Needle Felting – Felting and Fiber Studio

a tail/tale of a whale – part 1

September 2, 2026 Jan Comments 12 comments

Updated 08/31/26

I had such wonderful plans for the last two weeks of summer. 1; invite Ann to the cottage to relax and do some felting, 2; do some wet felting to add to some dry felting (while Ann was there, sort of like a life guard, to keep the water behaving), and 3; then finish up the first whale. So I suppose it’s not a surprise it is the tale of a whale, or a whale of a tale, I have for you today.

Like many of my plans, they often go astray. It started out fine, but my luck could not last.

3 weeks ago: I re-watched Sara’s humpback whale felt-along on YouTube, and had hours of fun researching both humpback and blue whales. I inadvertently found out a bit about a few other whales as I investigated. It is the way of research, so many rabbit holes to look into.

I followed Sara’s instructions for creating the armature… mostly, instead of a mix of 12 & 14g, I used 12g aluminum. She used coated floral wire to give extra strength and help the fibre hold to the armature. I had the unlabelled floral wire from Dollarama easily to hand, so I was liberal in its application. She had made the armature in 2 parts: the top of the head and body with tail, and the second armature had the lower jaw with side fins and body with 2 wires to add to the tail.

Black grocery box full of wire, fleting suplys and snacks sitting on black walker 1.1) project box for whale project, 12g wire, un-gauged floral wire, tool kit, snacks

I wanted my whale to be able to open its mouth, so had research pictures of mouth interiors and how the expansion happens when it sifts water and krill through its mouth and out through the baleen (we will come back to those). Since Sara had an upper and lower jaw already with her armature, I went with what she had worked out for lengths and proportions.

Sara wrapped the upper and lower armatures separately with core wool, building the basic under structure. Then joined both half’s together and wrapped with more core wool. she added the wet felted skin over the wrapped armature. I had taken 2 days to make careful notes of what Sara had done, but as usual derailed and just used the photo-reference I had. I spent most of a week puttering while adding the core wool and had much of the structure blocked in when, on Thursday, Ann arrived at the cottage.

Preamble: I really don’t like getting wet. It’s so, wet. If water were drier, I would be happier. I kept asking my Dad, a hydrogeologist, if he could invent dehydrated water. He seemed to think water was fine the way it was. (I asked him for a dinosaur when I was 3 or 4 and was told he was not that kind of geologist; at least asking him to fix water was on topic. Other than these minor failures, he was a fabulous dad.)

I had picked up a new 4′ long folding table with adjustable leg heights to work on. I had a new pool noodle and the wet felting kit I won from Marie at Living Felt (Texas). Sara had done some per-blending for the upper layer of colours. I had an extensive selection of tones to work from, so I relied more on colour placement. The under layer for the darker top was a special blend from World of Wool, called “Indigo”; it is a fabulous blue-black, which I hoped would creep a bit into the upper layers.

1.2)first layer of the upper skin (W.O.W. Indigo coriedale)

Watching Sara lay out her top layer was interesting. She said the felt skin should be thin so it would be adjustable with a bit of tugging when done. I remember Moy McKay wanting thinness in her wet felted landscapes so they could be needle felted and fit in the sewing machine. Multiple times Sara said “that’s it”, then added a bit more fibre. I wound up doing the exact same thing, “ah I think that’s it,…… no a bit more just here”. Even with my enthusiasm, I was still able to keep the felt fairly thin.

1.31-1.32) Embellishments added to second layer of top skin, coriedale, silk, slubs, yarn and locks

Once the fibre for the skin was laid out, it was time to carefully add the soap and water, just enough to wet the wool but not the floor or me. I dampened the top layer of plastic and started to “gently caress the timid bunny”, or you can think of it as “lymphatic effleurage”, which is about the weight of a nickel in pressure.

1.41-checking felt integrity before switching to the wet felting tools; 1.42- photo of frog and rubbing tool, 1.43 -photo of tupper ware lid as rubbing tool)

Once the bunny is less timid and the fibre is starting to migrate, I switched to using the soft rubbing tool, then I used Ann’s Tupperware lid.

1.5) Starting to roll the felt, flipping and rotating the skin regularly

When the felt was firmer, I could start rolling with my new extra-large pool noodle. A regular pool noodle would have worked too; I just didn’t have one at the cottage. When I had rolled from each end and side, on both sides, it was time to gently drop the skin on the table. This is a gentle way to shock the fibres into further shrinking.

hand has let go and the felt is falling towords the table 1.61)dropping to continue shrinkage

wet felted skin partly done whale armature sitting on top of wet skin 1.62-1.63) top skin shrunk and checked with partly finished under structure.

I also did a bit of rolling and rubbing in specific directions to get the last bit of shrinkage I wanted. The skin is still quite thin but is also holding together nicely. It is time to set it aside and work on the lighter underbelly skin. Sara laid out and rolled both together, but I didn’t have a large enough table to do that, so it’s one side at a time.

Underside:

Sara’s lighter under layer was sort of the shape of a large mushroom. I started that way and add a bit more width at the top to allow more wrinkles. I had it layed out, had started to dampen the fiber when i changed my mind and added the “under arms”, OK, fins.

Ann had some grey and white fiber with little black flecks, i think it was from world of wool. i added a bit along the border where the two skins would join.

laying out the base layer in a harring bone pattern second layer of white & Grey, corrodale, silk, locks and slubs adding the under sides of the side fins, sara had not added them to her skin. close up of added fiber fiber layed out and preparing to roll after rubbing gently the fiber was ready to roll 2.1-2.6) layout and wetting of the light lower skin

By the time i started rolling it was time for Ann to head home. We cleaned up the porch a bit, closed up the cottage, and headed out. It had been great to have her company and i felt much braver with her keeping an eye on the sneaky water.

Ann and her dry balls ready to felt 3) Ann had been Preparing dryer balls and had quite a few ready to go.

I still have more rolling to do on the under side skin but that will have to wait until i get back to the cottage. i should let you have a brake and we can continue the whale saga next post.

a green felted/tapestry of the word Exchange

A Few More Oddments

August 18, 2026 frabjousfabrica Comments 17 comments

I’m afraid that the series of heatwaves we’ve been (and still are) experiencing have had much the same effect on me as the Covid Lock Downs. I have pretty much lost my mojo again though not quite in the same way. Every time the weather cools down a bit I have managed to think about and sometimes even start a project, only for it to be abandoned as soon as the next heatwave starts. I now cannot see my work table for various piles of project “stuff” in various stages of progress.

Also I haven’t managed to do much about preparing for this post, so I’ve once again picked some topics from my list of things to write about which are in fact mainly “historic”.

Many moons ago back, in the 70s, when macramé was first in vogue and long before I became interested in spinning let alone before I found felting, I was obsessed with string and knots.

Amongst the patterns I came across was one for a lampshade. Do any of you remember the Marshall Cavendish series of monthly craft magazines “Golden Hands” covering several different crafts, which could be collected into 4 (I think – possibly 6) annual volumes? I loved them and made lots of things from their patterns.

I did think that I found the macramé pattern I had followed for the lampshade in one of the Golden Hands Magazines, but Mr Google has been unable to find it, so it may have been in some other magazine – possibly “Women”, “Women’s Own” or “Women’s Realm” (that was in the days before they started emulating “Hello Magazine” and the like🤢).

As it was so long ago that I made the lampshade I can only show you what it looks like now. It was made from dishcloth cotton and made directly on a lampshade frame. I lined the shade with red satin type fabric and gave it to my mother for one of her birthdays.

