Friday 27 February 2009

Introducing my new Felt Blog



Hello fellow Felting Team members........I am a Nuno Felter who is finally discovering the fun and connections that come with blogging.  So much so, that I have started a blog of my own, and I invite you all to stop by, comment or follow, and further add to the connection of people who are totally addicted to FELT!!  

I'm delighted with the way My Etsy Shop has connected me to people all over the world and I know my blog will enhance that experience.  You can find me at www.arlenesfelt.blogspot.com

As for the Felting Team blog, I think it is really looking very good.  The latest entries are wonderfully informative and interesting.   Especially for those of us who just can't get enough information and glimpses of the beautiful and diverse felt items being created today.

I am including in this post pictures of a large wall hanging I just finished. Well, large for me that is.  It measures 32" x 33", and here you can see it on the table ready for felting, and finished and hanging on the wall.

I look forward to connecting with many of you in the future.
Keep Felting, 
Arlene

Thursday 26 February 2009

feltwilde's introduction

thanks for your kind invitation and hello to all you felting enthusiasts, wherever you be.......
greetings from australia!!

please bare with me as i navigate myself around this site. it's like learning a new language but i'm determined to master it, as etsy, the forums, the teams etc look like they have alot to offer, and it's great to be able to have the opportunity to chat to people with the same passion as me.


i've been dabbling in textiles of one kind or another since i was small. you name it and i probably gave it a go. as it turns out, i'm not such a strange beast, once i started reading the profiles on etsy. talk about meeting your own kind.
i attended my 1st feltmaking workshop in 1996 and was completely blown away. everything i loved in textiles, all rolled into one. i've never had a moment of boredom since.

my favourite technique at the moment would have to be fooling around with nuno, and getting 3D effects out of felt using resists, and spikes. the piece below was made by one of my workshop partcicipants last week. it gives you an idea of the sorts of ideas we were fooling around with.



natural materials are what i have an affinity with. wool, of course, silks, cottons, linens, hemp.
and i love runs of colours together ie: reds, oranges, pinks or blues, greens and purples.


my etsy shop has only been open a few weeks? so my immediate challenge is working out how to fit the running needs of the shop into my busy work schedule. i don't think i quite realised how much time the shop would require. not one to be put off easily, i just need some time to work out a new schedule. i run a weekly stall at paddington markets in sydney, along with regular feltmaking classes and i'm single mum to 3 ratbags, who have got use to pulling stray fibres out of their school lunches.
oh, and i also need to improve my photographing skills.

as i'm fairly new to etsy, i haven't had a huge look around but i too love Kjoo?!
you can have a squiz at my other favourites when next in my shop.

a gift to myself would have to be the blossom necklace, inspired by one of those japanese crafting books, as i've already gifted myself 2. a blue/green combo and a black/red combo and quite a few of my good buddies have also been recipients. it's a new design, easy to wear, adjustable, fun to make and my current favourite.



my etsy shop of the future will be stocked properly for starters. at the moment i have a lot of odds and ends. i intend to pick out a range of styles, in a range of prices, and have a choice of 3 or 4 colours in each design. something a little more cohesive than at present, but you've got to start somewhere.
as to my overall felting plans, a one stop feltmaking shop. somewhere for the textile enthusiast to buy textile art/craft, attend a workshop, buy feltmaking supplies, get some advice or information, and have a decent cup of tea. heaven! (well...one can dream).


i'll leave you now with a question for you experienced etsyians. what's your experience regarding
offering a few regular styles in various colours, so that buyers can familiarise themselves with certain styles versus listing a hotch potch of styles based on whatever you feel like making on the day, with no real consistency of style?
i'd be interested in hearing what you've experienced.

thank you, Gill.
http://www.handmadefelt.com.au
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6445723

Wednesday 25 February 2009

New Treasury



Hello everyone! I made a new treasury on Etsy featuring textile work from
Please follow the link in the title if you want to see the treasury and leave a comment.



Tuesday 24 February 2009

Sassa Lynne - an introduction

Here's a little introduction, and an explanation as to why I belong in the Felting Team!

My name is Myfanwy and my shop is Sassa Lynne at Etsy. I am based in the UK and stock a variety of hand-dyed items, from thread to yarns, fibres and textile art packs. Occasionally I have listed other items too, and currently there is one small piece of textile art , but not much indication of felting! So why am I here?

I was first introduced to wet felting when I studied for my City and Guilds certificate in Embroidery. This was in 1990, and seems a lifetime away now. I was introduced to dyeing at the same time and loved them both. However, my passion at the time was stitching, so that's how my dyed threads were put to use. At about the same time I began retailing other embroidery supplies under the name of Winifred Cottage, and that is still in business, with a lousy website that belies the amount of stock that we carry! I have carried on stitching, and have been teaching various techniques for some time now.

