Tag: craft

I felted a baby!

.Ā 

On the ferry over to Vancouver, I pulled out the last of my felt scraps, and felted this baby. Is it a little weird? Yes! Did it have the desired effect on my friend, who has a three month old baby named George? Yes! It was nice to make a gift with my newfound skills.

Method-wise, I didn’t even Google search how to do this. I had enough in fundamentals under my belt to start right away. First, I needled some core forms with the grey core felt ā€“ torso, head, arms, and legs. Then I attached them, and settled on the seated position with arms up. I shaped the whole body a bit, then moved on to “dressing” the kid with the soft merino coloured felt. Start to finish, it took about an hour.

I can see how I could really keep going with needle felting. Christmas ornaments, little gifts, hanging mini sculptures… it’s all doable. I haven’t done anything abstract yet. It feels like that is the arbitrary line between art and craft when it comes to materials like felt.

Felting project #2

Hello, fellow felting enthusiasts. I’m happy to share my second completed project of this inquiry.

As for titles… Fall feelings? Autumnal arrangement?

It’s a simple series of small felted sculptures (that word does sound a bit elevated for what these are) ā€“ a pumpkin, a pear, an apple, a leaf, a heart, and a few globes ā€“ bound with a piece of embroidery thread.

After mastering the flattened heart for my last project, I felt ready to venture into new felting forms. I did consult this Youtube video to get some useful tips on making the pumpkin.

Many thanks to the video creator, who also, as it happens, has done a cool school project with mixed felting methods.

For the other shapes, I just applied what I knew and made it up. I usually work with collected leaves in the fall, in some crafting form, so it was fun to extend that ritual into a new medium, making the felted leaf.

All of the felt was leftover bits from my last project. Being forced to use colours based on what I had was actually a nice constraint. I’m pleased with the final project, which is now warming up the vibe in my bedroom, which has felt a bit sparse for my taste. Happy autumn to all!

And… I’m a felter!

My completed seven “chakra hearts”

The first stab is the hardest

I had so much resistance at the beginning. This is common for me and new projects. There is a period of resistance, after which I’ve decided on something, and maybe even gotten the materials, in which I just can’t start. Finally, late one night, I pulled up Jen’sĀ Facebook videos (Jen of Felt Me Now) to get started with her felted chakra hearts project.Ā  Half an hour later, thanks to her relaxed and competent instructions, I had a fuzzy red heart in front of me.

Jen teaching me to felt with a Facebook video

My first heart!

Once I get going

As soon as I had I mastered the basic technique, I wanted to keep making. So I did. Within a week, I had turned out all seven hearts. Classmates on Tuesday saw me felting in class. Hopefully instructors didn’t think I was tuned out. It’s just so relaxing and helpful to keep my hands busy while I am listening. It’s definitely better for my attention and brain than scrolling web pages or thinking about upcoming assignments and errands.

Felting in class

Cruising

So, what’s it like?

I’m ready to start answering my first inquiry question:

  • What is the practice of felting like? ā€“ Is it easy? Hard? Frustrating? Fun? Quick? Time-consuming?

Answers:

  • It’s easy!
  • It’s fun!
  • It can be quick (I got down to making a heart within 30 minutes), but it can also be time-consuming, in that you can keep fine-tuning and fine-tuning forever, or you could choose a more challenging project.
  • It’s possible to start experimenting right away

Experimenting with blending colours, by adding a little orange fibre to the yellow, to make it a stronger colour.

Experimenting with making an all-indigo heart, versus using core grey felt for the centre.

What’s next?

I still have to finish this project, by stringing a fishing line through the centres to make a wall-hanging. Then I might explore making more objects (seasonal gourds?) with the materials I have leftover. I could move on to my other two inquiry questions ā€“ What is the historical and ongoing practice of felting among First Nations communities in the Pacific Northwest? / Would felting make for a good medium for the secondary school art classroom? ā€“ but I feel like I want some more exploration of the material/medium first.

Hearts waiting to become a wall hanging.