The winner of the 100 grams of premium washed Teeswater locks is Sttamburo
The winner of the 150 grams of Swiss mountain batt in your choice of colour(s) is Darrel
Congratulations! Monica will contact you via the email you provided.
Now my stuff
My heat erasable pens arrived. They come as a pack of refills and some empty pens. I got one that came with 4 colours, white, red, blue and black. That should cover all possibilities.
I picked the white. I think red would have worked too.
Onto the last part of the design. Diamonds were a popular repeating pattern. I better check to see if this will work the way I think it will. I did not do my usual quick sketch but using a ruler. Are you amazed?
Yes, that should work fine, real diamonds and not just squares on point. Now let’s see if those pens work. A straight line to work form. I may stitch that in too. I wasn’t sure it was going to work, even smooth felt is very textured. The tendency when a pen doesn’t write is to press harder. That didn’t work. A light touch was much better.
A couple of weeks has passed since I did the lines. I decided to use yellow for the lines.
I really like how the yellow looks against the green but it didn’t look complete so I added some red and black french knots in the middle
Next was finishing the sides. I decided to use double-fold bias tape. I like double fold because it’s easy to sew on invisibly. the bias I like to use with felt is a fleece bias. It blends with felt so nicely but isn’t as bulky as using felt. I had black and green that would work. I chose the green as it was such a good match.
If I had easy access to my machine I would have stitched the first side with it. You can stitch in the ditch of the fold and it’s invisible. That is the way I do it when I put a bias tape on the brim of a hat. As it was, I just stitched both sides by hand.
I think it looks good.
Next is sewing the pockets and filling them up. I should have that done by next time. I have almost a whole month to get it done and still be on time.
I just love this fibre because it makes both amazing wet and needle felted items. It comes in batt format in 49 dyed and 9 natural colours. At 27 micron it is a rougher fibre and has a moderate staple length of 3-5cm.
I fell for this fibre not just because of its felting qualities, but also because the product is made by happy sheep that spend their summers up in the high Swiss alps — travelling on ancient roman roads to get there. After they are shorn in a traditional manner, the wool is transported to a small Swiss family business where it is washed only with washing soda (aka sodium carbonate or soda ash is a natural cleaner and a powerful water softener. It’s very basic with a pH of 11). The washing process is environmentally friendly and the wastewater is safely returned to the local mountain stream. The wool is dyed carefully and without any harsh chemicals — using just natural vinegar and acid dyes. The wool is dried outside on warm metal roofing (weather permitting). In winter the warmth created by the dyeing process is used to heat the building.
The fibre is exceptionally clean as the carding machines have special vacuums installed to remove VM (Vegetable Matter naturally occurring in sheep fleeces) and ensure it doesn’t get back into the wool.
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Due to the ease of felting with Swiss Mountain Sheep wool, kids love working with it. The fibre can also be laid out very thin to create transparent felts.
Combine Swiss Mountain sheep with Maori or other Bergschaf yarns. You can also combine it with 18/19 micron to create an inner layer that is next to skin soft when making garments. I love making slippers with an inner layer of 18/19 micron merino batt or Kap Merino and the outer layer being Swiss Mountain, combining softness with hard wearing wool.
Yak and Mulberry Luxury Roving
A custom blend made for The Olive Sparrow — this is a commercially triple-blended roving/top which mixes the silk with the yak to create a lovely variegated roving. Although it requires some gentle coaxing to wet felt due to the high content of mulberry silk, the resulting felt is an absolute dream to wear right next to the skin.
The yak fibre is naturally fawn coloured, the mulberry silk is undyed.
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To produce yak fibre for felting, the soft fine under hair is the desirable element of this animal’s coat and is removed commercially by dehairing, which separates the soft under hair from the coarse outer hair, known as guard-hair.
This also makes a lovely spun yarn.
Using acid dyes on this fibre is very interesting — the yak and its brown/yellow undertones combined with the undyed silk to absorbs colours differently and will make mottled/variegated tones. As the fibre is very fine, it lends itself to be dyed after felting or spinning.
Mint Fibre
The fibre length is 75-80mm.
I love using mint fibre in the same way as mulberry silk — the softly off-white colour and the slight mat sheen give a look between the extra shiny mulberry silk and the much softer gloss of tussah silk.
