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Category: Guest Artists

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?

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

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!

 

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.

 

Revisiting knitting

Revisiting knitting

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Hello everyone,

My post this month is about knitting. My mum taught my sisters and me how to knit when we were growing up and at school – not my brothers though…… I remember knitting jumpers (Aran patterns), socks and mittens. I have a vague memory of knitting gloves, and one sister remembers knitting gloves too.

That sister has continued to knit throughout the years, and she makes some wonderful items. I have not knitted since then; I also used to crochet at that time and enjoyed it very much. I think crochet is much easier to learn and remember, it seems much less complicated than knitting does these days, and I taught (assisted by YouTube!) oldest grand daughter how to crochet some time ago.

So when Christmas was over, and all the decorations put away, I decided that I would reacquaint myself with knitting and it’s language again. There had been a knitting show on TV before Christmas, and that also encouraged me ‘to have a go’. My sister gave me some of her needles – mostly circular ones, and some double pointed needles. I had used the DPNs with my mum to make socks, so they were familiar, but the circular variety were alien to me, and would have been to my mother also. My sister said I would get used to them ‘ in no time’, but with dire warnings about not twisting the cast on stitches when joining the circle. This was a struggle, and there was a lot of muttering, and some (in)appropriate words used during this battle.

Another dilemma was what yarn/wool to use. I had known 4ply and double knit when younger, but now there is fingering weight, spindthrift, lace and many other types. Totally confusing, plus pattern instructions are different – no longer many rambling lines of letters and numbers to lose your place on, and there are graphs showing the patterns. I don’t know if this is good wool or not – but it felt nice to touch.

What to make.

I decided on a hat, and it looked achievable and after a bit of reading I borrowed a couple of books from the library, and registered on Ravelry. There is a small local yarn shop in my town, and I paid a visit there.

I found one mistake when I was knitting, (too many stitches) but I left it in, and then corrected the stitch count – I did not want to undo it. There was  another mistake with the design graph – I corrected that with a pencil on the chart, I will erase it before I return the book to the library. Both photos above illustrate the errors.

 

I am pleased with the hat and how it looks when finished, and really happy that I did not give up. I found the pattern a challenge for the first half, but it became easier as I progressed. I don’t like pompoms, so I crocheted a flower shape and secured it with a button. I had 2 buttons to choose from and decided to use a red one.

         

I enjoyed my own challenge.

I cannot get my pictures any smaller, it is so frustrating! I use a MacBook Air, and it’s tools to ‘edit’ the photos. I use my phone to take photos, and make them about half a Mb to upload. Apologies.

Greetings from New Mexico

Greetings from New Mexico

Comments 26 comments

My name is Donna and this is my first blog post on the Felting and Fiber Studio Blog.  I read it regularly and recently responded to a post by Shepherdess Ann with the fact that I too am a shepherdess.  Ann invited me to post about my sheep and felting.  As the title indicates, I live in New Mexico, just east of Albuquerque, in the high desert, where it is not always warm as some might think of New Mexico.  At an altitude of 7200′, we get snow and cold in the winter and warm to hot in the summer, but not enough moisture because then it would not be desert.

My husband and I started a hobby farm late in life because of my love of fiber.  We presently have 18 sheep,  2 pigs,  14 chickens, 2 livestock guardian dogs and one Australian Shepherd.  I started this adventure with Angora goats.  Of course they have beautiful locks as you can see from this photograph of CeCe on the left but as you experienced felters know that fine fiber does not felt well without wool to hold it down.

 

I then acquired a pair of twin Leicester Long wools, Winken and Blinken, from a friend in Colorado.  They have nice long wool but I was not pleased with their fiber color which did not resond well to dyeing.  They are big boys, wethers.  The goats have since gone to live with a guild member who is a spinner and weaver.  I could still get fiber from them if I wish.

I decided that Wensleydale sheep were what I wanted.  Thanks to the North American Wensleydale Sheep Association, I found a breeder in Oklahoma and my husband and I drove over to Kerrville and picked up a ram and 3 unrelated ewes to start my flock.  There are not many Wensleydale sheep in New Mexico.  The girls had 6 uncomplicated births.  Then there was Maddie, my 7th, who was rejected by her mom and had to be bottle fed.

I brought her into the kitchen and luckily my experienced shearer came the next day and told me that was a mistake.  She needed to be out with the flock for her own protection.  If she wasn’t used to being with the flock and later kept separate from them she would be the first to be attacked by a predator.  I complained to him that I was too old to be night bottle feeding in the barn!  He set me straight with a morning, noon and evening schedule. Whew…  At first it was exciting but quickly got old. (I bet Ann, the experienced shepherdess, is smiling at this.)  I have not bred any more ewes since.

