends to pictures… here she is having taken over my book!

And Elliot had to make his usual blog appearance of course…

But sadly, the little man somehow managed to open a sealed plastic box to retrieve my yarn.  I didn’t realise until I saw him acting ‘sheepishly’, and discovered my beautiful yarn under the dining room table looking more reminiscent of a birds nest than my lovely yarn!!!

I still can’t get over the fact he managed to open the box.  He is one very clever cat.  But I’m so glad I managed to save this other one before he managed to redesign it…                           

I still have a long way to go, but I’m enjoying the journey.  Alex came over this week, and he had a try at the wheel.  His little legs only just reached the treadle!  I think it will take him a while to get the hang of coordinating his hands and his feet, but I can see great fun for him in the learning process and together, we can enjoy playing with new designs we make to weave.

Many years ago, we bought some sweet paper lanterns, that we have used a number of times for birthday parties or other fun celebrations.  They always looked warm and welcoming as the sun set, giving a lovely glow hanging from the gazebo.  As we always loved the look of them, I decided to hang them up in the conservatory so we could use them all year round.  Great idea….but….having little furry felines in the house, they thought it would be great fun one day to play football with them!  Sadly, a number of our sweet little lanterns went from this….

……to this!!!!   

As a person who hates the thought of adding plastic to landfill, and always wanting to recycle or upcycle anything and everything; I decided that I would attempt to create a wet-felted version of the paper lantern reusing the plastic components and light.

I recently treated myself to a lovely little book by Mette Ostman, which beautifully explains how to create round open vessels using a resist.  When I was reading the book, I realised that I could use this method to make a ball, that I could hopefully turn into a woolen equivalent of a paper lantern.  I say “hopefully”, because as a complete novice, nothing I create is guaranteed to work!!!!

Just to add…I was hoping that Alex would be here to help me create this month’s masterpiece, but unfortunately my partner has been feeling a bit under the weather and so I made the decision not to have Alex over this week, just in case.  But fingers’ crossed, next time he will be able to felt and create to his heart’s content.

So…I needed to think about materials and design.  A while back, I purchased some viscose in some beautiful colours.  I hadn’t plucked up the courage to use any yet, so I thought this might be the ideal project to give it a whirl.  I wanted the lantern to look attractive, whether or not the lights were on and thought that the viscose would give a lovely sheen to the surface, that would catch the light and make the lantern radiate and shimmer.   Having measured the original lanterns, I wanted the finished ‘ball’ to measure around 20cm diameter (when flat).  Allowing  for roughly 1/3 shrinkage, I considered following the plan in making the resist 30cm.  But in the end, I made it slightly larger (31.5cm), but kept the total wool weight at 45g, in order to make the felt thinner.  I will admit, this was pretty much guesswork, as I’ve never attempted a lamp before and I didn’t really know how thick the felt could be, yet still be able to allow the light to shine through the felt!

The proportions of wool that I used, were an inner layer of off-white wool batt weighing a total of 25g.  Layer two was pale pink merino, weighing 20g and for the final outer layer of viscose, I put together 10g each of green and turquoise.

As you can see, my white wool was in a bit of a jumbled mess so I decided to card it before using it to enable me to have a little more control over how I laid the wool down.

I began laying the white wool as finely as I could….

  and then wet, compressed & flipped it over..         

After layering and wetting the second side, I began laying down and wetting the pink wool..

  as you can see, with the pink wool I put two very thin layers, crossing each other in different directions.  I repeated this on each side before adding my final layer of viscose…

With the two colours of viscose, I mixed them by drafting them together about four of five times to achieve a merging of the two colours, but not so much that they totally blended together.

     From this…

to this     

I wanted to create some blending of colour, but still allow you to still see patches of each individual colour.   At this point, I was very much using guesswork as I have never made a lamp before and I’ve never used viscose!!!!!!!!  Those of you who felt a lot will probably pick up that I overdid the viscose!!! But it’s all a learning curve hey?!!

Having ensured that all layers were thoroughly wet and compressed, I then started to felt.  I began very gently, in order to allow the fibres to begin merging together.

I will be totally honest with you, i did not have a clue how much light would be able penetrate through the felt.  I was faced with a dilemma…to little wool and viscose, and the lantern won’t hold its shape.  But too much wool and viscose, the light won’t show through!  So this was very much was an experiment on multiple levels for me!

I spent quite a long time working the wool through a layer of bubble wrap before I reached the point where I could start rolling the felt.  It seemed to take forever to felt, but I’m guessing this is something that happens with viscose?

However, I was really pleased with how the viscose was taking shape!

I love the streaky effect I was starting to achieve…

  Do you think if looks rather planetary??!!!