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Mint is a new biodegradable cellulose fibre that is infused with mint powder that is extracted from peppermint leaves. It does not smell of mint and has a lovely soft and cottony texture. This soft golden fibre has antibacterial properties and natural cooling properties. Mint infused roving can be dyed using natural plant dyes and mordants or other dyes suitable for cellulose fibres. Perfect for spinning and blending with fibres such as cotton, silk, wool and Linen. Great surface inclusion for wet felting. A wonderful vegan needle felting alternative.
Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?
I use my ball brauser — I generally have two on the go at the same time. I also love the hand-pumped vegetable sprayers from the garden centre to wet-out large areas. When doing a sculptural piece, handheld massage tools make shrinking of specific areas very fast. Thin painter’s plastic as one layer on bubble wrap — and I always use the bubble side down when initially starting to felt.
Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most?
Having been blessed with learning handwork techniques from grade 2 onwards, my arsenal of techniques means that I often will blend them all together in a project. Because of the shop keeping me quite busy and still being needed as a mother, most of my creative time I spend making dolls or knitting simple items. Yet especially in doll making, I frequently wet felt garments for the dolls. Doll making lets me use all my skills. In wet felting, I love making long voluminous shawls — generally using at least a 4m length and 30” width. I also love working with Teeswater locks — washing, sorting, dying them. I sew them into wefts for my dolls and use them as fringes in shawls.
doll-felted-coat
General Questions
What is your business?
The Olive Sparrow.
Good Hand-Made Goods made by You and Me
Here is a bit of background information about how this all came to be:
The Olive Sparrow is me, Monika Aebischer, I am a felter and a natural fibre doll artist. I quite proudly call myself a crazy when it comes to collecting books about wet and needle felting. In a previous life, I was a mixed media artist with work in galleries across Canada. Sadly during the 2008 financial crash, the art market collapsed and I was forced to re-invent myself. As I had fallen in love with felt making during my student years at the Ontario College of Art and Design and had taken some wet felting workshops in Switzerland, it seemed to be the right direction to go. It also worked very well with my doll making — I needle felt the heads of my dolls and also make felted clothing for some of them. While growing up in Switzerland as part of my apprenticeship in selling women’s clothing, I studied fibres and textile manufacturing.
The Olive Sparrow shop started as a way to bring supplies to my felting students — I taught a 5-day felting intensive workshop at Loyalist College for 4 years every summer from 2011 – 2015. Every year I would import specialty felting fibres from Europe for my students. These students then wanted to purchase fibre after the workshop. Learning that there are several Fibre Festivals around Ontario made me realize that there was an opportunity to share these fibres with other felters. My painting studio slowly turned into a shop — alongside my selling on Etsy. I decided that the shop was going to focus on Felting supplies and not be another general fibre shop. I also decided that the focus will be on European felting fibres, rather than local fibres.
After 20 years in that space, I was forced to move in 2018, as the old building was being turned into condos. Now located in the East end of Toronto, the shop is in an industrial building — and open by appointment. There are about 600 square feet full of fibre, commercial 100% wool felt, Waldorf doll supplies, Sajou notions from France and select other items. The shop is also somewhat flexible, in that it can be transformed into a workshop space for 1-3 students.
Before we were in this Pandemic, the Olive Sparrow could be found at various fibre festivals — Twist, Picton, Woodstock, Peterborough, Knitter’s Frolic, Kitchener/Waterloo knitters festival, and other smaller events. 2020 has meant a focus on building out the online presence and extending inventory.
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What kind of items do you sell?
Too many to list, however, here is a sampling —
18/19 micron roving in over 100 colours
24 Micron roving
Swiss Mountain Sheep batt
Kap Merino
19 micron merino Batt
Pre-felt (both in 40 x 40 cm sheets) and by the meter
Margilan silk
Maori and Maori/Bergschaft batt
100% wool felt by the sheet and many colours by the meter
Unicorn Power Scour
Premium locks – Teeswater extra length
Wool felt balls/hearts/stars from Nepal
Silk – Mulberry, Tussah
Viscose
The Olive Sparrow locks in Vogue
Hand Dyed locks
The Olive Sparrow is an official DHG Dyehouse reseller — carrying all of the pre-felt colours, as well as an extensive selection of 19 micron roving, 19 micron batt, sari silk waste, mulberry silk and a variety of other fibres.