Here is Maddie when she was abandoned in the barn and here she is now.

I have since acquired 6 Debouillet sheep from a friend of mine. The Debouillet is a cross between a Rambouillet and a Merino.  The breed was developed in Tatum, New Mexico, in the 1920s and they

have a nice wool fleece.  The total now is 18 sheep, 3 rams who live a boring life, 13 ewes, and 2 wethers who live in another pasture.  Winken since passed away and I sold one of my ewes.

Here is a picture of the ewes waiting for their breakfast. As you can see from the picture, the flock does not get to enjoy the green rolling hills like their relatives in the UK.

 

 

For those of you who purchase your wool, so do I.  As many of you know, the process of preparing fiber straight off the sheep is an onerous one.  It must be skirted (my least favorite job), scoured and then the locks must be picked. Last year, I had to take all my unskirted fleece to the dump because it had become infested with moths… Ugh!  The moths especially love the dirty stuff.  But surprise, surprise, there was much more after the shearer had come!

Here is a picture of the before and after the scour of some Wensleydale fiber.

 

I made cobweb felted scarf/shawl from some of the locks I hand dyed.  It was one of the items I sent to a Guild sale and was asked by some of the members working if I knew it had holes in it and did I want to take it home and fix it 😢😢  sigh…  There are not many felters in my guild.

 

Here is a picture of some scoured Debouillet fleece.  It is a shorter fiber, and I have not used it in any felting projects yet.  It still needs to be combe or carded to get more of the VM out, but it is not nearly as difficult to remove as it is from those tight Wensleydale curls.

I hope I haven’t bored you too much with the sheep stories.  The sun is coming up and it’s time to feed all the critters.  It may be in the barn today because the forecast is calling for snow.

Inspiration from world travels – Part 1

Inspiration from world travels – Part 1

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In Oct/Nov EPH (Ever Patient Husband) and I took a trip of a lifetime and spent a wonderful four weeks exploring mostly Cambodia. Initially, we were on a two-week tour with a group, before saying goodbye and then doing two weeks solo exploring.

Below is just a glimpse of what we encountered from a creative viewpoint, although I have slipped in a few extras, beginning with….

Transportation!

 

 

 

 

 

We started in Vietnam; a country we have been to before and as we had organised our own there-and-back travel we arrived a day earlier than the group – to allow for any travel glitches! We actually stayed for our first night in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) in the same hotel we stayed in 23 years previously….it was exactly as we remembered, so much so we could have been there just a few months previously!

 

Parcels, packages and wares

 

 

 

 

 

Transferring to our next hotel, within the city, we met the group and after an overnight stay we then transferred to a river boat. Yes, we spent 7 nights in total luxury (I did say the holiday of a lifetime!) cruising the Mekong River from Vietnam into Cambodia, before discovering Cambodia overland with the group.

 

The Mekong is Ennnnorrrrmous!

 

 

Along the way we were participants in all the side excursions. Many involved local industry such as lacquer work, silk production, silk weaving and water hyacinth weaving etc, (water hyacinth is very abundant along the river!). It can be argued that these venues are purely for the tourists, and I agree to an extent….All I can say is that without these excursions I might not have been able to, easily, access the sites.  What I did see was that we were a small part of helping these crafts to survive, providing much needed employment (often for disabled persons) within the communities, whilst also allowing the skills to be passed on….but this is not a discussion for this post!

 

Lacquer work in Saigon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water hyacinth weaving in C’ai Bé

 

 

Bamboo

Another grown product that is extremely plentiful and is used ubiquitously

 

 

Everywhere nurtured our souls and provided inspiration for our creative spirits. From the contrast of the busy city to ‘gentle’ rural landscapes, from simply daily life to the busy crafting communities, to the amazing architecture both ancient and modern.

 

As I have too many photos for this post I’ll sign off until my next one. Just a taster – silk, rice, sweets etc will be included!

But as this post was entitled ‘Inspiration’, and most reading this will be working with textiles, I will leave you with a couple of thoughts on I how I see creative ideas everywhere in terms of shape, colour and design etc. These can be translated into – sewing, embroidery, landscape stitching, patchwork, felting, painting, and weaving to name but a few.

 

 

I hope you are able to use your surroundings for inspiration.