After much felting, rolling, removing the resist and fulling, it was time to allow it to dry.  When I removed the resist, I cut the tiniest hole I could, because I didn’t want to risk ending up with a hole that was larger than my plastic components!  I had quite a struggle to get that resist out, but I won in the end!  I then inserted a balloon and inflated it, before beating the ball with a spatula to even out the surface.  I’m afraid I forgot to take a photo of this part of the process, but it worked because the surface was quite smooth by the time I finished, as you can see from the photo above.  Looking at it, I wish I’d known about felting when my youngest son was little because he was totally in awe of the planets and star gazing…I would have loved to make him a whole planetary solar system!!!

Once it was dry, it was time to start assembling the project.  The light box was in two parts.  The light and battery component, with a lid that fixed it in place through the paper.  Now all I needed to do was clip it together either side of the felt.  I made a hole for the light bulb to be inserted through, and two smaller holes to allow the lugs to penetrate the wool and clip onto the lid, which I put inside the ball.

And here, you can see the battery component that lies the other side of that light bulb!

The top proved to be a little bit more tricky to incorporate….  There were parts of the lid that had little lugs that held the handle in place.  That was easy, as I could poke them through the felt.  But that only meant two sides were attached!  So in the end, I got my needle and thread out, and sewed some snap fasteners to the top of the felt.  The other part of the fastener, I glued to the inside of the plastic ring.

  Here you can see the glued snap fastener!  Sadly, I was too enthusiastic to try them out, and ended up using them too soon, resulting in managing to pull them off and having to  re-glue them!!!!!!!!  Patience is a virtue!!!!!

And this is how it ended up…..

…and from the other side of the world….

To me, it looks like an alternative version of the Earth!  I’m please with the sheen I got from using the viscose.  To be honest, I’d be quite happy to have this hanging from my gazebo just as a decoration…

But…the million dollar question is, does it work as a lamp??!!

Well…to be totally honest with you, I definitely think I overdid the viscose!!! The photo of it as a lamp, shows it in a much better light (pardon the pun!) than in real life.  In the photo, you can see more light showing through the viscose fibre than there actually is.  When I make the next one, I think I will alter the proportions of the wool and viscose to be more wool, and use the viscose more sparingly to form more of a pattern, rather than as an overall coverage.  But I will say that I like the daytime version, where it makes for a decorative ball!  It does hold its shape, but I think I might opt to make it thinner next time and try using some sort of stiffener to ensure it is still able to hold its shape.  That way, I think I will get a better result for use as a lantern light.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the results considering there were a number of ‘experiments’ going on here!  As a novice, I have learned a lot and think next time, I should achieve a better result.  But at least it wasn’t a total disaster!!

I have to confess this month, I am flying solo, because Alex has happily returned home to live with his housemates now that he’s had both Covid vaccinations.  I had planned for him to visit me last weekend, for him to join in the blog project, but my partner Pete went up to London recently to watch Swansea City Football Club in the play-off finals for the Premier Division!  As a result, I felt that it was too risky for Alex to come and stay, just in case Covid reared its ugly head.  So I’m afraid you’ve only got me this time!

Anyway, it’s that time of year when we all love to get out and about for some fresh air.  With lockdown affecting so many people’s plans for holidays and travel, many of us have turned to more home-based ideas to spend time in the fresh air.  We have spent a lot of time in the garden over this past year or so, and I thought it would be nice to combine ideas for the garden with wet felting.

Here are some photos of our garden, which just over a year ago, was a mass of overgrown weeds, bamboo and brambles!! I think it’s coming on really well.  Pete has worked a miracle and Alex has enjoyed learning how to garden and grow vegetables.

So… I decided to make something that would be a pretty addition to our garden……. a liner for a hanging basket of flowers.

I started by measuring the diameter of the wire basket from rim to rim, including the depth.  It measured 21″ in total.  In order to allow for shrinkage, I made a rough guess and decided to make a circle measuring 30″ in diameter.  I decided that I didn’t want it too thick, so opted for doing two layers of wool batt, with a few decorations using Merino tops.

Before I started laying out my wool batt, I decided to make some spirals for the outside of the liner.  I though they would add a nice decoration, and would make the liner both colourful and hopefully attractive to bees!

Some of the merino tops were quite short, so I drafted them in order to make them longer.  As you can see by the pale green one, I need practice!!!

I wrapped the ends in some clingfilm, which I secured with an elastic band in order to keep them dry and prevent them from felting.

Next, I felted them in order to make my spirals.  I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to roll them in your hands as they are so slippery! So I managed to find that by rolling them gently on a towel, I got a much more even shape and they were easier to roll.

Next was to start laying out my wool batt.  Firstly, I did a layer of lavender coloured wool.  Once I had laid that out, I then added my merino snakes! I have to admit, at one point I did think this was going to end up looking like Medusa!