What do you think makes your business different from similar ones?
Unique premium products from Europe — all our goods are imported from Europe. Volume discounts to help small-scale makers. Teaching workshops – private and customized — creativity counselling. Very hands-on knowledgeable. A brick and mortar shop that is open by appointment and sells online.
Where are you located?
Toronto, Ontario, Canada – at 19 Waterman Avenue — which is an industrial area just south of Eglinton and just off the Don Valley Parkway.
To enter leave a reply below. Do not post your email but make sure there is one associated with your post. You can’t win if we cant reach you. The two winners will be announced on June 4th
Giveaway #1 — 100 grams of premium washed Teeswater locks 12″ undied/unsorted ready for you to decide what you want to do.
Giveaway #2 – 150 grams of Swiss mountain batt (you can choose the colours if your name is chosen)
First, the part everyone wants to know, who won the Custom Fibre Chest. The winner is Karen Cantwell. Congratulations, I am sure you will enjoy your basket of goodies. For everyone else get a Free goody bag if you place an order this month. Just mention you saw it on the Felting and Fiber Studio Blog.
And now the less exciting part,
I decided to make another little bag to keep things in my basket organized. I am going to use some thick prefelt I have. The nice thing about the thick felt is you can split it and cut away a layer so you can overlap the edges and not have a thick seam.
Here’s the layout ready to wrap around. I use a felting needle to keep it all in place before wetting.
I thought it would make it more versatile if it had a little loop so it could be attached to something if I wanted to use it somewhere else, maybe attached to my sketchbook. to add it I used the offcuts from pealing the prefelt and some of the yarn I am using to decorate it. It’s handspun wool and silk. This is the back with the loop wrapped up so it won’t stick down. I needled the ends of the yarn down.
And this is the front. I may embellish it after it’s felted. I will see what it looks like. It looks very blank at the top but I will be cutting that later to make a foldover flap.
It felted down really well and you can’t see where the joins were. The join is right down the middle top to bottom.
I added the pen for size and a little piece of white felt so you can see where the opening is. It didn’t show with the black on black. I will probably add a magnetic closure if I have a small enough one. If not I will add a snap.
I love the way this yarn worked. This yarn is handspun. it’d shredded sari silk and wool. I don’t remember spinning this but looking at it I think it must be mine. Firstly it is a very small amount and I typically do this. The other is how it’s plyed. It looks like it sat in a center-pull ball or on a spindle a long time before plying. When you do that the yarn sets and when you ply it, it doesn’t really look right until you wet finish it to give the yarn back its spin energy. I almost never bother to wet finish my yarn because I won’t be knitting with it. Essentially I’m lazy about it, what can I say?
I didn’t look at this too closely before using it, I just liked the colours and thought they would look good on both the black and grey. Now looking at it after felting I suspect ( I would have to go look to be sure) that it was plyed in the wrong direction. I plyed it in the same direction as the spin so added more energy rather than plying in the opposite direction, removing energy and balancing the yarn. If you look at the yarn now you will notice it sometimes looks like two parallel yarns and sometimes one wrap around the other and that seems to be happening in the same direction as the single yarn. It didn’t just all unravel because I have tacked down at both ends.
It is another fun thing about making your own yarn. You can do some cool stuff on purpose or by accident. It fun, you should try it. It’s all the same supplies you already have. You just need a cheap drop spindle. You can even have lots of them, cheap and expensive and still not be in as deep as one spinning wheel.
Silk, silk and silk! It goes with everything and always improves any project I create. I consider it a ‘workhorse fibre’ due to how adaptable it is. Even the smallest amount does wonders and I consider it essential for any of my personal projects, or where I want to really wow someone.
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Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?
A felting rolling pin. I start all of my felting projects with this. It takes the hard work out of felting and I don’t have to roll the felt up, I can work on it flat. Within minutes I can have a large piece of felt that is ready to be developed further.
My trilobite finishing tool. I use the tool at the end of the felting process to give a sheen and smooth finish to my felt. It works especially well when I’m using silk.
Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most?
I looooove *gestures at the void* how can you ask me to narrow it down?! I suppose if I had to choose, I love making nuno felted garments using fibres I’ve dyed myself.
General Questions
What is your business?
Marie Redding Arts
What kind of items do you sell?
Felting, weaving, crafting, knitting materials, tools and supplies. I also create and sell my own yarn and locally sourced sheep fleece and locks.
I supply a wide range of wooden tools which my master carpenter makes just for me, to my designs.
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I ship worldwide and have customers in every country which has enriched my experience and consider myself very lucky.
I’ve recently started creating spirit dolls on a custom basis as well. They’ve proven to be very popular with my customers.
What do you think makes your business different from similar ones?
I have a unique eye for colour and use books for inspiration, such as Alice In Wonderland
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I make sure every order that goes out is special and contains little gifts. I also pride myself on being a one stop shop and cater for all my customers’ needs if I can, with a very diverse range of goods. Being plastic free as much as possible is important to me.
Marie has done an amazing giveaway of a felting basket of goodies. To get in on the draw leave a comment below. Make sure there is an email attached to your profile so we can contact you. (don’t post your email ) If we can’t contact you we will pick another number. Marie will use a random number generator on May 4th to pick the lucky winner and I will announce it in my blog post on May 5th.
A luxury mixed media treasure chest in a gorgeous wicker hamper, ideal for a gift or a treat just for you. A bumper haul of mixed media fibre in your chosen complementary colours, merino wool, hand dyed silks, beads, hand dyed nylon sparkle, hand dyed locks and Teeswater fleece, and a gorgeous piece of luxury fabric to top it off! Presented in a beautiful wicker hamper which can be supplied gift wrapped at no extra cost, with a gift message or blank gift tag. This kit has no plastic packaging as I care about the environment.
1. Viscose tops – I really love working and experimenting with this plant based fibre. Created from regenerated wood pulp, viscose has all the look and feel of silk tops, without the static when you draft it and it is considerably cheaper. A brilliant fibre for adding some lustre and surface interest to wet or dry felted projects. You can make fibre sheets in different densities and use thin wispy sheets for layering or thicker ones for cutting out shapes. Being a similar micron, viscose integrates really well with 19 micron merino roving. You can card it with other fibres, lay it out thickly or thinly for different effects or blend colours together. Being a smooth manmade fibre with no scales, it won’t wet felt on its own, but only needs a surprisingly little amount of wool fibre to get it to all hold together.
2. Merino roving – Like many felters, I am a fan of combed 19 micron roving. It is easy to work with, quick to felt and ideal for wearables and many other projects. After a visit to the DHG dye-house some years ago, I am still in awe of the complex process and scale involved in processing, dyeing and creating commercial roving from raw fleece.
3. Uniblends – Our exclusive Uniblends are my dream fibre. Custom blended, they combine the qualities of viscose and 19 micron merino wool. I love to use it in one-way cobweb layouts – it drapes beautifully, reduces pilling and is less itchy against the skin than using wool only. Using Uniblends speeds up the laying out process as the fibres are already combined and you don’t have to worry about embellishing the other side! You can also add additional viscose if desired, 2-directional layouts give a heathered effect and it spins well too.
Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?
Well, apart from my 2 hands, I use my homemade mega felting tool and ball brauser constantly. Ball brausers are fantastic water sprinklers for speedy wetting out of a project and with a little care, can last a very long time. My biggest tip is to never to leave it standing with the spout in water or soap solution for any length of time. This prevents rust potentially settling in and snapping off the sprinkler head. Shown here with a ball brauser for scale, my mega felting tool is pretty large. I have made smaller versions but this one is great for large projects like making wraps, garments & scarves. Glass décor beads have been glued to a rendering tool, sourced from the local hardware store.
Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most?
Nuno felting without question. My preference is to use embellished prefelts rather
than applying roving directly onto fabric, using hand dyed Margilan silk or cotton gauze.
General Questions
What is your business?
Unicorn Fibres is an online business selling supplies for wet felting, needle felting
and associated arts.
What kind of items do you sell?
Lots of Fibre, Hand dyed fabric and Tools for felting. We stock 19 micron merino roving in +100 colours – solid & variegated colours, merino/silk blends & our exclusive merino/viscose Uniblends.
