Craftzine.com blog: Felting Archives

Felting Archive: Felting

August 6, 2008

Felt Knobs

It's high time felting and electronics come together. I got some knobs from Radioshack and felted over them with wool roving and added some embroidered detailing. They can be used for guitars, amplifiers, or any other electronics with knobs. They feel much fuzzier than their traditional counterparts.

Posted by Becky Stern | Aug 6, 2008 04:00 PM
Fashion Tech, Felting, Fiber Art, Tech Accessories, Technology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

July 25, 2008

20's Style Cloche Hat Pattern

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I love this 1920's style cloche hat pattern from f.pea that you can knit and felt to wear this winter.

July 23, 2008

Hine's Hungry Kitty

Spotted in the CRAFT Flickr pool: Hine wows us again with this simple but extremely effective embroidery hoop turned sculpture, featuring a needle-felted kitty hungering after a friendly fish. (Or possibly asking the fish to dance--your call.)

Related:
• Camera-Shaped Camera Case
• Stop-Motion TMBG Video

July 22, 2008

Needlefelted Sheep Tutorial

I'm always amazed with how needlefelted creatures come to life. Here's a great step-by-step tutorial for making a sheep pincushion. (Thanks, Patti!)

Posted by Becky Stern | Jul 22, 2008 02:00 PM
101, Felting, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

July 13, 2008

Needlefelted Presidents

From the CRAFT Flickr Pool, user giddygirlie writes:

I created needle felt versions of the bearded presidents of the USA for a Wondermark.com contest to win the new book "Beards of our Forefathers".

This one is felted Martin Van Buren, and is my personal favorite out of the bunch.

Posted by Becky Stern | Jul 13, 2008 05:00 PM
Felting | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email Entry

July 7, 2008

Interview with Artist Amy Long

Amy Long
Artist's page at five15 gallery in Phoenix
Pictured above (left to right): Double wranger, Strap Dandy Wrangler, and Crop Style Wrangler
Bottom left: Terissue

Recently I had a chance to talk with Amy Long, a fibers artist local to me in Tempe, Arizona. She creates very intriguing work and I'm very excited to share with you all her words on her inspirations and processes!

Becky: Where did you learn to crochet? Who taught you how to felt?

Amy: I learned how to crochet in fall 2005 in a three-dimensional fibers class at ASU. The regular professor, Mark Newport, was on sabbatical that semester so a fiber artist from Tucson named Valerie Constantino filled in. Mark knits rather than crochets, so if he had been teaching the class, I may have never learned crochet! I learned how to knit when I was a child and always struggled with it -- but crocheting came to me very quickly. My first sample/practice piece turned into a chicken. I tried to teach myself how to felt and made a couple of sheets but I really "learned" it when I was shadowing Mark Newport in a beginning fibers class. I sat in, and participated in the beginning fiber class to gain teaching experience. After learning and falling in love with felt making, I went to a workshop taught by Jean Hicks. She makes handmade felt hats. Learning felt making from her really helped me fine tune my felt.

Becky: Where do you get your materials? Is it hard to find fibers locally?

Amy: I generally buy yarn from Fiber Factory in Mesa, AZ -- they offer a student discount so I stocked up before I graduated. They sell fleece for felt making there too, but I need so much that I order big 22+ pound balls of fleece from R. H. Lindsay. I just order the natural cream color fleece, then I felt it, and then I dye it. Fiber Factory sells already dyed roving but pre-dyed stuff can be spendy. I keep my eyes peeled at thrift stores but it is hard to find wool yarn -- it is usually acrylic which does not felt. I also have been fortunate in that people give me their old fleece and yarns.

Becky: You live near Phoenix, Arizona. Is it hard to keep making work when it's over 100 degrees outside?

Amy: I can always crochet. I may work a little slower if I am exhausted from the heat. The creepy thing is that I don't leave the house much -- I just sit inside and crochet. Now, I suppose felt-making is more of a winter-time sport. It is quite physical and it not fun at all when one is really warm.

Becky: Once you create a shape you like, how to you keep track of it for making more?

Amy: I do not write patterns or follow them. I don't even know how. I often make sketches and decide on what size I want the piece before hand. Then I just try to make it match up to what is in my head. If things don't go the way I want, I just pull out stitches and re-attempt them. If I make something and I want more of it I just try to make it roughly the same. I am interested in things being roughly the same but not identical -- maybe it has something to do with the idea that everything is part of a system but each thing has something different and special to offer. Now, when I am hand-felting, like when I was making felt picture frames, I kept track of my measurements so when the felt shrank it was the correct size but even that was not terribly accurate. I am a very intuitive worker. I dive in and if need be, fix it later.

