What’s in the Box?
Well, it’s not what’s in it as much as what it’s made of. Felt, of course!
A while back I started working on a template to make a box. I love containers and save all sorts just because. So, I decided to make a felt box.
I took a cardboard square box I had from a candle and used that to make a plastic template.
I had some interesting batting but unknown fibers.
Since it was batting I used a nice thick layer. When I got the general shape and added embellishments on both sides I started the felting process, then made cuts where the flaps were separate from the box body.
I wasn’t really sure how I was going to proceed. The felt was very spongy and kind of delicate even after fulling. I decided to try the wash machine and put a plastic cube (baseball trophy case) in it and put the whole thing in a nylon then into the machine.
It didn’t shrink or full much more and remained spongy. Of course, the sharp corners of the cube cut through the felt. So, I did some needle felting to repair them and tried the machine again, this time wrapping the cube in bubble wrap then into the nylon.
The fiber wasn’t cooperating much to felt the side flaps together. Perhaps it was as fulled as it would get. I did use resists to make sure the flaps didn’t stick to the top. I did some more needle felting to hold it together.
It’s hard to tell which sides are which in the pictures since it’s a random pattern.
I ironed and steamed the edges to try to get a crease on the sides but the fiber was just too spongy. To finish it off I sewed on a gold button. I wanted to use gold thread, but couldn’t find it. Sorry about the photos no sun here the past few days.
Even though it’s not felted very hard, I like the way it looks. I may have a go at using the GAC to stiffen it up. Next time I will use a known fiber and try using a flat resist and forming it on the cube.
Have you ever attempted a box?