An off white cotton macramé lampshade 1 lampshade on a steel metal base showing one of 6 sides — Macramé lampshade 1

An off white cotton macramé lampshade on a steel metal base showing one of 6 sides — Macramé lampshade 2

During my “macramé period” I started to make small free standing sculptures using just clove hitches, rather than mixing knots like flat or square knots. Then my niece became pregnant with her first child so I thought I’d have a go at making a macramé rattle for the baby. As it would need to be washable, I chose to use nylon curtain/blind cord and one of the indoor balls (the plastic lightweight sort with lots of holes in) with a couple of brass bells inside for the inner body. I did not have a pattern to follow (by then I preferred to make my own designs rather than copy someone else’s).

By changing the direction of some of the clove hitches I was able to give the rattle a face. Here is the only picture I have of the rattle, which my husband took for me before I sent it off to my niece.

a black and white image of a baby's white macrame rattle showing the "face" worked into it. There is also a small bunch of daffodils and a cube box of tissues with some pulled out to frame the rattle — Unacknowledged macramé rattle

My niece had another child a few years later, but I’m afraid that, as I have had no confirmation of receipt of the rattle (even now, although I know it was received) let alone any thanks, I stopped sending even cards to her!

Around the same time as I made these pieces, I made a crochet cotton macramé Dorothy bag, using a stuffed oval ball shaped thingy as the base to work on. I added pearl beads and lined the bag with pink fabric and used it as a sample for a wedding accessory (back in the days when a couple of friends and I were making crocheted wedding “favours” and sold quite a lot of them – that must have been getting on for 50 years ago), but I wasn’t asked to make another one and I didn’t sell the original. I still have it somewhere.

a white macrame drawstring dorothy bag with pink satin inner bag on a dark red background — Dorothy Bag – big enough for a bride’s handkerchief

Back in 2012 I was doing bits of tapestry weaving and to be honest I was getting bored with it – it was taking too long and I wanted to get on to something more interesting. I had decided to weave the word “Exchange” but I can’t remember why now. It may be because I liked the monogram EX that I was using. The “e” was in black and the “x” was in bright red. The background was to be a strong green. The rest of the word was to be in black, but in outline only. I managed to complete the monogram before I decided to do something different, which was to felt the rest. I felted green merino fibres over both sides of the cotton warps with the work still on the loom. This made the “fabric” quite tough so that it kept its shape. I then needle felted the “change” in lower case. I did actually exhibit it at The Exchange when we had one of our several exhibitions in their Café/Gallery. The bear with the felted tapestry in the featured image was made by a friend, who makes bears for adults, and bought for my birthday by my husband.

I did think that I might get some people commenting on the coincidence with The Exchange’s name but no-one seemed to notice, or couldn’t be bothered!

Back in early 2022 I told you about a couple of door stops which I had made, one of which was named Yoda by my husband.

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2022/04/18/we-need-a-new-door-stop/

During the making of Yoda I made what I now know to have been a construction error. Because I was concerned that if he had been picked up by his head it might come off, I placed a strong loop made from the hem of a towel behind his head to be used as a handle. This resulted in him becoming very tatty around the head. Every time he was picked up by the handle it rubbed the back of his head and his ears and the fibres began to come away. In addition his head was beginning to get droopy, as you can see from the way he is peering around the bathroom door.

felted doorstop cat peering around a door — Peeping Yoda looking the worse for wear

Thus he needed what my late brother in law used to call a “Warranty Job” (he used to make all sorts of parts for traction and railway engines for others as well as himself and now and then someone would ask him if he could effect some repairs).

As is my wont it was some time before I finally got round to doing Yoda’s warranty job.

I hadn’t been happy with the shape of his head, it was a bit flat at the back. For this reason as well as his tatty appearance I removed his head as well as the handle. I moved the handle to the middle of his back so that it would balance him when he was picked up and it didn’t rub against any part of his head or body.

Next I moved on to his head. I didn’t have any more fibres of the right colour to match his body so had to blend some to match. Then I started to cut away the rubbed fibres from his head and add more of the new. I rounded out the back of his head a bit more and thickened up his ears. I still had some of the correct pinky-grey fibres which I had used for his face so I tidied up his face too.

felted cat head showing how fibres have been rubbed away — Tatty Yoda 1

tatty doorstop cat showing back of head with rubbed fibres and "handle" in the wrong place — Tatty Yoda from the back. See the fibres pulling off and the handle in the wrong place?

a drum carding machine with mixed red fibres on the drum and several lengths of Tops of mixed reds — Blending the reds to get the right shade

body of red/pink doorstop cat with handle now in correct place — Warranty job in progress – moving the handle

felted doorstop with separate body and head with felting needle and felting pillow — Warranty job – just about to start on the head

doorstop cat's head showing redesigned face — Warranty job in progress – a new face

I decided to add yellow slightly opened eyes just to show that he was really awake. This is him now.

felted doorstop smiling with slit eyes sitting beside the door — Finished Warranty Job – Yoda back at his post

That’s the lot for this post, hopefully by the time my next one is due I will have got my mojo back again and have something new to show you. In the mean time here’s a real smiley cat. I do wonder what’s going through his mind – any ideas?

head and torso of dark grey and white cat with closed eyes and smiley mouth — This is my Boy (originally named Radius by his previous owners). He really is a smiley cat.

Technique chat: Shingling

July 4, 2026 Jan Comments 18 comments

You may have seen my last post, making a fluffy llama. At the end of the last post I still needed to finish his eyes and add eyelashes. Today we were going to consider shingling; adding layers of small amounts of combed fibre or fibre locks in a pattern that mimics the coat on a creature, like that llama I was working on. The fur mimicked by shingling is usually on the longer side, but it can be used for shorter fur too.

When I first started to needle felt, there had been only one option suggested for making a long-ish coat: shingling, with the use of combed top. I now know a number of variations on this technique and a few other options besides it. But let’s look at where I started and a couple of the variations.

As with all the projects I leap into, after the idea, it starts with a bit of fun research to find out what type of fur you want to mimic. Remember to check if there is a summer or winter coat, or if there are regional variations to your animal. It will not look right if you mix the coat of a red wolf with a timber wolf, or have a winter coat on the shoulders and summer coat on the back and legs! Google image search will help, but you have to be careful; sometimes the image descriptions for photos on the internet are labelled wrong. Look for sites that are researching the animal, breed associations, or even hunting groups can have some helpful photos (although not the hunting or cooking parts). It is also helpful to try to get shots from various angles. (I was extremely pleased when I found a picture of the underside of a polar bear foot!)

5.0) chart of coats of animals examples and techniques

For those needle felters who don’t mind getting wet, Sara (of Sarafina fiberarts on YouTube) had been experimenting with making “Pelts”, which are wet felted skin pieces she adds over her shaped felt under structure. Her results have been effective and interesting but do involve getting wet (so I have stayed with the dry techniques for now. I promise I will get brave eventually!)

There are a few things to consider beyond just getting the colour you want and deciding on a working direction to add your shingles (bottom to top or top to bottom; I have seen other felters who work in both directions successfully). Let’s look at some of my variables; you may have more considerations to add to this list.

Variables in shingling you may want to consider:

Which fibre will best suit your project (there is more than just colour to think about when picking fiber)
Fibre Staple Length
Blending your fibres and colours (Blended colour will look more natural than flat colours)
What scale to work in/ how big or small is your creature?
Working with locks
Amount of fibres used in each shingle
Stacking your shingles

Let’s expand each consideration.