Our range of carded wool batts is growing and particularly popular for needle felting along with Corriedale roving.
Over 45 viscose colours available as well as hand dyed Margilan silk and Cotton
gauze for nuno felting.
Ball brausers and a variety of tools for needle felting.
And if you are stuck for a gift, eGift cards too!
What do you think makes your business different from similar ones?
Along with having considerable felting expertise, we are focused specifically on the needs of felt makers/artists. Our aim is to keep prices low and service high.
Weight options – Fibre can be purchased from as little as 10gm (0.35oz), up to 1kg (2.20lbs) bumps. Flexible quantity options to suit your needs.
Custom products – Our Uniblends are created exclusively for us and a dream to use.
Bundles – Merino and viscose bundles are offered to make colour choices easier, quicker and a little cheaper.
Hand dyed gauzes – Margilan silk gauze and Cotton scrim with characteristic colour nuances to enhance nuno felting & other textile projects.
DHG reseller – We are an official reseller for DHG products who use ethically sourced fibre and create their products to the industry’s highest safety and environmental standards.
Shipping – Turnaround time for orders are generally same-day and we dispatch orders really fast, twice a day. All stock is onsite, so there are no drop shipping delays.
Where are you located?
We are an online business in Perth – a pretty idyllic spot, at the bottom left hand side of Western Australia. Close to amazing beaches and a city that sits on the Swan River.
Sara is very kind and generous and she is doing a giveaway for all of our readers. Please read the instructions below to enter. She has also given our readers a coupon code for a discount for a purchase of Uniblends from her site. See below for details. Thanks Sara!
Giveaway and Offer
Two Giveaways –
For one international and one Australian recipient:
You can win a bundle of Uniblend rovings – 6 x 50gm (1.76oz) packs in colourways of your choice, inclusive of shipping.
Giveaway is now closed.
Offer
Use coupon code: UNIBLEND10 for a 10% discount on our exclusive range of Uniblends – stunning variegated extra fine merino wool and viscose roving blends.
Prices include 10% Australian tax, but are excluded at checkout for international
shipping addresses.
Not too long ago the Dutch Label Shop from Pennsylvania USA contacted me to do a review post about their labels. www.dutchlabelshop.com/ There would be no obligation to do a positive review and they would give me a gift certificate to get some labels. I had been thinking about labels for a long time, what kind? what size? etc. This seemed like a good opportunity with no strings attached.
The site was easy to navigate and I had no problem creating a label. Or so I thought. I had chosen much to small a label for what I wanted on it or I chose to much to put on the sized label I wanted, depending on how you look at it. They contacted me very quickly to let me know and we went back and forth in emails to sort out what I was looking for and what would work. They were very helpful and very nice to deal with. They sent me a proof and I put in my order.
It arrived very quickly and I must say I am very pleased. They feel nice and they are not to stiff.
I added them to some hats
and some scarves
and on a lighter colour
They went on easily. I used fine invisible thread so I didn’t have to try and colour match thread.
I haven’t decided where I should put them on the small ruffled neck scarves. Where do you think would be good?
I have a code for you to use to get a discount. shepherdsspringfarm15 It is good for 60 days from August 9 2018.
Do you have labels for your felt? Are they woven or printed? What do you like or not like about them?
I’d like you to meet a new supplier who just happens to be located in Montana where I live. The post today is about Karen Straight from Big Sky Fiber Arts.
Fibre 3, 2, 1 Q-3 Three types of fibre you can’t live without?
Merino – I share in common with many felters a love for merino. I especially love extra fine merino (19 microns) as it felts so easily, takes dye beautifully, and it is perfect for wet and nuno felting. It is so much fun to hand dye and card merino into art batts. Carded art batts make terrific skies, rivers, and oceans. Hand dyed merino is terrific for capturing the variations in color found in nature. Photos: 19 micron solid merinos and sugar candies, (Last 3 photos) hand dyed merino, yak and silk
Ramie – I adore this bast fiber. It has the sheen of silk, and it comes in a variety of terrific colors. It adds wonderful spark and interest to fiber arts projects. I card it into my art batts. I find it to be especially lovely to work with when working on sky or water in a wet felted landscape painting.
