Felt workshop

Sarah Waters' sample. Making bobbles

Sarah Waters samples. Nuno felting

Sarah Waters' sample. Using a resist.

Some flower shapes I made.

On Wednesday I learned more about felt making techniques than I thought would be possible in just one day. 

 Felt expert Sarah Waters first showed us how to create bobbles like the ones above. I had been really looking forward to doing this to add texture to the flat felt that I usually make but, to be honest, I found this technique quite difficult. A lot of felt making takes time and requires patience. 

Sarah had made a beautiful tunic from nuno felting which is incorporating pieces of silk into the wool to create a draping fabric which can be used for clothes. (Small samples of nuno pictured above.) This takes time and makes this sort of item expensive. Much as I've always wanted to sell nuno felt clothes in my shop the price would be prohibitive unfortunately.

Sarah pointed out that felting painted or dyed silk into wool fibres takes time and I'm not sure I'm patient enough. Sarah also showed us some beautiful felt hats she has made.

I love the look of the black and white piece above. When you lay a resist (in this case masking tape) over areas of felt and then felt more fibres on top you can create patterns. This is fascinating and I will definitely explore this technique more in my own time. 

Sarah also showed us how to make little bowls and how to make flowers. Making flowers I found the easiest and quickest of the techniques which is why I've been making them ever since!!

If you have a chance to go on one of Sarah's felting workshops I urge you to go. Highly recommended. Her website is sarahwaterstextiles.com and Instagram page is @swtextiles