Which fibre will best suit your project: (there is more than just colour to think about when picking fibre)

Stiff or softer fibre will give a different drape (use photo reference to decide which you need).
How likely is this fibre to felt to itself from handling or rubbing?
- This is more important if the creature is repositioned regularly (handled).
- Silk, viscose, alpaca, and llama don’t have scales as most wool does, so are less inclined to felt to itself. Wool that has less crimp and outer guard hairs like kemp and tog is also less inclined to cling to itself (felt easily) when handled.

5.1) samples in viscose

Trim or not to trim (embroidery curved blade, dog grooming scissors/ thinning sheers are options)
- Trimming can occur to shorten the fibre length you are applying, or you can trim the fibres after you have applied the shingles.
- A stiffer fibre vs a softer fibre will also react differently when trimmed by scissors. Stiff fibres can give a more bristle-like appearance when trimmed short.
Silk, Viscose and similar smooth fibres can be difficult to attach securely to the felted under structure:
- Adding a bit of carded wool or soft spun wool yarn to the area you are securing will help adhere the slippery fibre, like a staple or glue. (You may not need to add assistance to adhere if you are finding it is embedding deeply and securely. Working the fibre in a bit deeper and varying the angle of needle insertion will help it stay without adding extra fibre as glue. If you can’t work a bit deeper, then try adding the staple or glue-like bit of fibre. Remember the extra embedding to secure the fibre will shorten the staple length showing as fur.

5.2 – fibre divided 50/50 felting across to create the shingle

5.3) Add a bit of carded wool or loose spun yarn to attach as glue or a staple to hold the shingle

5.4)Alpaca fibre; folded, tacking folded fibre, and using extra fibre to help hold slippery fibre (staple or glue using loose spun wool yarn or carded fibre)

5.5) sample using Viscose

Using a bit of carded wool as a stable, to help embed the viscose fibre. While a bit of the staple or glue fibre is visible in the sample, using a similar colour as the shingle will make the assisting fibre or yarn invisible. The next layer of shingle will also obscure the previous attachment site.

5.6) For slippery fiber you can also create a wider attachment area

Fibre Staple Length

If folded, what percentage of the fibre is used.
- Folded in half (50/50 split) was what was first suggested to me. This can create a lot of loft or thickness in the shingle. If folded so cut end is under tips, it will lift the tips and give a thick dense coat.
- Folded (25/75) folded tips on top of longer cut end, gives tips dispersed amongst longer cut end.
- Folded (75/25) folded longer tips on top of cut end, gives lift from the cut end with longer draping tips.
- * You can also use almost all your fibre as coat, and only secure one end (90/10). This is not exactly a folded shingle, but in some cases it’s the proportions that work. You still position it overlapping, as you would in any of the other shingles.

6.1) alpaca samples

Single needle line of attachment or wider area of needle attachment (for slippery fibre, the wider attachment site can again help the fibre stay attached to your creature)
Using scissors to shorten the fibre length if needed (we are felters and like scissors!). If you are using combed top, it is easier if you pull off staple lengths then trim, rather than cutting the combed top itself, which will give mixed lengths to deal with (harder to blend and attach)

Pros:

Twice as fast (except for (90/10))
Under layer can lift the top layer and make a fluffy-looking coat
Works well for large colour gradations

Cons:

Can become heavy-looking depending on the scale of the sculpture
Can create small colour changes but can be a bit tricky to get exact location
Fluffy look can be out of scale to smaller figures.

Blending your fibres and colours (Blended colour will look more natural than flat colours)

Using the same fibre length will blend easily and produce a uniform length of coat.
Nature is not flat colour. It helps to mix shades and tints of colour to make your creature look more realistic. (Dyeing over a natural grey fibre will also give more depth and subtle variations within the colour)
Matching colours can be easier if you use a “window”. Cut out a small square in a piece of white or black card stock, leaving at least a 2-inch border to separate the window from the rest of the picture. This lets your eye and brain separate the isolated colour from the background, which makes it easier to colour match.
Areas with spots of colour change can be easier if switching to smaller amounts of fibre in your shingles (many little shingles). Your other option is to carefully blend the colour changes within the larger staples. The difference is more about the amount of control, suggesting a colour change or spots vs trying to mimic a specific animal’s colour patterns.
For stripes, you could try to lay in following the colour pattern. I have seen a felter who drew the pattern on her animal then just filled in each adjacent colour section, slowly working up the side of the animal.

7.0) muskox layers of alpaca to make the muskox coat

What scale to work in/ how big or small is your creature?

Smaller will have less detail but will need to suggest more with what you have. You will also have to use shorter fibers or trim to get the fur in proportion to the size of your creature.
Larger can have more detail but will require more work and attention to photo reference. Enjoy the process of needle felting and don’t rush.
As an example of scale, my fox picture has a problem with the whiskers. They are the wrong scale to the image. I used horsetail fibre for the whiskers, and the size is too light in visual weight. I need to find something a bit visually heavier ether a coarser horse tail or possibly the outer coat of a musk ox. I have heard of felters using the bristles from paint brushes (the house painting kind) as whiskers too. (The awl and glue method was used with the paint brush bristles. I used a large eye sewing needle to secure the horse hair.)

7.1) the visual weight of the whiskers is too light for the scale of the image

Working with locks

Which part(s) of the fibre are you using, Tips only, tips and tails?

8.11-8.12-8.13) Samples with locks

Locks with crimp are easier to attach than locks with less crimp, like the hair I used on my Mer-people. It’s not a huge difference, but remember to check the fibre is adhering securely and will suit the purpose you intend to use it for. If your creature’s purpose is to sit in one pose on a shelf, you will not need the same security of attachment that a creature that is regularly reposed would require.
Crimpy curly little locks make fabulous outer coats for little sheep figures and pins. If you find little short locks with lots of crimp, put them aside for a later project if you don’t need them now.

Amount of fibres used in each shingle

Are you making a puff ball or something sleek? Sample thin layers of shingles vs fewer thicker layers. You may also find the thin layers helpful if you are working with stripes or subtle colour changes.

9.1) ”Crevis” is a soap on a rope hedgehog. I used stiffer fibre and packed it quite tightly to give good scrub-ability. I had fun mixing light colours around the face. I wanted more of an emotional expression of hedgehog rather than an anatomical Hedgehog, since his soapy centre is rectangular and rather flat.

Stacking your shingles (patterns)

You also can change either the spacing of the shingles or the way the shingles are staggered; (stacked / offset(running bond) / 1/3 offset/shingle pattern / random placement). Looking at the way tile is laid out can give a good reference for shingling patterns. Again, a bit of quick sampling will suggest your best option.

10.1) Wooden shingles, layers offset each row, not necessarily the same size adjacent shingle.

tile patterns that we can use with shingleing 10.2) patterns of subway tile to consider for felting layouts (Straight stack, offset or running bond, 1/3 offset)

10.3) alpaca shingle samples spacing

10.4) Alpaca shingle sample of spacing- side view

Direction of work: Start from lowest furred area, working to highest, or the other way around. Both work; I just found the former easier than the latter, which requires you to lift the shingles above to position the next below. An example of starting at the lowest point and working up and forward would be my partly 3-D Muskox picture. I also check and see if there is a direction of hair growth and hair fall. This could indicate the direction to lay in the fur.
How much fibre will you use in each shingle section? If you have areas that have denser fur and areas that are sparser, you may be altering how much you use in different areas and /or the shingle pattern you chose to follow. An example of variations of fur on a single creature would be a Bison or Buffalo. You may also want to use different fibres to mimic the different sections (longer, softer and shorter, stiffer fibre). As long as the colours for the different fibres work cohesively together, your creature will look realistic.