 

 

Punch needle tree and coasters

Punch needle tree and coasters

Comments 13 comments

I am still learning how to use my new Oxford Punch needles and make punched fabric. This can be rugs, chair pads, coasters, art work.  Whatever you fancy really.  I continued working on the freeform piece that was started in the workshop I took last fall.  I decided to add a border to the piece.  Once that was done I took it off the frame.

Since I am still a beginner I decided to experiment with some blank Monks Cloth.  I stretched the cloth onto my frame and got out my Sharpie to draw a pattern.  I decided to try making a small Christmas tree and some coasters.  Then I picked out my yarn and started punching.  I drafted the pattern and started the tree one evening, then finished it off in another evening.

Then I turned my attention to the coasters.  After a couple of hours of punching spread over 2 evenings I had completed my coasters.  Generally you work by outlining your shapes, then filling in the middles. I was using a bulky yarn that changes colours slowly as you move through the ball.  On the first coaster I let the background yarn move through a colour transition.  But I decided that I preferred to have the background be more solid so I avoided that with the rest of the coasters.

I now had to learn how to finish my pieces.  I watched some videos and asked for help on a punch needle forum.  I learned that I needed to iron the pieces to block them.  So I wet a large bathroom towel, covered the piece with the damp towel and ironed them.  Both the front and the back of the pieces were ironed.  This helped flatten my pieces.  I cut out the pieces and used the iron to fold down the hems to make sewing them down easier.

After gathering my sewing supplies I started with the tree piece, sewing down the hems. Next I sewed the tree into a cone.  Then I added a small star made from pipe cleaner and sewed small brass bells randomly onto the tree.  When I was happy with all that, I stuffed the tree and then sewed a circle of black felt onto the bottom of the tree.  Then I moved onto finishing the other pieces.  The freeform piece was easy to sew since there were nice wide seam allowances.  The coasters were harder because the seam allowance was too small.  However, I fudged it and got them sewed down.

The final step was to sign my pieces.  Black sharpie for the win!  (Though I could not sign the tree since it had a black felt bottom.)

The tree was gifted to my parents and was a small addition to their holiday decor.

I had a great time working on these pieces and learned quite a few valuable lessons:

1) Design: The tree should not have had a curved line on the bottom (my tree leans).  Since this was a 3D piece I should have made a paper cutout to test my design.

2) Spacing: A larger seam allowance would have been better for the coasters.  They suggest 2″ on all sides.

3) Density: I should have made fewer punches in some of the pieces.  My punching was very dense which caused the pieces to curve when taken off the frame.  Luckily blocking with the iron helped with that.  In future I should skip more space between punches and leave a bit more space between rows of punches.  I think this is an easy beginner mistake to make because you are working from the back and the tendency is to fill everything in.  However, in reality you need to give the yarn some breathing room to let it bloom.

Thanks for listening to me babble about punch needling.  I’m enjoying learning this new craft and looking forward to my next project.

 

 

A felted object in orchid, teal, yellow and white wool is on a wooden table. The object seems to hold no particular shape.
Buying boxes? Nossir! (or maybe I should have..): how to salvage a misshapen project.

Buying boxes? Nossir! (or maybe I should have..): how to salvage a misshapen project.

Comments 25 comments

Hello, my creative friends.

Here we are at the start of a new and exciting adventure: making a felt box out of, yes, wool!

You think that I am stating the obvious, felt is oftentimes made of wool and of course you can make felt boxes: just look at the internet and you will see tons of them for sale (mostly made with industrial felt)! But you would not believe how many times I have had to explain those two bits of information to people during the time that I was making my box: yes, I am felting it. Yes, it is made of wool. No, I am not going to sew it (if I possibly can), I am felting it. Yes, I make it by felting wool. W-O-O-L. How, you ask? You can make all sorts of shapes by felting with the right resist..no, I am not going to sew it, I assure you it will come out with the box shape. Well, hopefully.

To be sure, a box is just another type of wet felt vessel made with a resist, and yes, of course you can make it by sewing the single felted flat sides and a flat bottom together, but…sewing, where is the fun in that? (total respect to people who like sewing, eh, it is just not me)

Long story medium-short, we decided that we needed to organise our living room in a better way, changing bits of furniture and generally trying to sort out the chaos, also because we are in the process of adopting guinea pigs (oh, my! let’s see) and we need the space for an indoor cage. So, we are plus bookshelves and minus an office desk with drawers, and we need some kind of storage box that fits the shelves and, crucial, does not seem something that you find in your shed. Unfortunately, the size of our shelves is not standard, and a standard storage box will not fit, either because too small or too big. So I thought, let’s have a box that is good to look at and the maximum size that will fit in there, let’s make it ourselves!