In about 2003 I saw an advert that eventually changed my direction. It was a magazine from the US, and mentioned a machine called The Embellisher. The moment I read the advert I knew I needed one! I 'needed' it to make new surfaces for my stitching. There were none in the UK, however, and I had to wait a while before I could get one. In fact, I bought the first one in the country! It is used with a variety of fibres and fabrics, and, of course, stitching can indeed be added to the surfaces that are created. Almost completely by chance I invented a fabric using fibres and very fine chiffon scarves. These are two fibres that wouldn't normally felt together and as the resulting light fabric is a suitable for decorative or practical use. Because it is 'new' it is called Nuvo Felt. Instructions are in my book 'The Embellisher: Let's Get Started'

I haven't included any pictures of my work, I will do this in a future post.

- What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your shop?

I woud say that the biggest challenge is keeping it stocked! My aim is to get to 100 items, but somehow the photographs etc take so long I just haven't yet got there!  It's a question of juggling real life and Etsy!

- What other shops out there do you love (not necesserely textile)?
One of my favourite shops is MakeYourPresentsFelt. I love the way she presents her items too.

- What item in your shop would you most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for you?
This colourway is one that I haven't used before. It is a good idea to try something different. This combination really was the result of a 'happy accident' and I love it!


- What are your future plans concerning felting and your shop?
..
It is unlikely that I will introduce any felted items to the shop, but I will be adding more fibres.

One of my other blogs features Etsy artists.  This post here features a few members of the Etsy Felting Team.

Let me introduce myself

Hello! My name is Jane. I'm feltmaker from Russia.
I began to felt 2 years ago and I really fall in love with felting). Now I like to experiment with different kinds of wool and fabrics using nuno-felting technique. And I want to felt more from undyed natural wool. Here are some of my works -



My Etsy shop
My Flickr

Tonight I must remember to measure the bag that I am showing at the Hampton Gallery in late spring. This is a juried show for prizes but they are allowing 40 some people in and I have gotten into it. Mostly I want to keep my name seen in the Ga. mountains area, so many tourists. This will be the third North Ga gallery that I carries some of my items so it is good exposure but would be nice if the bag sold too.
I also have a photo of myself in a new scarf I just made. Love the colors. I set up the photo shoot with my hubby taking pictures. As you will notice, I totally messed up the arrangement. I was looking directly into the setting sun, scrunched up eyes and it was very cold, red nose. I have several better views of the scarf that I hope to put up on etsy sometime today.

Monday 23 February 2009

NEW TREASURIES....PLEASE VISIT



Hello everyone,

I've made a new treasury for the team (this time as "feltingteam" user)





it's here
...and I'll continue to do it on a regular base ;)

and JaneBo has also created a gorgeous treasure...see here
May I kindly ask you to follow the link and give your 12 clicks...?

Have a nice day,
Olga

Sunday 22 February 2009

A Saturday Afternoon

I slept in this morning, just can't seem to pull myself out of bed these days. I went up to the studio and turned on all the little heaters but never could get the place to warm up. Set up a pot of dye which always helps and I dyed some wool and silk a lovely shade of indigo. I thought that I was dyeing some silk flags but they turned out to be cotton so the acid dye bath didn't do much to them. Will give it a try again next week with the right dye. It is supposed to snow tonight so I won't even try to go to the trailer tomorrow. I did make a cool scarf, a lattice scarf. I expected it to shrink alot more width wise that it did, it did string about 1/2 foot length wise. Colors are nice, will post it here when it is dry and I can get photos. It is definitely an eclectic piece.

I looked into the Indie show for Atlanta this summer. They want $275 a booth which you can share with one person. I am thinking this is a way too high a price for me. I did send in all the info for the vineyard show and really hope I get into that one. It is a 2 days show and I have decided for once not to share the booth with anyone, to make it or break it on my own. Now I just need to get judged into the show. Keep fingers crossed for me.

Friday 20 February 2009

Cleaning up studios


For the past 2 weeks I have been shifting around my studios. Yes I know I am very lucky to have two. When I married Phil we knew I would need a studio so we added one to his house just before I moved in. Well I had no idea that I owned that much stuff, sigh and then I decided I was in love with felting. So when the acre of land with a very old trailer on it came up for sale, we bought it and I am moving all my felting stuff up there. I still keep finding stuff in the old studio that needs to be moved. As I have been uncovering things, I have realized that I own POUNDS of white roving. Some if mystery wool, some merino, some BFL and some maybe romney. Anyway, I now have my summer cut out for me. I will be over the dye pots as much as time will allow. I am now off to look for a carder. Always wanted one, now have a good excuse!

Thursday 19 February 2009

Margaret from Crystal Creek Fibers

Hello
Thanks for inviting me and I must say that ETSY ROCKS

Everyone I have had contact with have been great!
I had a great visit with Allison of Who The Cap fits.. also fiberalley at Etsy..she is an accomplished felter,she was wearing one of her fabulous hats....We had a great convo and Im glad she stopped by! :]
I have a very large carder and I also dye in bulk.Glad to share ideas with folks and learn also!
I do sell fibers in bulk purchase too!
I have carded a large variety of fibers and am glad to offer assistance and answer questions..maybe I can save someone from a wreck or two? Hahaha......
Margaret/Crystal Creek Fibers

Wednesday 18 February 2009

TREASURIES

I 'll collect in this post the treasuries made by our team members.