There is also a way to add locks without shingling to create the illusion of fur. I used it to create part of the sheep pins, and Ann uses it on her little sheep figures. Those tiny crimpy curly locks are layered over the surface of the creature in swirls, then tacked down, catching bits of the crimp locks.

10.5) Ann’s Sheep using tight crimpy locks to create the fur/fleece.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the tools I have collected that can be helpful when adding a needle felted fur to a creature.

Tools that may be helpful: (new toys you might like to try)

Sharp embroidery scissors: straight and curved bladed
- Excellent for careful trimming and getting into difficult spots. The curvature can mimic the curve of your creature. There are various amounts of curvature and length of blade available, so it’s nice to have a couple choices.

11.1) There are a few brands of curved embroidery scissors, as well as fine sewing scissors and curved blade pet trimming scissors

Pet trimming scissors for thinning coats/salon version for people (look like they have notches along one blade). They are used to thin bulk along the side of hair or at the ends, also for blend transitions, or give movement to hair. They are used teeth side on top and usually at an angle to the hair (perpendicular can give harsher lines if over trimmed).

11.2)Thinning scissors have different teeth spacing that removes different amounts of hair.

If you are really curious, this is a quick video on using them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEqi7qfZyOY

Eyebrow brush and comb (weird original idea, but great for felting). This tiny brush and comb allows you to do small adjustments to your creature’s coat. I saw a tiny mettle comb version, but haven’t seen it again now that I have a use for it.

11.3) Eyebrow tools

Eyebrow trimmer – strange razor trimmer (again, why is this a thing? Ok I admit my eyebrows never fully arrived so why trim them? What if trimming scares them away and I wind up with none?!) Again, an option for doing fine trimming and adjusting.
The puffer for blowing lint off your camera lenses; it can help to fluff up a coat or blow out trimmed hairs after using the scissors. It comes in a number of variations, including an electric version that may blow away your creature!

11.4) air blower, originally for cleaning camera equipment

You could even consider Hair spray or styling gel, but sample first; you don’t want fibre to yellow over time!! (I was a cheap art student (many years ago) and some of the very cheap hair spray we used as fixative did yellow the pastel paper.)

I hope this has sparked a few ideas to consider when adding fur on your creatures. I am sure I had more to add, but the AC seems to be struggling; ok, it’s give up, since it is almost 30C in the house. You may have more options or tools to share; please add your suggestions too.

I hope you have found a cool, possibly air-conditioned spot to felt. Ottawa has been hot with repeated waves of aggressive thunderstorms and flooding (the street west of us had flooded basements; Glenn said ours is still dry, but we did lose the cover to our side door). If you are South of us celebrating your 250^th birthday, have fun on the 4^th, and hopefully you will get to enjoy your fireworks. Canada Day had spectacular thunderstorms, but fireworks would have been more fun. Have fun, stay cool and keep felting.

Felting at CanGames 2026

June 7, 2026 Jan Comments 8 comments

Someday I hope we will have a local felting convention, full of classes for Wet, Dry or even Damp felting! In the meantime, I have done the best I can and found a cosy corner or even a full table at the board gaming conventions in the city (there are two which have an unexpected felting component, they are very patient with me).

1.1) CanGames 2026, Ottawa, Canada

Each year on the long weekend in May CanGames happens in a curling arena in downtown Ottawa (Canada). It starts on Friday afternoon and runs through to Sunday night. There are board games, card games, RPG games, game testing, and I think LARPs in the basement, but I didn’t make it down the stairs. There were also vendors for shopping, and the Kanata Games club had an open gaming area at one end of the arena, across from the secondhand game sale on Saturday morning. Beside the open gaming and just before the last vendor is the felting area (it’s small, but an increasing number of gamers check in to see what is being worked on this year).

While Glenn gathered and priced the games he was going to sell, I assembled fibre, reference photos (I could have used more), my felt pad in a zip-lock bag, a selection of needles, 2 project bags and a couple of bottles of Mountain Dew to keep me going. I already have in my car my small folding aluminium table, and my walker which is just a chair with cool wheels (Glenn says I need to upgrade to Ben-Hur wheel spikes).

We arrived early on Friday before noon and waited for the convention to open. I then settled into my regular spot by the open gaming and the last vendor spot. I have been in the same spot for the previous years. I had 2 project options in my felt box from which to select my weekend project. I decided on the partly wrapped armature of the llama, which was from the Llama Needle Felting Tutorial that I had started to watch on Sara’s YouTube tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvqR_OPVmbI&t=1739s). I had the armature and the initial layer of core wool wrapping done. Since I don’t have mobile access to the internet, I decided to detour from her instructions at this point…. I have pulled a few photos of llamas and comparison shots with alpacas to help, but I did not have time to do as deep a research dive as I usually would enjoy. I should have really watched it all the way through to the end of the tutorial, and not just the first part with the armature and the under wrapping of core wool. Let’s see how this goes!

1.2-1.3) Lamma with initial core wool wrapped needs a lot of work at this point. On my little aluminium table is the llama, project bag with photo reference, a selection of needles in half a pool noodle, core wool, Smarties, Mountain Dew, Maple sugar candies, and the remains of an arrow bar.

I have already derailed from Sara’s instructions by adding a lower jaw so I can open his mouth. I may add a tongue or maybe not? I will have to look at more photos later. For now, I want to focus on the face and bulking up the body. I added bits of core wool. I think I was switching between the T38-333 blocking in fibre and the SP40-222 for more of the firming and surface sculpture. Since I will be adding a fur top layer for his coat, I want a reasonably firm understructure but not as firm as my fish-people. While I start sculpting his face, why don’t you take a peek at the open gaming from the Kanata Games Club? You may spot something fibre-related. I have already been asked if I have one of a few alpaca/lama board games (I have one of each so far, as well as quite a few sheep-inclusive games. We can chat about them if you would like some other time).

1.4) The Kanata Games Club runs the open gaming area. They are very friendly and are quite inclusive about my felting. There are a few very pretty games that seem popular this year. I am tempted to try one, maybe later in the weekend.

Across the arena from me is where the secondhand board game sale will be. There will be more games dropped off up until before the sale starts, which will be Saturday morning at 10 am. 3 years ago I was 3^rd in line, 2 years ago I was second in line, I wonder if I will be first in line this year?

1.5) the used game sale

Just peeking, there are a lot of interesting boxes of games, some very old ones included too. I will do my best not to buy Glenn any games he is selling this year. (oops) I had better get back to work, or we will not have much felting to talk about today!

Friday afternoon into the evening, working on the understructure. Slowly sculpting the face and then starting to bulk up the hips. I regret not getting the chance to watch all of Sara’s instructions.

1.6) Adding bulk and sculpting the face. I was showing the frog name tag as an example of 2D needle felting. I don’t think they would like felting as much if I were wet felting; their games might get damp! I have added chocolate cookies and Sesame snaps. I was sharing the cookies.

I was very focused on felting and chatting about felting. It was later in the evening than I thought when last year’s Chariot Race winner dropped by to see what I was working on. While chatting with her and showing her what I was working on, I eventually remembered to check how the Friday night chariot race was going. There seemed to be a lot of carnage this year! She said she had been attacked by many other chariots and was now out. I went over, and only 4 chariots look like they are still moving.