(well, I would not want you to think that I normally talk to myself with that royal We. It is clear to any who know me that all that was just me and me thinking “What, 30 pounds for that soulless box that does not even fit properly? no way, I can make one better than that and spend less!” or something of the sort)

A white sheet of paper with measurements for two boxes, a bigger one and a smaller one.
The size of the bookshelves that we have comes in two flavours, big and small, both somewhat non standard, so I originally thought about making a smaller box as well, and took measurements for both. All measurements are in centimeters.

Calculations for a 40 per cent increase on a piece of paper.
I arbitrarily added a 40 % increase on all sides, and did the same also for the height of the lid (all other measurements being the same for lid and box, of course)

To start, I prepared my resist for the bottom of the box: this involved a bit of sewing, namely attaching together the various bits of bubble wrap in the shape of a very floppy box without a top, as I will make a lid to fit it (some time in the far future). It does not show well in photo, but here it is:

A bubble wrap resist is on a floor
Here is the resist seen with the bottom part prominent (naughty).

A resist made of bubble wrap is on a brownish floor with a rug.
And here is the resist bottom down: very floppy, you can not really tell that this is a box shape.

I hate hand sewing on bubble wrap, the plastic just clings firmly to your needle and it is worse than sewing sewing, in my opinion, so let’s not dwell on it.

I did not have as much wool as I needed, so I ordered some from World of Wool. I wanted to try out something different from my usual Merino, as I needed something coarser that could be hard wearing and stand a bit stiffer, because the box is not small and will be full of quite a few things that are on the heavier side, such as tape and packing tape, some cables, and so on. Unfortunately, I am not used to coarser wool, the room was in a chaos and I did not have time for much research on our brilliant Blog or Forum (yes, it is lame. Let’s say, it is not the best excuse for not doing my homework that I have ever found, I’ll admit, but if you give me a bit more time I can say that the guinea pigs have eaten my research), anyway, ahem, later on our wise felt experts from the FFS Forum have determined that apparently I picked the wrong wool.

Well, you know, it can happen to anyone if they skip research and sampling. Well, yes, I also skipped making samples, because, let me think, the guinea pigs ate my sample? OK, maybe not. I’ll get better, pinky promise.

Anyway, I got my generic “English wool” from World of Wool, and yes, it was a bit coarser than Merino but still quite soft..in hindsight I may have been suspicious when it felt so soft, I do not know. Actually, that is a mix of different breeds’ wool, some that may actually be quite good for stiffer felt and some that are not, although they are coarser than Merino. Perfectly fine felting with it for all sorts of uses, but , a word to the wise, do not use it to make big boxes, eh.

A label reading: White 56's English Top, Size 100g, Quantity 6, Total 600g.
Here it is, the challenging wool.

So, I got on my white horse and started felting on my resist straight away with a lot of good will. I assumed that the coarser wool would need less layers to obtain the same felt (do not ask, pre-christmas chaos guinea pigs mind fugue hobblegobble chicachicacha) and I decided on 4 good layers.

Here are a few photos of my felting the first box:

A rectangle of laid out white wool just sprinkled with water, on a bubble wrap.
Starting from the bottom, that was the biggest area.

A work in progress of wet felt in white wool is on a table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap. There is a smaller rectangle covered in a small layer of wool resting over a bigger rectangle covered in white plastic sheets.
First layer on a short side. I took care to cover each already worked on part with a layer of plastic (I used plastic bin bags) as I learned from Lena Archibold’s advice on how to work with a book resist.

Folds wrapped in bubble wrap open over a rectangular shape wrapped in white plastic sheets.
Figuring out how to fold the different sides to get an even result was a bit puzzling at first, I spent some time opening and closing folds, it must have looked weird from outside!

A rectangle of wool pre felt has a layer of Merino wool on top. The Merino wool is half rectangle in orchid color, and bright yellow and teal on the other half rectangle, overlapping a bit the orchid color.
Yes, we are at the fun part of the 5th layer, when I could use dyed Merino wool for the wow effect!

Another rectangular side of the box. There is a rectangle of laid out Merino wool, half the rectangle is teal and half is orchid color, and the two colors overlap a bit.
Here is another side. I actually decorated both four sides, but forgot to take photos of the two smaller. Anyway, it is the same colours for all the sides, only different layout.

A smaller rectangle of wet and soaped Merino wool, with the upper part in teal, a small central line in yellow and a bigger area in orchid color, all slightly overlapping each other.
This is one of the small sides, all wet and soaped, being worked on.