Finn – Finn is a fabulously versatile fiber. It is good for wet felting and needle felting. I enjoy making felted vessels and needle felting 2D and 3 D animals. Finn comes in lovely natural shades that are perfect for animals. It is a durable fiber that has the necessary strength for beautiful vessels.
Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?
Ashford wild carder – Carding is so much fun! The Ashford Wild Carder takes just about anything. In one batt, I will combine merino, mohair, mulberry silk, ramie, sari silk fibers, and more. It comes out beautifully.
Sewing Machine – I love the creative process of free motion stitching my felted landscapes. I also create quilted backgrounds for needle felted creatures.
Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most?
I love 2-D needle felting on linen using an embroidery hoop. I find this technique to be a wonderful way to needle felt animals. I draw the on the linen, and then utilize natural rovings. Sometimes I make the picture quite flat. Other times, I build up the fiber so that the animal appears to come out of the picture. I enjoy cutting the felted animal out of the linen, and integrating the needle felted creature into an “art” quilt.
General Questions What is your business? My business is Big Sky Fiber Arts.
What kind of items do you sell? We sell fiber arts supplies for felters and spinners. Our goal is to encourage fiber artists to grow by experimenting with a wide range of fiber types and effect fibers. Our inventory includes a large variety of extra fine 19 micron merino roving in solid colors and sugar candies, natural wool roving, hand dyed roving (various fiber types), bast fibers including hemp, ramie, and bamboo, silk fibers, 5 mm habotai silk scarves, prefelt, silk yarns and ribbons, and more.
What do you think makes your business different from similar ones?
Quality and Competitive Price – Our products are of the highest quality at a highly competitive price. I carefully researched companies in the US providing a similar level of product quality. I marked each product I sell lower than my competitors. To beat the prices I am offering, you would need to buy in bulk.
Variety of Wools Offered – We encourage our customers to break out of their comfort zone and try a variety of types of fibers. Many fiber artists will use only merino. But, for certain projects, using a wider range of fibers will increase the excitement in the final project. We carry a wide range of hand dyed fibers, natural fibers, merino, bast fibers, silk, and yarns. We provide examples of how each product might be used so that our customers feel encouraged to explore. My email, phone number, and Facebook address are readily available so customers can chat with me about their ideas and questions. We love to see the art our customers create from our products!
Commitment to the environment – A desire to protect the environment and support communities are central to our mission. The majority of our textiles are certified by the International Oeko-Tex Association. Hand painted fibers are created by a trained biologist who takes great care in each step of the process. Our bamboo is naturally processed, and we feature lovely plant-based effect fibers that are renewable.
Commitment to community – We recognize that where we purchase our products impacts communities. Through the careful selection of artistic supplies, we can support communities. Our yarns and several of our banana and silk effect fibers support women’s co-ops in Nepal and India. Your purchase of these products helps to improve the lives of these disadvantaged women. We also feature made in Montana products, and we look to expand our listings of rovings produced by local farmers.
Where are you located? We are an online business only located in beautiful Kalispell, Montana. Our family lives here with the Swan Mountains in the background on five acres with our six rescued horses, two dogs, and a cat.
Readers are welcome to use code 52015 to receive 10% of their first purchase! Code valid on all products purchased until the end of June. The discount does not include shipment charges.
Thanks Karen! I hope you enjoyed learning about Karen’s business and do check out her site to look at all the yummy fibers she has available.
Q-3 Three types of fibre you can’t live without?
Angelina fibres, I did not think I would like this fibre until I started using it and now love the bit of sparkle it adds. Also merino pre felt, and wool tops, especially dyed merino.
Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?
Twisted felting needles because they felt evenly throughout your piece and leave a smoother finished surface. The other tool has to be my Janome sewing machine, I love to be able to make practical but beautiful things like blinds and bags with cotton and linen fabrics.
Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most?
Wet felting, both pictures and 3D forms. I enjoy the creating, and rinsing off the soap to see the final piece is great. Even if it’s not quite how you expected there is always something a little bit lovely about what has been made.
General Questions
What is your business?
heidifeathers is an online felting supplies business
What kind of items do you sell?