1.7) Chariot race Friday night

Glenn returned after playing one of the games upstairs and was ready to head home. We made a quick stop to try and sign me up for a murder mystery RPG game on Sunday (there are 4 players signed up, but if one doesn’t make it, I will get to take their spot)

Saturday morning: We headed in early. I have a new strategy this year for shopping. Instead of working at my table, then joining the line when it starts, I am going to be the line! The Lama and I got comfortable in the walker and watched more games arrive. I forgot to pull out the camera! I got focused on felting and then on shopping (Glenn had a list of things he had seen that I should watch for, and 2 other games he would like, if I see them.) As always, there seemed to be both amusement and enthusiasm in my odd focus of gaming topics. I seem to have all the sheep games, so have decided to branch out, and am now looking for other fibre-bearing creatures (or spin-able or felt-able fibres, can I find games about cotton or flax?)

I found 2 of his 6 games and no fibre-oriented games, but got distracted by a few other games that might be fun at the cottage. You can see a few of them hiding under my jacket behind the llama, now back to felting.

2.1) Understructure of llama standing on reference photos in front of a stack of board games covered by a light jacket.

The face is improving; I don’t have the lower lip/chin quite right, and the eyes will look better when I add colour and eyelashes. Oh, and the ears (what you see is actually the wrapped ear wires since I want to be able to adjust the ears and pose them.) I can’t remember if Sara had added the ear wires or if I am off on a tangent again.

2.2) Spiral needle on reference photos, the knees and ankles still need work! What weird feet! I have got to work on those ankles. I spotted a couple with very lumpy knees, too.

2.3) He seems to have stuck his face in the bag of alpaca fibre. I guess he approves of that colour?

2.4) Green, black and gold triangular woven shawl, this is the weaver who was demoing the triangular loom in Peterborough, Ont. She is wearing a scarf as a hat band that has similar colours to the shawl.

What a surprise! Do you remember the lady doing the triangular loom demo in Peterborough a few weeks ago? She just dropped by to see what I was doing. It was nice to see what she had been weaving on her triangular loom.

I kept puttering at my understructure as he slowly started to look a bit more llama-like.

2.5) I think I am happier with the upper lip now.

A quick break to see what is happening around the curling rink.

2.6) the curling rink and a ship battle game

2.7) This is one of the games Glenn had me looking for; it was called “Root”. I am not sure what it’s about or how to play it. (but it looks pretty)

Back to felting, I am still getting too many “Is that an alpaca?” comments. I need to add the ears! Llamas have much taller ears than alpacas. They also have the reputation of being grumpy and spitting, but I am not sure I could express the latter in felt.

3.1) Starting the ear shapes, they need to be firm but not too thick so I can fold them and attach them to the ear wires (which are already covered in white core wool)

Ear shapes, leaving a wispy end unfelted to help attach to the head.

Looking at the few reference photos that I have with me, I keep thinking of their shape, reminding me either of Rabbits or Bananas? (Maybe I am getting hungry.) That’s not quite right, though; now he looks a bit like a weird, long-legged bare koala bear?

3.2) ears added using loose unfelted fluff and attaching to the head firmly. Also, attached the covered ear wires to the back of the ear.

I need to create more of a folded ear and make it thinner. I have scissors and felting needles; I can do this!

Now that I have the body to a medium firmness, the ears are close to what I want, and I am impatient to start adding the top coat. I am going to use the shingling method to create the top coat. As I have mentioned before, there are lots of ways to achieve the same effect. I could use a reverse needle to create a fuzzy nap, similar to what you see on the back of a felt picture. Or there are a number of options to lay on the layers of top-coat to create a more realistic coat.

You can create different effects by how you choose to add the fibre. Let’s take a peek at what I did this time to make a fluffy llama ready to be sheared, then we can consider other options I might have tried (probably in the next post, this one looks a bit long already).

I usually start at the lowest part of the body that needs fur and work up. I have seen other felters start from the head or centre back and work down. Both work, but the latter requires you to lift the fibre you have applied to place the next section under it. Both options will work, but the latter feels like more work to me. But if it works for you and you get the effect you want, then stay with the method that works.

3.3) Alpaca in progress, adding fluffiness starting

3.4)The Llama and I joined a cooperative game.

Llama was having a hard time playing since I had not finished his eyes yet.

3.5) Positioning the shingle of alpaca locks, then felting perpendicular to the staple length.

3.6) quite fluffy and scruffy alpaca, almost to the point of adding the neck fibre. It will need to be shorter than the body fibre length.

I am working cut end down and tip end up. I am also attaching the fibre quite deeply since this is actually a fine alpaca fibre I am pretending is llama. Deeply felting, it will help it stay secure.

3.7) The bag I am selecting fibre from has a few odd, coarser sections. I have put them aside for now.

3.8) alpaca fibre dark brown with chocolate tips

This is the section I am working from

2 shots of the head neck of the llama as i am about to add fiber up the neck. the expresion is somewhat quesioning. 3.9) About to start neck, llama is looking either inquisitive or confused

I am not sure if he is questioning my judgment or wants to be a different colour.

Another quick break to see what’s going on at the other part (gaming) of this convention

I had signed up as a replacement if one of the 4 players in a mystery RPG didn’t show up. One was late, but they eventually all arrived. Drat. If it is offered again next year, I will sign up earlier. You got to play one of 4 little old ladies who were in a book club together. Someone dies (there was mention of Lovecraftian circumstances!!) and you have to find out what is going on.

Glenn helped to carry the walker up the stairs, then back down when all the games arrived. It is an old building and has accessibility issues. It is very hard to find a venue that suits and will not bump them for a wedding or other more lucrative booking. All that climbing was not fun, so let’s take a moment and look around before heading back to the Felting Convention Corner.

4.1-4.2) games at the convention, one that is being play-tested is offering cookies!

Glenn’s coughing was increasing, so we decided not to stay around to watch the Kill Doctor Luck (life-size) game, lest we pass on his plague, and head home a bit early. I packed up the box of felting supplies, one almost furred llama, and folded up the little table. Glenn packed it all up in the car with a few more games that had been labelled free and left on a table for redistribution (I picked up a few for the cottage!)

2 of the 4 tables set out with games that were now free to any convention goer. there are some quite old games as well as some newer ones. 4.3) On Sunday morning, games left for free distribution after the sale were put out on tables (4 tables this year).

4.4) the car, loaded up with walker, games under black blanket, and a box of felting fibre, tools and a mostly done llama.

This was again a fun (felting and) gaming convention. You never know, next year we might double the size of the felting component and have 2 needle felters working in the corner! There was definitely more interest in needle felting this year.

I would like to chat more about the technique referred to as shingling to give the illusion of a coat. There are a number of options, such as the direction you lay down the fibre (top to bottom or bottom to top?), the staple length, do you fold it over, if so, how much half and half, 1/3 to 2/3’s or not at all? Which fibre do you select to mimic an appropriate scale replica of what you are making? Long, soft and drapeyer as I was working on, or do you need shorter and stiffer?

I found an eyebrow brush. I did not realise that was a thing to do. I can see it being much more useful to me to gently arrange the fibre I just put on. We can also adjust the top coat with scissors if it’s not just right yet. I love that felters can cut staple lengths if they don’t suit the purpose wanted.

Let’s chat about that more later. Have fun and keep felting!

4.5) photo taken by Ann

Needle Felted Nametags (and another picture felting workshop)

February 28, 2026 Jan Comments 10 comments

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.

1.1) the students and their pictures

1.2 post-class debris (this is not the studio where I usually teach)

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.

1.4) 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.

2.1) 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).

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.

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).