I fanned out the dry ends of my ‘snakes’ so they would be sandwiched between the two layers of wool batt.  Once I had all six snakes in place, I added my second layer of turquoise wool batt.

As you can see, I left a hole for you to see how thick I was laying the wool batt.  I have to admit, the blue looks more of a sky blue in the photos, but in real life, it has a lovely turquoise hue to it.

I added some merino coils on the top, so look like little flowers.  Then I started to wet felt the wool.  It took quite a while and I have to admit it was tricky at first, because my table was the same width as the diameter of the wool batt circle.  This meant that I had snakes trying to slither off in all directions!!!  But once they were starting to get trapped by the wool batt, they were a lot easier to handle!  Perhaps I was a snake charmer in a past life!

Anyway, I finally got there! I did not quite manage to shrink it back down to 21″ diameter, no matter how much I worked it and fulled it.  I did contemplate trimming the top back to the rim of the wire basket, but in the end I decided I quite liked it as from above, it looked like a large Petunia flower!  I cut six triangles out of the circle, so that it would sit better in the wire basket.

I was quite happy with the result…

I then made my snakes into spirals using pipe cleaners to shape them and left the whole thing to dry.

In the end, I also decided to use the triangles that I had cut out, by inserting them lower down into the wire basket.  I think it looks like an upside down jesters hat now!  I have planted it with a few flowering plants, and I’ve put it at the bottom of the garden.  This is where I put my special, meaningful things.  I like to think the fairies appreciate them!

I hope you like my wet felted basket liner! I thought I would leave you with some photos of my midnight garden to finish off…

We have a new grand baby in the family, so we thought it would be nice to make a gift for her.  So Alex and I had a think, and came up with the plan to make a baby’s mobile.  Now we don’t know about you, but we absolutely love rainbows.  Their colourful display are enough to brighten anyone’s day.  As the baby’s Dad is from Wales but they live in Yorkshire, we also thought it might be nice to also incorporate some Welsh driftwood into the project to represent the baby’s Welsh roots.

When thinking of the design, we also thought we would add some clouds, to give context to our rainbow, but being quite novice felters, we opted to do needle felted clouds, so they would appear light and fluffy.  We started by making a template to represent the base of the clouds, as when we look up into the sky, clouds often appear to have a flat base, with plumes of fluffy clouds above.

We wanted a rough design to follow, so that we ended up with a cloud the size we wanted.  We needle felted some cloud shapes out of an off-white wool.  Unfortunately, it didn’t have a label for us to identify the type of wool!!  Once we had a layer of cloud, we could then start to build upwards…

We continued to make small clouds, which we then added to our base…

Alex had a go at needle felting once it was assembled.  There was less risk of him stabbing his fingers by this stage!!

We decided that it would be lovely to have some lights inside our cloud.  We bought some battery operated LED lights, which were small enough to fit inside.  We bought off white, warm white and multicoloured, but in the end decided on the multicoloured lights to reflect the rainbow colour scheme!

We pushed some of the lights down into the base layer of cloud, and hid the rest in amongst the top layers of cloud.

But we needed to have access to them in order to operate the light switch and be able to change the batteries.  So we left an access hole in the top of the clouds…

The next step was to make the felted balls.  We used 3 grammes of wool per ball and tried a few different methods.  Firstly Alex had a go at hand felting them, but as he doesn’t know his own strength, it was difficult to keep them circular!

So we then tried using a salad spinner to gently tumble them…

But although this worked quite well, they still looked like they needed some more felting so we tried bubble wrap to cushion the pressure of hand felting…

Success!! We ended up with some really well felted balls that were fairly round and even…

Having finished both the clouds and the rainbow, it was time to start assembling our mobile…BUT….disaster struck!!!  When we went to pick up our rainbow of balls, we were missing a green one.  Now where could it have gone to?? Two minutes before, it was right beside us and now it had vanished.  We started to look everywhere and after about 20 minutes of moving furniture and searching three rooms, we found it…..

How could one little ball end up so big and fluffy?  I even weighed it to check it was the same ball but yes, it weighed 3 grammes, the same weight as the original.  There was only one explanation…..

Not content with the numerous homemade felted mice he has been given, Elliot was determined to get his claws into the rainbow.  We should have known, as he spotted them in the making!!!  So – we then had to make another one to replace it, which set us back a few hours while we waited for it to dry!  But in the end, we were able to assemble our felted rainbow mobile and Alex is very happy!!!

And the lights look amazing!!!

We would like to try this project again, but using wet felting for the cloud.  It will be good to compare the two.  It was a fiddly project to make, including trying to balance everything to ensure that it hung straight!! But all in all, we are very pleased with how it finally turned out.  But I think next time, we will be hiding the raindrops from Elliot!!!