Craftzine.com blog: Felting Archives

Archive: Felting

May 8, 2012

Project: Recycled Cashmere Flower

Ah, cashmere, why are you so soft? The goat fiber is one of the most silky, fluffy, and delicious fibers I've ever worked with. I vigilantly scour thrift stores for cashmere sweaters, and then chop them up! I make wrist warmers, scarves and capelets with the body of the sweaters, but because I consider the fiber to be so precious, I also hoard the scraps. Which are perfect for projects like this dramatic flower.

The smallest scraps of sweater can be cut into little petals, then needle felted into a luscious accessory. The key to this project is the volume of petals- the more petals, the better. And if you need a primer on needle felting, I posted a quick video in one of my first blog posts for Craftzine.

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April 5, 2012

How-To: Felted Wool Chick And Egg

If you've been wanting to try wet felting, here's a simple starter project from Fiona at Living Crafts that's perfect for spring. I love the idea of having the little chick tucked in to his egg, and being able to pop out. Adorable!

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February 23, 2012

How-To: Felted Mushrooms And Flowers From Felted Stones

I loved the felted stones tutorial from Lil Fish Studios that Haley posted earlier this week, and was glad to see that Lisa followed up with a way to repurpose the project.

I thought I'd also share some ideas for using those stones that don't turn out exactly as you like. Maybe the color isn't what you like or it it didn't turn out quite as smooth as you'd hoped, there's still lots of opportunity in that wool.

She shows how you can turn the mishap stones into cute mushrooms and flowers, and gives ideas for other ways you could upcycle them into new projects.

February 21, 2012

How-To: Make Felted Rocks and Stones

Felted stones always make me think of gorgeous moss-covered forest scenes. No matter where you put them, they look calming and natural, and bring so much softness and depth to home decor. Learn how to make your own with this felted stones tutorial from Lisa at lil fish studios!

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How-To: Make Felted Soap @Craftzine.com blog

February 14, 2012

Project: Nuno Felted Lace Cuff Bracelet

When you make felt, you are making the oldest fiber art known in the world. The essence of wet felt making remains unchanged throughout the centuries- agitate fibers with water, heat and pressure. While the technique has hardly changed, common modern materials make the job easy. The washboard can be replaced with bubble wrap, for instance. Despite the ancient methods, felt making is more popular than ever with crafters, because it offers so many creative possibilities. Nuno felting is one of the most interesting and satisfying.

Nuno felt is felt that has been created by enmeshing wool fibers into an existing fabric. Silk and loosely woven linen are the most popular, but my favorite base for nuno felting is lace. The fibers bind together into felt through the open patterns in the lace. The fabric is delicate, warm, strong and beautiful. And because it's felt, it's easy to cut and sew. The crafting possibilities are literally endless. Do I have you convinced? I'll walk you through the steps for making nuno felted lace from scratch!

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January 21, 2012

How-To: Needle Felted Mushroom Terrarium

Lisa from Lil Fish Studios shared this gorgeous needle felted mushroom terrarium project on Lark Crafts. I'm loving the textures and details on the ground—especially the multicolored leaves!

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January 17, 2012

Project: Needle Felt A Voodoo Doll Pincushion

By Emily Smith

If you haven't tried needle felting yet, you'll be amazed by how simple it is. All you need is a felting needle (with barbs at the end), a foam pad, and some raw wool. The way it works is that the barbs on the needle get caught on the fibers and pull them together in a mass, sort of like dreadlocks. I recommend starting with simple shapes first, but once you get the hang of it, this tutorial is pretty straightforward. The most important part is finding the proper plastic backing so that when you store your needles in the pincushion, they don't go all the way through the doll.

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January 13, 2012

Perfect Balls

CRAFT blogger Haley just posted a great tutorial for creating perfect felted wool balls on The Zen of Making. What would YOU make with these? Garlands, snow men, googly eyes?

December 13, 2011

How-To: Needle Felted Mitten Ornaments

I am a very recent convert to the joys of needle felting, but the whole process seems custom-made for holiday crafting! I love this tutorial for tiny needle felted mittens from Meg at Mega Crafty because it's so easy to customize colors and styles to fit personal preferences and home decor. Her method uses cookie cutters as a template, so, if mittens aren't your thing, you can use the same process with any shape that suits your fancy.

[Via Gingerbread Snowflakes]

December 6, 2011

How-To: Classic Felt Flowers

These classic felt flowers from Caitlin at The Coletterie are the perfect extra something to dress up your wardrobe during gray winter days. Use them to create brooches, hair clips, or accessories!

November 28, 2011

How-To: Felted Wool Wrist Warmers

These felted wool wrist warmers from Molly at Purl Bee look so cozy and warm that I almost welcome the coming colder weather. They're also surprisingly quick and simple to sew—they take only about 20 minutes to put together without the embroidery—so they'd make great handmade holiday gifts!

November 8, 2011

Make: Live's Ultimate Kit Episode (preview video)

Join us Wednesday evening for the next episode of Make: Live, our streaming show and tell! This episode is our Ultimate Kit Episode, in honor of the new Special Issue of MAKE, The Ultimate Kit Guide.

Make: Live 20 – Ultimate Kit Episode
Wednesday November 9th, 9pm ET/6pm PT
Watch at makezine.com/live or on UStream
Please join us in the UStream chat or mark tweets with #makelive to interact live with the show.

Want to show us your project or talk about your favorite kit? Upload a video or photos and send a link to live@makezine.com. Please also consider taking our Make: Live survey.

On this episode:

Guest host Ariel Churi

While Becky's out of town, it's exciting to have Sparkle Labs' Ariel Churi guest hosting the show with Matt. Sparkle Labs makes electronics kits with superb design and documentation, and will show off their latest in studio.

Make Labs Interns

Make Labs interns will show us some of the kits they tested out for The Ultimate Kit Guide, including a backyard trebuchet and a kit for interfacing your Android phone with Arduino.

Craft Kits

Becky calls in from MAKE HQ in Sebastopol, CA with Brookelynn Morris to talk about cool craft kits, from needle felting to celebrity paint-by-number.

Michael Schrage - Economist at MIT

MIT Research Fellow Michael Schrage will be in studio to talk about "Kitonomics 101" and how we, as kit builders and hackers, can drive innovation in technology.

Subscribe to the Make: Live Podcast in iTunes, download the preview video m4v, or watch clips from the show on YouTube.

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