3.2) Seed Snail, add good soil, then roll up and add seeds. From Wool Grown Company (Canada)

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!)

4.1 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!

4.2) Attaching two pieces of felt together

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.
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)

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.)

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 nametag 6.1) One down, what should I choose next?

6.2) 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!)

6.3) 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.)

6.4) moved back to my horribly messy desk in the office. (I will tear the room apart and fix it……eventually….. maybe later.)

6.5) 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.

7.1) 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.)

7.2) 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.

7.3) first horn wrapped about to start the second

7.4) body added and starting to lay in the background

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.

7.6) 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.

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.

8.2) 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.

8.3) 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!

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

February 13, 2026 frabjousfabrica Comments 15 comments

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!

An oval hand made willow basket, with a basketware handle rising from one long side and crossing to the other. — My marketing basket.

The willow basket with interior lined with fabric with a swirly pattern of browns and cream. — The lining sewn to the top edge of the basket. A bit rumpled I’m afraid.

The edge of the basket shewing the plain brown underside of the open fabric lid sewn to the edge of the lining. The quilting lines can be seen. — The underside of the open quilted lid

The closed quilted lid of the same fabric as the basket lining. — Work basket with quilted lid.

Miniature cane basket with handles, containing a pin cushion made from more of the same fabric

An oblong fabric pouch with snap fasteners showing contents - two cotton reels. — The small accessories pouch.

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 coloured design for a knot garden — Knot Garden design

a sample of needle felted hedges and flowers of a knot garden — Initial needle felted sample (made a sample? me? Now that’s very unusual!)

The basic design of the Knot Garden drawn on a piece of old woolen blanket. — The design drawn onto a piece of woolen blanket.

Some of the spaces in the Knot Garden filled in with needle felted fibres and yarns. — Starting to fill in the spaces with fibres and yarns.

The “box hedges” and most of the “flowers” filled in.

The finished needle felted Knot Garden — Finished Knot Garden with topiary trees in the corners.

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.

The needle felted head of a goat head with horns and an open mouth in stone coloured wool mounted on a similar coloured base. — The “Infernal Goat” gargoyle. The colour reproduction is poor it does actually look like grey stone (from a distance!)

The stone-grey needle felted head of a bald man with staring eyes and open mouth mounted on a similar coloured base. — Stone Man Gargoyle.

The stone-grey needle felted head of a man with staring eyes and open mouth and receeding chin and long neck mounted on a similar coloured base. The original gargoyle was mounted on a corner of a church tower. — This Gargoyle is a direct copy of a waterspout mounted on the corner of a church tower.

The stone-grey needle felted head of a horned man with full curly beard and curly hair and open mouth mounted on a similar coloured base. — Horned Man gargoyle. His curly hair and beard was, I remember, quite “fun” to do!

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.

A needle felted gnome with wooden nose under a green pointed hat. He has a green body and grey hair, beard and moustache. — Bag Charm Gnome 1

A needle felted gnome with wooden nose under a maroon pointed hat. He has a maroon body and green hair, beard and moustache. — Bag charm gnome 2

A needle felted gnome with wooden nose under a maroon pointed hat. He has a blue body and grey/brown hair, beard and moustache. — Bag charm gnome 3

Needle-felt Brooches and a Print Exhibition

January 11, 2026 Lindsay Wilkinson Artwork Comments 18 comments

Since my last blog in November I’ve been very busy, though not necessarily making felt. I did, however, have a week’s exhibition with two friends in a local gallery the second week in December, and this afternoon I’ve dropped off 12 pictures for an open-call print exhibition, so that’s what I’m going to talk about today.

Sitting in the gallery, I had time to do a little needle felting – I generally prefer wet felting but needle felting is better suited to gallery-sitting. My friend Lynzi (yep, same name but different spelling) asked if I’d make two small brooches for her to give to her mother for Christmas. Lynzi liked some earrings I’d made previously …..

….. so asked me to make a mussel shell and a starfish brooch. I’d not needle felted a brooch before but didn’t think it would be very different from an earring so I set about it.

The trickiest thing was that she wanted them very small: she suggested between 2 & 4 cm. The smallest mussel shell earrings I’ve ever made were about 5.5cm and the star fish – which was a one-off – was considerably larger. I didn’t think 2cm was practical, not least of all because of the size of the pin needed to attach the brooches, so we agreed on approximately 4cm. The mussel shell was relatively straightforward. For earrings I make them curved like shells. For a brooch, I just made the back solid rather than curved and was sure to felt it very firmly so I could sew the fastening pin securely onto it.

I had to adapt the starfish design as the centre of the starfish – which had to conceal the brooch pin – had to be a larger part of the overall design than it was for the earring. I started off using a small star-shaped cookie-cutter to help me get an even star shape. I concentrated on working the length of the arms and the centre of the starfish, so that when I stopped using the cookie-cutter I could work into the sides of the arms to make it less like a star and more like a starfish.

Here are the end results.

Lynzi was delighted and I’m looking forward to hearing what her Mum thought.

Now here we are in 2026 and I’ve had to put in quite a lot of studio time this week to create work for a print exhibition. Another local gallery (The Horsebridge Community Arts Centre in Whitstable) had an open-call for a print exhibition. The only requirement was that pieces had to have some element of hand printing. I wondered if my felt pictures with a printed tree would meet the criteria so had a chat with the organiser. She said ‘yes’ so I decided to enter some. The deal is that you pay per piece for a framed, wall hung item and you can put up to 5 unframed items per wall piece into a browser. The gallery takes 10% commission on sales of the framed pieces (which you’ve also paid to submit) and 35% commission on the unframed, browser pieces (which you haven’t paid to submit). I opted for 2 framed and 10 for the browser.

These were the framed pictures I already had

And two unframed pictures presented with a card back and mount.

So, I just needed to make 8 more unframed pictures this week to fill my quota for the wall and browser. That didn’t seem too unreasonable when I decided to do it, but it has felt a bit less sensible given the time I’ve had available. It’s also quite cold here (for England). My studio is in an old industrial building (it used to be a bottle capping factory for Shepherd Neame, the oldest brewery in the UK). It has very little heating, so I had to decamp to my house part way through the week when my hands just could not cope with any more freezing water.

The unframed pictures have a mount with an aperture of 20 x 20 cm (about 8 x 8 inches) so the felt is about 24 cm square. I thought the best idea was to make 4 pictures in one sheet and cut them apart during the fulling process. By ‘best’ I mean most efficient while still being a size I could handle on my felting table. I drew myself a little sketch to help me decide where to put the silk

Option 1 would mean the nuno felted area was the same in all 4 pictures so it was an easy decision to go for option 2.

I spent quite a long time sifting through my embarrassingly large collection of second hand silk scarves to select the pieces I wanted to use.

I was keen on a grey leopard print scarf with a white background but it had stripes of more and less dense silk running across it. I thought I should just check that the dense section would felt OK so I did a very scrappy little sample. If you’re wondering why I got so little shrinkage, the felted scrap started off considerably bigger than the non-felted one.

It’s not easy to see here – more visible on the finished picture – but the more dense stripes produced a little more ruching.

It all seemed to felt fine so above you can see the first batch part way through the fulling stage.

Below is the layout for the second batch of pictures

I put a stripe of second hand wool (usually tapestry wool) along the top of the silk section. For the brightly coloured marbled scarf I auditioned a few different colours (red, yellow, dark brown, green)

And went with the green

So, here is the first group of 4 pictures with their printed trees

And here’s the second group of 4

I took the photos very hastily today and not in very good light: they are not as grey as some of the images suggest.