A roll of pre felt is on a wooden table, covered with a white towel and a plastic bubble wrap.
And here we are at the rolling stage. I also used throwing and variously manipulating the shape.

Wait, let’s see if you were attentive: have you noticed that I said “first box”?

Exactly: here is how it stood after drying, that is to say not at all:

A felted object in orchid, teal, yellow and white wool is on a wooden table. The object seems to hold no particular shape.
No words, really.

It took more or less a day to felt, and a few days to dry. I liked the colours (a last layer of Merino wool, the 5th, to do that), and the shape ended up exactly the right size, but it would not stand, and I thought that it was because the layers were just not enough. I had enough wool to start a new one doubling the layers, so I went back to it using the same resist and the same type of wool (not my cleverest day, fine).

A big bag of white wool is being weighted on a scale on a wooden table.
I weighted the remaining wool and I found out that I only had used about 150 grams of it, so I had still about 450 grams to try again.

The steps were the same, only more layers, so I will not show more pics of it, only the final result when the box had dried:

A felted box with the sides slightly collapsing is on a grey sofa.
One side..

A felted box with a side in yellow and teal is on a grey sofa. The sides of the box are collapsing in.
..the other side. I did not decorate the small sides this time, but left them natural white, as they are not going to be seen when the box is in the bookshelf.

It was better, but still the sides were not holding up.

At that point, it was definitely time for my felting fairy godmothers to intervene: I asked the classic “Help, what did I do wrong?” on the Felting and Fiber Studio Forum and, thank goodness, got kind replies that explained the generic English wool issue as probable cause (so, no, adding more layers was likely not going to cure that, in case I still had not clicked on to that) and gave me very good advice on what I could try next to avoid throwing the 2 boxes into the scrap pile and to salvage them.

The suggestions were:

– to try and stiffen the sides or corners with machine or hand stitching

– to try and put a wire armature inside the felt or stitch it on the inside of the box

– to use PVA glue to stiffen the felt

– to stitch the two boxes together one inside the other, and maybe also

– to add some stiff padding, sandwiching it in between the two boxes.

Or possibly to try a combination of the above suggestions until the aim was reached. Which is exactly what I did, apart from the PVA glue and the stitching, both left as last resort, the glue because I was not fancying working with glue with such a big object, and the stitching because I do not have a sewing machine and it takes ages to stitch by hand.

What worked? well, clearly not one thing only, I had to go on trying to the last, but in the end I have a workable box and we are already using it, even though there is no lid yet.

First, I added thick wire to the inside of the box corners, with a few stitches. The felt was not thick enough to insert the wire into it, that would have been better. Sadly, it did not solve the issue totally.

Then, I stitched in place the first box (the thinner one) into the second box, leaving the upper edges open for putting in some padding if required. It was better still, but not there yet.

Lastly, I started looking for padding. Floor underlayer was suggested as good for that job, but when I went to look at my local DIY builders warehouse I did not find the exact type and thickness that I needed, and I came home empty handed. The same research online left me with too many choices, some of them a bit on the expensive side because with a required minimum purchase limit that was also way too high for my storage capability (What, 20 meters rolls minimum?? I do not live in Versailles palace!)

Luckily, as I told you, we were changing some pieces of furniture and it so happens that some had polystyrene sheets in their packaging: initially, I did not want to use that for a few reasons (it breaks easily, it is not going to be washable, it can disperse plastic bits in the environment in time..), but in the end it was there and I could use it instead of chucking it in the garbage bin, so it is kept out of the dump for a little while more. And it was free for me, and readily available.

So, I cut it to size with a knife (bits of polystyrene everywhere, not my idea of fun but the kids where jumping up and down like it was going to be disco party in a minute) and inserted it in the pockets in between the two boxes, and then a quick blanket stitching all around the upper edges did the job. In time I may unstitch it and change the padding, if I will feel so inclined and will have the time.

And here it is, my box done!

(the bottom part, at least)

A felt basket or box without lid, full of miscellaneous objects, on a grey sofa.
That is one side..

A felted basket or box without lid, and full of objects, on a grey sofa.
..and that is the other. Already full of stuff.

Now, for the lid, we will see. Who knows, it might be ready in time for my next blog post..only, don’t hold your breath for it, guinea pigs may be coming and all of that (how did I manage with my lazy excuses before them is a wonder, my friends!)

I hope that you liked my adventures, feel free to leave me a comment, as long as you do not ask me about hand stitching the whole box or preparing resists by hand stitching bubble wrap together, any other thing is totally fine.

Best wishes!

Kiki

@kiki.textile.art

http://www.kikistextileart.com