Wednesday, April 19, 2006

It's about Passion and Creativity!

Now, now, children, get your little minds out of the gutter! This is not about sex, although with my background as a midwife, I probably could give some tips to both men and women! (and have! but I will leave that for another post)
No this post, my little Bloggity Ones, is about needle felting! This topic was briefly touched on in my post about Owlhaven's challenge. But now I will go into detail about it. I just recently picked up this new obsession, (Thanks Auntie Karen!) and the felting bug bit me bad! I love doing it. Felting, either the wet kind or the dry kind,(needle) is a way to make wool fibers basically stick together and become more dense. Rather than trying to write about it, why don't I show you? (You know I did this little project just for you, my bloggy dears!)
First, the tools of the trade:
Image hosting by Photobucket This is a felting block, a rather dense foam, and felting needles. Felting needles have very small barbs along the sides to help tangle the wool fibers together. They are very, very sharp! Just ask my little fingers! Be careful! The foam is your artists canvas.

Your artist's palette of colors comes next:
Image hosting by Photobucket Lovely, lovely shades of wool roving. Roving is carded wool, that has been dyed, or left in natural sheepy shades. Aren't they lovely?? I want more! Can't have enough colors, it is amazing. Just go to Ebay and type in needle felting, and you will see!
Image hosting by Photobucket This is a piece of roving.
After you have decided what colors you are going to use, you pull off enough roving to begin the process.
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I want to make a ball, so I take this piece that I pulled off and I roll it into a general ball shape. Then come the fun part, THE POKING!
Take that needle and poke away.
Image hosting by Photobucket It makes this rather crunchy sound and feel that is soooo satisfying. Don't know why, just is. Before you know it, taa daa! A wool ball!
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After you have felted all the pieces you are going to use:
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You use your needle to felt all the pieces together. When you are all done, look what you have!
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Now some of you are thinking, why would I want a sheep. Well you don't have to do a sheep, you can make anything your heart desires.
My finished pieces:
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You can make and decorate just about anything with it. It is a wonderful feeling to make something that is out of your very own creativity and heart. I really, really like it. Here is a lady blogger who is a very gifted fiber artist:
Artsy Granny
And that my blogging darlin's is part of Jo's passion and creativity.

5 Kids Who Want To Play:

Jenny said...

I always wanted to try felting, my Grandmother's family were hatters in Milwaukee in the late 1800s, and even though they weren't very well off they always sported very large, nice hats. That always intrigued me as a kid and so...

You make it look easy.

Susanna said...

That's cool. I've never heard of felting, but I like knitting. Love the little sheepy! I want one!

ipodmomma said...

beautiful!!! that is really something else...

as for carrying a tune... I think my ear problem has something to do with my sore neck. I'm just about ready to call my osteopath, for some manipulation...

and the 584 ml? all UK products now have to use metric measurements, but many also include imperial as well. the big double cream container is about 512 ml or so, so either the recipe was made for some other combination of containers, or they have reduced the size of the big double cream, and not changed the recipe measurements...

I think the latter... :)))

Lisa said...

Wow. That's pretty creative. Wish I had the time to do fun stuff like that.

achromic said...

WOW prior to you I have NEVER heard of it...... but I am thinking CAT toys!!!!!!! yes that is right..... hummmm ANOTHER business idea... man alive well hehehehe first I would have to see if I could even master this felting thing. LOL I could even try this out while I am working on my OTHER idea. WOOT! you are a gem.