I’ve presented them with a back board and white mount and dropped them off at the gallery this afternoon. The deadline for submissions is tomorrow so, that’s pretty good for me. I have marked ‘last minute’ tendencies.

I print the images with a heat press – the kind of thing you might use for printing and image on a t-shirt. As I was heating it up anyway, I pulled together some pieces of felt that were test pieces or offcuts, cut them into small pieces and printed on those too. I will make these into cards.

Well, that’s me for now. Wishing everyone a joyful, healthy and creative 2026.

My year in review; 2025

December 26, 2025 Jan Comments 8 comments

Belated Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas. I hope you are still enjoying the festive season (hopefully with fibre and felt!)

What in the world did I get done this year? This should be interesting, since most of this year was a blur of post-surgery and anaesthetic recovery (including a few very tiny but powerful pain pills – I have no idea what they were, but I vaguely think they may have been green?), I am extremely curious to see if I actually got anything done this year. If you are curious too, let’s take a look!

January: I was trying to get organised after getting bad medical test results (I was never good at tests) and found out I was going to have another surgery at the end of the month. Then be out of commission for a lest a couple of months afterwards. I focused on getting notes ready for the other librarians to take over running the whole Guild library while I was out of commission. I also taught an inkle weaving workshop and took a workshop on tablet weaving.

A big cheer up was the felt Christmas card from Eleanor. I was not feeling well after diagnostic testing and dreading the impending surgery, so perfect arrival timing!

1.1) Above the card from Eleanor, below was the card I sent to Eleanor

February 1st found me getting a drive home from the hospital rather than going to the Spin-in in Chesterville, Ontario. I have photos of the guild’s February meeting, and a few shots from other guild members of some of the things I missed. I know I was doing things, but I don’t remember any of it.

March was also a write-off. Anaesthetic and my brain are not friends. Luckily, Ann and Ann were running the library.

By April, one of the Librarian Anns had to step away from the library due to illness. I returned to work, a bit early, Glenn dropping me off and picking me up (driving was not an option yet), it was unfortunately shorter than normal hours. I was not really up to speed; it took all day just to keep the library running. I brought in felting to work on if I got my library work done, but no luck.2.1) Moose head and moose landscape bag. At this point, it was still probably a good idea not to be doing a lot of stabbing with sharp objects.

April was not all frustrating and forgotten, I also got a surprise to cheer me up! I was watching Marie from Living felt on YouTube and had been commenting on her videos (not that I remembered doing so shortly after each episode), one of which was her store’s Birthday party. My anaesthetic brain at the time did not remember winning anything, so I was so happy and surprised when one of her deluxe wet felting kits arrived! Thanks, Marie, that really cheered me up! (and I got to try it for workshops much later in the year).

2.2)A surprise from Living Felts on line Birthday party

May arrived, but was still mostly lost in the fog. I seem to have worked on the Library report, and I am pretty sure it was Glenn who drove us down to the fibre festival at Spencerville (south of Ottawa). I have vague memories that I was very sore getting there and back, but it was so nice to get out and see friends and look at shopping.

3.1) Spencerville Fibre Festival

The long weekend in May (Friday to Sunday) was also CanGames and ghelting convention, which I have told you about before. I finally thought it might be safe to try a needle felting project. I may have been a bit premature in trying that. I somehow wound up with 6 fingers on one hand, and my under structure wrapping was not as tight as it should be.

3.2-3.3) Oops, still can’t count!

3.4) I somehow forgot we evicted another garage dweller. He was not impressed.

By June, I was feeling safer to make expensive decisions, but I limited it to one new camera. The old one was over 13 years old and was needing an upgrade. I still don’t really remember much unless I am looking at the photos from what I was up to. (I am glad I took pictures, or I would not remember doing anything!)

4.1) new Nikon bird watching camera with sneaky powerful zoom feature.

4.2) I continued to putter on the Mer-Boyfriend I was creating for the missing Miss Mer.

June 07, we tried to be in two places at once, the Lamsdown Fibre festival and the Dickonson Day Demo. I was doing shopping and photography, so no felting!

4.3) Demo at Dickonson Day

4.4) one of the vendors at Lamsdown

I had been trying to be careful about large perchasess with anesthetic-brain but I had been waiting for a stock tank of about this size to go on sale, so I bought it!

4.5) A 75-gallon stock tank becomes a perfect fleece washing station.

With the addition of a fleece washing station in the side yard/Driveway, I got to work washing my way through the fleeces from the last couple of summers I had not felt up to working on.

4.6) Glenn was very helpful working the spin dryer for me. (It’s an old RV hand washer/spin dryer)

4.7-4.8)the Father’s Day weekend brings a blacksmithing workshop to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan Onrario (East of Ottawa).

This was a great chance to do some photography of blacksmithing, and do a bit more felting, on the young mer I had started last month.

4.9)There was also a demonstration of finishing a blanket by walking it. (walking is likely spelt differently when applied to a wet blanket thumped repeatedly on a table.)

July continued fleece washing, a bit at a time. I still seem to keep over-exerting myself, but I was feeling so far behind.

5.1) 3 more bins to sort and wash.

5.2) Trying to sort without a skirting table.

This month, I was back to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to demo felting for them at their Fibre/Textile day.

5.3) 3 of the Mer Family and their pets get out to a demo. It was an extremely hot day, and they seemed happy to be in the shade of the porch.

In August, the guild had a workshop on Cyanotype printing with felt. It was a half-day workshop and ran twice. I took lots of photos, which reminded me of playing with the enlarger in the dark room.

6.1)Cyanoprinting with felt

August is also the time of the very large fibre festival Twist, about an hour away in Quebec. Glenn came with me as my attendant, and I filled in at the guild demo table with the Mer boyfriend I was working on. I missed getting a roll of garden felt, so I went back on Sunday. (We had the comfy duck sandwiches twice this year!)

6.2) I missed out on this size, but got a piece from the big roll

There was more shopping, a bit closer to home, at Stash-it Fibre Festival in Kempville, Ontario (about a half hour south of Ottawa)

6.3) I seem to be focused on fibre acquisition again; I see more fleece washing in my future.

September is Almonte Fiberfest (about half an hour west of the west end of Ottawa). I again did a “few” photos for the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, who run the event (I hope I remembered to send them!)I am pretty sure I showed you the Booth Birds of a Feather by Catherine

7.1) Birds of a Felter booth, at Almonte FiberFest

A few more fleeces to wash, the stock tank has been helpful, and fall seems to be holding off, so I may get these done before snowfall! One was a lovely but horribly dirty ram Shetland fleece

7.2) big Shetland fleece (looks like he took a mud bath before shearing)

In October, I tried a wet felted Slipper workshop with Ann. I was sure I could make a simple pair of slippers in a day…. No, not quite yet, it seems, but I had lots of fun, stayed reasonably dry and am looking forward to finishing up the slippers when I have another burst of energy.

8.1) Jan’s almost finished slippers at the end of Ann’s Class.

This month, I also spotted a cottage for sale, very close to my brother’s cottage. It had just had a major price drop, which might have potential, so worth taking a look at it. There is also a Quonset hut, on about an acre of land, not too far from that’s for sale too. One is better for spin and felt in’s the other would be better for blacksmithing. At least neither is attached to a piece of protected swamp, which was almost everything I have looked at for the last few years!

8.2) cottage option

October is also the month for KanataCon Board game and Felting convention! They are the gaming convention with the HUGE second-hand game sale where I found a game about alpaca and one about lamas! I also got a lot more work done on the Mer-Boyfriend for Miss Mer.