Read the full interview

Read full story

Posted by Becky Stern | Jul 7, 2008 02:00 PM
Arts, Crochet, Felting, Fiber Art, Interviews | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

July 1, 2008

ROUNDUP: 4th of July Craft Projects

Craftychica Crown
The Crafty Chica has her 4th of July roundup of craft projects including how to make this Statue of Liberty Tiara.

Ribbongarland
Alpha+Mom has a roundup of 4th of July party decor projects.

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Make this fruited-cheesecake flag from Martha Stewart.

4Thbothfinal
Whit's Knits at The Purl Bee has the patterns to make these stars + stripes felted hot pads.

June 26, 2008

Yeti Sighting

Caution! There's been a mythological creature sighting in the CRAFT Flickr pool: this needle-felted Yeti by LincolnWorld. Needle-felting is a perfect choice for making a yeti--the fuzziness of the fibers reminds me of the way "photos" of yetis always have that fuzzy look to them. Well done!

June 16, 2008

Needle-Felted Anne of Green Gables

Spotted in the CRAFT Flickr pool: Emililies shares this sweet needle-felted doll made to look like literary heroine Anne of Green Gables.

June 12, 2008

Felted Cat Fez Pattern

Spindles and Spices has a free pattern up for this adorable kitty fez. Via the CRAFT Flickr Pool.

Posted by Becky Stern | Jun 12, 2008 02:00 PM
Felting, Knitting, Patterns, Pets | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

June 2, 2008

Wet-Felted Snake Scarf

Spotted in the CRAFT Flickr pool: this clever little snake scarf, wet-felted and beaded by Marysusan. His name is Rumpole the Rattlesnake and I think he's just delightful.

Lola Garcia of Lusitania

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Indie Fixx guest blogger Fina Tejada talks with Madrid based felt accessories designer Lola Garcia of Lusitania and how she started her crafty business.

May 23, 2008

Felted Crochet Bag Pattern

Rosewood-Bag-1
Make this felted crochet bag from The Purse Workshop's free pattern. And guess what? The bag is reversible too!

May 20, 2008

Felted Purse Organizer

Purse Organizer2
Crochet and felt this purse organizer with the free pattern by Jo of Little Projects.

May 15, 2008

Mixed Media Art by Tanis Alexis

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Moxie pointed me to the beautiful work of Vancouver based artist, Tanis Alexis and I've become a fan of her work ever since. This piece "Passing Me By" mixes her love of panting, drawing, textiles, and fiber with beautiful embellishments of felted goodness. Take a visit also to her Etsy shop.

May 13, 2008

Amy Long's show at Five15 in Phoenix

Amy Long's show "inter - inter" is up at Five15 gallery in Phoenix until the end of the month. Her crochet and felted works are just captivating, and if you're in the area I highly recommend checking it out.

inter - inter by Amy Long

Five15 Arts

515 East Roosevelt

Phoenix, AZ

Open every Friday 5-9pm and Saturday 1-5pm

Artist's reception Friday May 16 5-9pm

Related:

Posted by Becky Stern | May 13, 2008 04:00 PM
Arts, Crochet, Events, Felting, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

April 28, 2008

Felt Weapons

Phil @ MAKE points us to these felt weapons that look surprisingly realistic!

Posted by Becky Stern | Apr 28, 2008 02:00 PM
Amigurumi and Toys, Arts, Felting | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

April 21, 2008

HOW TO - Make a Felted Flower Brooch

The Knitted Blog shows us how to use a cookie cutter to make a perfectly-formed needle felted flower brooch.

Related:
• Felted Brooch Tutorial
• Needle Felting Tutorial

April 10, 2008

Stephanie Metz's Exquisite Felt Art

Stephanie Metz makes these incredible felted artworks of skulls, humans, and other animals. Via BoingBoing.

Posted by Becky Stern | Apr 10, 2008 04:00 PM
Arts, Felting, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email Entry

April 9, 2008

Choosing the Right Yarn for Felting

Felting3
Knitting Daily has a great article on how to choose the right yarn for your felting projects.

From the article:

Sheep and other animal fibers are scaly--picture a fish's scales covering each fiber. When you dunk wool into hot water and swish it around, these scales open up, sort of like lots of little umbrellas opening up all along the length of the fiber. When they open up, the scales catch onto nearby scales and grab on. The more fibers you have, and the more you rub the fibers around, the more scales there are to catch onto each other. The fibers get all tangled up, and more scales grab tight, until you have felt.

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