Felting Forum Blog
Posted by Leah on Sep 16, 2008
If you are interested in felt, check out the felting forum blog - they post entries from monthly felting challenges, so it’s a great place to see all kinds of different things people are doing with felting techniques.
Felt Bead Earring Tutorial
Posted by Leah on Mar 20, 2008
I wrote a guest tutorial for Jewelry and Beading on using felt beads to make an easy, cute pair of earrings. You can make the felt beads yourself if you know how to felt wool, or buy them if you want more of an instant gratification project. I sell the ones I make in my etsy store. Here’s a link to the felt bead earring tutorial.
Felt Beads
Posted by Leah on Jan 30, 2008
I’ve been making a bunch of felt “beads”. I put beads in quotes because they don’t actually have a hole in them, so really they are felt balls - but they can be used just as beads. All you have to do is poke a needle through them to string into necklaces, bracelets, etc. They can be strung on something thicker, like wire, by poking a needle through & immediately following that with the wire. I’ve made earrings and pendants this way, and they are really fun.
These are fun to make. Working with loose wool fiber is really different from working with metal, so I think of them as something completely different from most of the jewelry I make and sell, but they give me a chance to just play with color and experiment with new techniques. I’m gradually incorporating some felt into finished jewelry, but mostly I just like making the beads.
I love this picture of some of my newest felt beads:
If you are interested in learning how to make jewelry using felt beads, I have a tutorial coming out in a month or two and I will be sure to post a link to it from here. In the meantime, if you’d like to own some of my felt beads to play around with, check out my etsy store.
Felt
Posted by Leah on Nov 20, 2006
I’ve started felting - the picture above is of a pile of wool felted beads I made (a few of them are now pendants and earrings, and I have plans for some necklaces and other things too).
I was reading a blog I like, In A Minute Ago, and came across a link to a felt dictionary. I can’t say I knew most of the terms!
Anyway - the process I’m using to make felt beads, scarves, and other things is called needle felting. It’s a time consuming but fun process where you repeatedly stab the wool fibers with a special needle called a felting needle. This pushes the fibers into each other, and they get so tangled that eventually a nice, strong fabric results. It’s a very sculptural process which is probably why I’m drawn to it - anyone who has seen my jewelry knows I like three dimensional, sculptural pieces. It’s also a really fun medium for playing with color. I have wool roving (the unspun wool fibers used for felting) in a bunch of bright colors, which is a nice contrast to the more monochromatic metalwork I do.
I think I’m going to display a whole bunch of felt earrings on a small fake Christmas tree at my Open Studio next weekend. Stop by to see everything I’ve been up to, and have a glass of wine or a snack and chat! I’ll be there from 11:00-5:00 on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 25-26, hanging out. It’s 2703 7th Street, Studio #355 in Berkeley (the Activ Space building, on 7th between Dwight and Ashby).