8.3) Fibre-related board games

8.4) Glenn with the young Mer-sturgeon now with bumps!!

The day after the gaming/felting convention was a new Fibre festival in Merrikville Ontario. It was a nice drive down, fabulous weather for photographing the locks and a bit of good shopping.

8.5) Fall colours and the locks at Merrickville

October was very busy. The day after Merrickville, we jumped in the car and headed for Toronto. We did a couple of shopping stops on the way to Oakville, but made it through all the Toronto Traffic! (Rush hour may be nearly 24 hours long!)

On Tuesday, Glenn and his brother did legal stuff, and I had a lovely day staring at architecture, photography, and felting.

8.6) Happy with his hand upgrade

The next day, we stopped to shop with Monika at the Olive Sparrow on the way back to Ottawa. By the time we made it home, I felt wiped! I think I could have slept for at least a week.

November arrived, and it’s time for the Guild Sale and Exhibition. This event is run by Ann, and I help where I can. I am still noticing I am not back to full steam yet. I usually can photo-document the event as well as run the music and demo felting. Not this year, photos and music were all I could manage. Most of the signage and layouts could be updated from last year, so not as much pre-work either. We had a couple of good felters with booths this year. If you check back in the blog, you will see the photos.

9.1) Ann showing how a drop spindle works (she is wearing her new name tag).

At the end of November, I ran the needle felted landscape workshop. We look at wool in a painterly approach. Ann took this workshop and has been having fun with mist and trees!

9.2) November students and their felt Paintings (it looks like they had fun)

The next day, I got up nice and early and headed back to the guild. This time Ann was teaching, and I was the student. I was oddly tired (as if I had been very busy the day before) even before we started, but it was fun (and dangerous, you could get wet). I was able to get all the rolling done by the end of the class. I still need to do a bit more shaping to finish off, oh, the want of free time!! I am not sure where all the time goes, but I seem to be missing more of it this year than usual!!!

9.3) My odd-shaped black hat in progress. (Can you guess what it will look like?)

It’s finally December, and I’m not sure I was ever going to make it to the end of the year, but I am happy I did. I had a workshop teaching beginning Inkle weaving, with great students again!

9.4) Inkle weaving workshop

Inkle looms make straps, belts, trim, ties, and narrow woven band. It is usually woven where only the warp is showing, and usually the colour order of warping will determine your pattern. There is the option of Pickup (for which there are other better teachers), and I have taught the “inkle Two” class of many of the truly weird things you can weave on an inkle loom, but may or may not want to.

Throughout the past year, with the help of the other librarian, I have continued to volunteer at the guild library. I usually put in over 500 hours each year. I am about to get to the number crunching for the library year end data. (which, considering my lingering deterioration of math skills, may make this more of a challenge this year)

I am glad this year is almost behind me. It was interesting to see what I did, even if I didn’t remember doing it, until I saw the pictures. The heavy fog seemed to go on for more than the first half of the year, with mini fog attacks even up to recently (I will be able to add again any time I want to soon). I am going to try to avoid having any anaesthetic for as long as I can in hopes my spelling improves, and my little bit of math comes back!!

I am optimistic that you are as excited and hopeful about 2026, it’s a pleasant shape, for a number, so I am optimistic. I also have some wet felting to finish and some dry felting to find! Have fun and see you Next Year!!!

Happy Holidays

December 24, 2025 Shepherdessann Comments 11 comments

Happy holidays, everyone. Christmas for us this year will be late. We won’t have family dinner until Sunday, when everyone can be together. The littles will still get Christmas day and Santa, but we big people will wait. I am hoping that that means I can play in my studio on Christmas Day. I think that will be a great present for me.

Currently, I am still working on my picture from Jan’s class. This is how it was in the last post. I don’t like the tree trunks I added at the end, and I am not fussy about the fog.

First thing, take the tree trunks off and pull back the fog. I also want to soften the bottom edge of the fog. Although we do get fog that is just like that, with a hard line bottom sitting several feet off the ground, it’s not looking great in the picture.

I did try adding a leafless tree near the shed, but I pulled it off again before I took a picture. I also do not like this fogound tree. The branches are too round. I like the trees behind it and to the right. That will have to be next.

Jan suggested I try a frame on to get a better look at it. The picture is a little bigger than the frame opening, so I tried it with a little less sun and with a little less snow. Sorry about the bad( worse than usual) pictures. I thought I had them straight when I took them. I think I like it better with a little less snow and a lower horizon. What do you think?

I am still thinking about a fence along thetee line. Jan suggested making it at an angle across and out the side. I am not sure. I like the snow. I was thinking of adding just a small clump of grass in the snow on the right to balance things.

A Felt Landscape Class with Jan

December 4, 2025 Shepherdessann Comments 13 comments

I keep wanting to take this class with Jan, but it always seems to get scheduled when I have a class the next day or when I am at the Farmers Market. I finally got to sign up. My class was scheduled before Jan’s. Then I got the dates for the Christmas markets. The hat class was planned for the day after the last market. It would have to move. I would still be exhausted the day after the market. I don’t want to do that to the students or myself. So now I am taking Jan’s class on Saturday and teaching Felt hats on Sunday. I am sure it will be fine. I got all ready for my class early in the week, so all I have to do is load the car on Sunday morning.

To start, Jan emailed us some pictures so we could choose what we wanted to make. There was one I really liked, but thought it needed something else. So I had a chat with Jan about that. She does say you are the God of your picture. And she never does what everyone else is doing when she takes my classes. I went searching on the internet to see if I could find what I wanted to add. I did not have much luck. Google thinks it knows what I want to look at even when it doesn’t match what I put in the search. I found out later that I should try the in cogneto mode to get better results. Jan sent me a couple of pictures, and I found what I wanted.

I picked the one on the top right, but wanted to add a small shed. I know you were expecting one of the ones with sheep, weren’t you?

At the workshop, Jan had lots of her work to show us, to help us understand what we were doing.

Jan gave us lots of information about different ways to work. She explained all the needles she had given us to try out. You can see them stuck in the orange noodle. She included different versions of our pictures to help us pick out the wool we needed.

Then we had to pick our wool. She had a lot of wool. The bags covered 3 6-foot tables. There were also several books on the table for us to look at. I have no picture of the books. We were all wanting to get stabbing. I will ask Jan to look at the landscape book she has that I haven’t looked at before.

On to working. I chose to do a rough outline of where things were by holding the thin felt over the picture on a window. It was fun and absorbing, so I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have.

My friend Judy took this picture of me working.

This was my neighbour, she was working on a musk ox picture.

And here is a shot down the tables, of others busy stabbing away.

After adding the fog, I put in a little shack.

As we neared the end of the day, I went to add another layer of trees in front of the fog, but I couldn’t get them right at all. I think I was done with trees for the day. So I added the snow in the foreground. I may add the grass with stitching.

So now it is a few days later, and looking at the pictures, I can see the fog needs to fade out more. And maybe not cover all the trees. I will remove the tree trunks and fix the shack door. Taking a picture really shows you what you can’t see looking at it live. I am not sure where I will go with the trees. I think I swapped the picture I wanted with a darker one. I may bring the fog down and add a few trees in the mid-ground, maybe with some snow on them. We will see. I will take it to guild socials and continue.

Jan included a large instruction manual for us( 32 pages) in case we want to do another picture and forget everything we were told (completely possible, there was a lot to learn).

I think we all need to pester Jan to make this an online class or a book. She has so much of it already done.

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