Felting Fun in the New Year

     

      Happy new year to all!  It's been a stretch. I've been experiencing technical difficulties,...every manner and description of them and I'm still struggling. Our computer "crashed" literally and figuratively and this borrowed one needs getting used to....The formatting was entirely discombobulated and I couldn't add pictures to blogs or change the color or size of fonts. ( or spellcheck, so forgive me if I've erred and strayed like lost sheep. ) But so everyone will know I'm still alive I vowed to send out a blog in its simplest "text only" form. Just now I've worked out some of the glitches, I've embellished with samples from the net this and  have reposted.

      December and the Christmas season have blown through on gale force winds here on the coast, all and all a tumultuous blustery blurr. but in its wake, a new adventure!

      Until Isaac's significant other, Mary, showed me some samples she had been working on, I had never heard of wool felting. In retrospect I have seen products in local crafter's markets but never questioned the manner of their creation...
    

My own koolaid dyed batch of rovings

The young folks blessed me with a beginners needle felting kit with a pound of raw wool,  two very sharp felting needles and a sponge to use to protect myself from inevitable stabbings. When I took time to familiarize myself my imagination exploded like the fireworks that lit up our the sky over our harbour on New Year's Eve..

      The possibilities! There are sculptural possibilities, clothing possibilities, decor possibilities "painting" possibilities. It boggles the mind. When I googled the craft on-line I nearly short circuited from data overload. Various techniques include: wet felting, needle felting and nuno felting.The raw materials and tools are simple with a huge opportunity for recycling. Raw and carded animal fibers like sheep, llama, alpaca,..( even your dog and cat...with some limitations. ) Pieces of manufactured  skeined wools and woolen fabrics. Better still a run through your closet or the nearest "Frenchies" for old sweaters, blankets, old melton coats and hats, socks, mitts, scarves...you get the picture.

      
      I'm in the learning stages of course...but so far I've embellished an old sweater,..sculpted a perfectly amazing ball, made a tiny man whom I need to "dress" and resurfaced a section of an old army blanket which I've formed into a clutch purse...

      My synapses are firing, my adrenalin is bursting at the seams and creative juices could fill an industrial dye vat... ( Oh, wow! Dying the raw wool that came in my kit, that was a whole other adventure. I've discovered, so far, the miraculous properties of Kool aid, onion skins, turmeric and beets. Only the beginning I'm sure!! )

     

So, for now, remember me as I endeavour to fix this spastic heap of technology and bend it to my will so I can carry on creating and sharing my own photos of my work in this new and promising year!