We sell wool bundle mixes, needle felting kits, wet felting kits and drop spinning kits, pre felt bundles, nepps, glass eyes, felting needles, dyes, dyed tussah and mulberry silk fibres, scarves, angelina fibres and other felting tools, basically we are a one stop shop for felting.
What do you think makes your business different from similar ones?
We offer lots of colour! Lots of mixed items such as wool bundles, silk bundles, and pre felt bundles, giving you variety so you don’t have to choose. We stock a lot of felting related fibres, tools (including an extensive range of felting needles). We offer all the supplies you need so you can experiment with felting. We care about the customer and are always willing to offer help and also care about stocking good quality items.
What can you make with your kits?
Our kits all come with instruction. The needle felting kits come with a 24 page booklet with 6 projects and wool for plenty more. The wet felting kit has 3 projects and some other basic information about wet felting, again there is wool for lots of other ideas and we include a template and instruction for making a purse. The spinning kits explain how to spin wool tops in to two ply yarn using a drop spindle.
Where are you located?
We are an online business based in the Cotswolds
GIVEAWAY:
Heidi Feathers is offering a very generous prize for a giveaway. Because of the size and subsequent postage costs, this giveaway is only available for postage within the UK. That doesn’t mean you have to live in the UK to enter though, feel free to enter as long as the recipient is in the UK 🙂
The prize is a complete Wet Felting Kit. Zoe from Heidi Feathers says “The kit is a high quality wet felting kit which is fun and easy to use for any age, with everything you need to start wet felting (besides warm water)” The kit contains: 200g of the finest soft merino tops (21 Micron) in 20 beautiful colours including pinks, blues, greens, orange, yellow, greys, browns, purples, reds, black and white; one large piece of bubble wrap; one large piece of voile; one light weight rolling pin; one small cloth; one block of pure olive oil soap, and one bamboo rolling mat 45cm x 30. It also includes a 3D re-useable template for making a purse and instructions for three felting projects to make: A bead, a picture and a purse.
All you have to do to enter, is leave a comment to this post. Check back on Thursday 5th June for the winner to be announced, and please leave a comment on the announcement post so your details can be passed on to Zoe.
Thanks a lot to Heidi Feathers for answering our questions and for the very generous giveaway 🙂 Please have a look at the sites and the great variety of products.
We would like you to meet one of our sponsors and a friend of mine Maureen Harding of Dreamspin fibres. We met a few years ago at a fiber conference and became friends. We live far enough apart that we only get together a few times a year but we always have a great time felting and trying new things. She doesn’t mention it here but she has a sale on select fibers at the moment.
Q-4 Three types of fibre you can’t live without?
Merino, silks, silk fabric but other fibres depending on the project
Q-3 Have you always been a felter?
I’ve been felting for 15 years, before that I was spinning and knitting.
Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?
Pool noodle and plastic window screening. (and ball brause)
Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most?
I have to say felting. But also enjoy spinning and knitting
What is your business?
We sell wools, prefelts, fabrics for nuno felting, a few felting tools, mostly for felters.
Why and when did you start selling fiber?
It was an outgrowth of my interest in sheep and wools. Initially I raised sheep, learned to spin, learned to felt, and started buying other fibres wholesale for my own purposes. After a while I started selling fibres at fibreart venues and would make up articles to show what can be done with the fibres. People started asking me if I would teach them how, and this led to doing workshops in felting.
What kind of items do you sell?
As well as fibres for felters, I also sell felted articles such as nuno scarves, felted hats, and felted bags at various shows throughout the year.
What do you think makes your business different from similar ones?
We pride ourselves on our fast service, orders are made out the same or the next day. We offer free shipping on orders over $100 in North America. And we are always happy to offer assistance and advice over the phone, or email.
We have something different for you today. We have a very special post in our Meet the Community category. Sara from Sara’s Texture Crafts has kindly done an excellent video for us telling us all about how she became interested in textiles, felt, fibres and wool and what led her to becoming a supplier. She also describes what goes on behind the scenes in a typical week at Sara’s Texture Crafts and what inspires her.
Thank you so much for doing this, Sara, it was great to meet you and a fascinating insight into your passion and business 🙂
Please visit Sara’s website to see the wonderful products she has for us fibre addicts 🙂
