Given that it is already nearly the end of November, I thought I would finally indulge myself with thoughts of the festive season. As I am sitting here writing, a few thoughts came to mind including how advertising for Christmas seems to get earlier each year. Here in Ireland I have seen ads in August which, like the vampire seeing sunrise, causes me to turn quickly away, run in the opposite direction, and bury my head.
That said, we have a local and, until recently, privately owned supermarket who sells Easter eggs on Christmas Eve. What started as a joke one year became a tradition locally. The supermarket owner, sadly now gone to his reward, would hold an annual Christmas dinner for his elderly customers. Every year each customer was gifted a shopping trolley load full of groceries which they got to wheel home from the party. This kindness was not advertised. It was not used as a form of promotion. This is what made it so special. I suspect this story is not unique. There are a lot of kind folk in our world. If you can lighten our hearts with a story like this one please feel free to share it in the comments section.
In the spirit of sharing I thought it might be fun to make and share a felted Christmas tree with you all. It is made around a very simple book resist (only three pages) and takes less than 50g of merino wool. I am including full instructions for anyone new to felting or to the concept of using book resists so if you would like to give it a try, here is what you need:
- Your usual felting equipment (bubble wrap or equivalent, soap, warm water, vinegar, your hands, towel etc)
- 50g Merino wool
- Enhancements (eg silk viscose etc) – optional
- Bandage cotton (or a piece of cotton with a really loose weave)
- Heavy plastic for resist (I use under floor insulation material) also decorator’s plastic which will act as a protector between the pages of the book resist.
- Ruler, marker
- Pins, needle, thread, scissors
- Kitchen roll holder (optional but good for popping the tree on to shape and dry)
Step 1 – making the book resist:
Using the floor underlay (resist material) draw an Isosceles triangle – draw a 40cm line and mark at 20cm. Now draw a 60cm line up from that point. Join the top to both sides of the 40cm line as in the photo:
Now cut out two of these triangles from the resist material and join them together along the central line using a needle and thread. Also put a little stitch through the two resists (see the arrow in the picture). This will create a three page book resist:
Step 2 the layout:
Next, cut out three triangles, the same size as the resist, from the bandage cotton. Place the first one on the first page of the resist. Since it is white on white it is hard to see in the photo. Spray it with water to keep it in place.
Weigh out 3 x 15g of the merino wool. Using approximately 10g, lay down the first layer of the fibre in a “criss cross” manner. Now lay out the additional 5g and then add on embellishments.
Wet down and cover with a sheet of light plastic protector. Wet the protector and rub the fibre through the protector:
Once the fibre is wet through, lift up the bottom of the protector. Place a thin roll of fibre along the fibre just at the base of the resist. Now fold over the excess of the laid out fibre over this roll. Wet down and add a little embellishment to the base. This will tidy off the base. Cover with the protector.
Then turn the page to page 2 of the resist:
Next lay out the second triangle of bandage cotton and spray it to keep it in place. Then, fold over the edge of the fibre onto the second page of the resist (see arrows):
Repeat the laying out process in the same manner as before. Once this is complete, cover with another sheet of the protector and continue on to page three of the book resist. Tidy in all the loose fibres around the edges:
Step 3 felting and fulling the tree:
Start the felting process, gently rubbing the fibres through the protector. Take special care of the edges of the pages. Once the fibres are secure, it’s time to roll. Using the bubble wrap pool noodle and towel and leaving the protectors in place roll approximately 60 times in each direction (north, south, east and west) on each page:
Once the tree has started to shrink, set aside the pool noodle and the bubble wrap and roll using the protector (leave the resist in place) 60 times in each direction on each page:
Then remove the book resist and the protectors:
Turn the tree inside out and continue fulling with the bandage cotton on the outside. Check every now and again to make sure the tree surface is not felting together:
Work the bottom edge by rolling the edges (see arrow in photo):
Keep shrinking the tree until there’s 40% shrinkage (the tree’s height reduces from 60cm to about 36cm. During this process, I warmed the felt up in the microwave (40 to 50 seconds on high each time being watchful not to burn the wool):
Step 4 – Getting scissor happy and finishing off:
Measure out spaces for slits and cut into each space at an angle so that the flaps are shaped like a V. I graded these so that the bottom layer is 3cm deep, next layer up is 2.5cm etc. In total there are 6 columns of flaps. (Just be aware that the first and third photos here show just one of three sides of the tree – I still have it shaped like the book resist is inside). Tidy up the bottom of the tree and seal all the cuts.
Rinse using some vinegar in the final rinse and roll in a towel to remove excess water. Shape the tree pulling out the flaps along the way. Leave to dry:
Looking slightly wonky when wet!
Here’s a view from the top of the tree to show how I chose to shape mine.
Here is the finished tree. The 40% shrinkage has helped with stability despite its height. I popped a set of fairy lights inside it to finish it off. With the benefit of hindsight, I should have added contrasting embellishment to the tree as I found the ‘green viscose on green merino quite flat, especially when the light is turned off. Examining the surface closely the sheen of the viscose has been lost, especially given the amount I used. I think white would have been a lot more impressive. Having said that, this will give me the opportunity to take fabric paint to the piece. Gold or silver, what do you think?
Here are alternatives I made a few years ago. These little trees were felted on ordinary resists using small, medium and large triangles. Sorry the photos are not better but the trees are still in storage. I embroidered silver stars on the red tree, inserted lights in the green one and sewed little baubles onto the white one:
I love hand made Christmas decorations. It doesn’t really matter what they are made of – it could be fabric or felt or perhaps paper. Maybe crochet or knit. I believe that the one thing they all share is that they are made out of love. What do you think? Do you have some favourite pieces that you would like to share? Or perhaps this piece has spurred you on to making something – perhaps even a Christmas tree. I would love for you to share them here.
Wishing you joy, peace, health and happiness this Christmas!
sending a virtual hug to each and every one of you,
Helene
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