Because I FELT like it!

When I see felted projects on line I love a lot of them.

by Karen Madden

from Pinterest

Felting blends the fibers to become a whole. They look awesome so, of course, I want to learn to felt. My friend and fellow artist, Karen Madden, of Rock and a Soft Place in Poughquag, NY invited me to her studio to learn. I spent 2 mornings with her and 2 days on my own. It was a lot of work and my results were pretty poor. Not even close to anything I’ve seen. I should have learned and practiced the technique more but, of course, I went off in my own direction trying to be creative and then it didn’t work. I have to learn to spend more time in learning how it’s done before I veer off to experiment.

It required a lot of upper body strength, timing, counting and a lot of time. I did not like the process enough to pursue it and get better.

If I was just using roving, yarns, wool, it went well. When I tried to add design it was not successful. It required more skill and energy than I was willing to give. I also wanted to work with more varied materials. I have the supplies now so maybe I’ll try again someday and go slow and learn the basics of blending wool before attempting other fibers. I can do my fabric collage with gluing and I can use any materials I like, so, felting felt (pun intended) limiting.

I’m glad I tried it and saw how much work is involved. I appreciate what I see even more now.

Felting soap is a nice easy beginner project with good results. I did this a few years ago.

Felting supplies: Wool, roving, soap, roller, bubble wrap, pressure stone

First attempt, seeing what can be done with different materials. I was not good enough or experienced enough to try this.

More attempts using alternate materials. It just never came together and melded.

Attempt at a design. Again no melding because of the materials I used.

I just went through my images of felting (see beginning) and now I want to try again. I will just use wool and practice blending!

I was inspired after writing this. Today was a snow day and I practiced felting.

It’s all melded and integrated but I have no clue what I’ll do with it, but I’m glad I went back to basics.