1) Chrissie
2) by Olga
3) by Olga

4) by Brenda
5) by Elena

...would be nice if you guys could visit it and comment...and click the items...

Who is the next one to do a treasury for the team...?


Olga

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Sheri from Exotic Gardening Farms: My Introduction

Tell us please how you originally got into felting.
I was looking for something to do with my fiber and liked the look of felted items.

- Your favorite technique
So far the only technique I have mastered is needle felting. Once I get wet felting figured out I think I will love it.

- Your favorite materials
Wool.

- Favorite colours, colour mixes
Yellow and pink.

- What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your shop?
I have yet to make my first sale, so I would say making sales is my biggest challenge.

- What other shops out there do you love (not necesserely textile)?
Any that have to do with using natural fibers, plants, seeds, herbs - anything natural and organic.

- What item in your shop would you most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for you?
My handwoven rug spring pansies and butterflies.

- What are your future plans concerning felting and your shop?..
I intend to add more felted items as I get them made.

Sheri

Monday 16 February 2009

kthurm: introducing myself


Tell us please how you originally got into felting

I don’t even remember. I took a class back in college and then I played with it off and on for years. A little over a year ago my dog died and I found myself making felt as a way to deal with missing him. I can’t even really explain it. It just became what I had to do. And now it is all I want to do. I think about it all the time.

Your favorite technique


My favorite right now is wet felting but I have done a little nuno felting and I am very intrigued by it and want to do more.

Your favorite materials

Anything that has to with fiber – yarn, wool, sheep.

Favorite colours, colour mixes

Well, my favorite color is green but I love all colors and I love putting odd colors together and finding that they work!


What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your shop?

Being seen – marketing.


What other shops out there do you love (not necessarily textile)?

I love Sarah Clemens shop, secretlentil, kjoo, naomilayne, RozArt. I could go on forever.

What item in your shop would you most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for you?

One of my pillows.

What are your future plans concerning felting and your shop?

To make better and better things. My head is bursting with ideas!


Sunday 15 February 2009

red suede kitten - introducing myself

Lots of Felt Clouds waiting to be made into brooches and pendants

Tell us please how you originally got into felting

I was inspired by a project for a felt rock in Last Minute Fabric Gifts - my boyfriend and I made these and had so much fun, and then I was hooked. The Craftster felt forums also helped me learn some other techniques early on.

Your favorite technique

I would have to say sushi felt made from wet felting. I use sushi felt pieces (sliced from a roll) to make my Felt Cloud brooches and Pendants (see top two photos).

Your favorite materials

Wool tops of course! As colourful as possible. I also like felt sheet (with some wool content - I don't like acrylic felt generally). At the moment I'm also working with plastic buckles, buttons, and fabric, in my newest line, the Buckle Bug Brooches.

Buckle Bug Brooches

Favorite colours, colour mixes

You really need to see my store! It's a cornucopia of colour. I love combining colour and am very intuitive about it. People often comment on my sense of colour and my colour combinations. But here are some favourites (as used in my Felt Clouds): sherbet tones (a combination of oranges, pinks, and white), any combination of blues. Other single favourite colours are grey, green and red. I'm falling in love with orange lately too... and tangerine/peachy colours coupled with aqua or bright blues.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your shop?

At this point, getting my first sale! I've only been on Etsy about 6 weeks. Publicity is hard work and to make oneself known to the online community as a virtual newbie, can be very time consuming. I'm enjoying it though - it's fun to be on the web a lot!

What other shops out there do you love (not necessarily textile)?
Here are only a few...

Crazy crocheted critters:

AngDavidson.etsy.com

Fantastic felt and crochet jewellery: kjoo.etsy.com

Colourful glass beads with lots of concentric circles: zippybeads.etsy.com

Unique and beautifully kitsch jewellery made from vintage bits and bobs and charms: rebecca3030.etsy.com

A truly wonderful shop with many fabulous felt and paper collage creations: KupKup.etsy.com

Brilliant and slightly spooky paper cut-out dolls: woolandwater.etsy.com

What item in your shop would you most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for you?

At the moment the Ochre Buckle Bug Brooch (see below). I'm actually thinking of removing it from the store so I can have it!


















What are your future plans concerning felting and your shop?..

To learn some new felting techniques - I know a little bit of nuno, but would love to master shibori felting of knitted fabric. I would like to develop more textile jewellery ideas and launch them in my shop and sell more to my local stockists and expand the number of shops I sell to in Melbourne and Australia.

Friday 13 February 2009

Hello!

Hello everyone! It's so nice to meet you :)
+ + + 

I discovered felting quite by accident through Etsy less than a year ago; I fell in love with ingermaaike's kelp felted scarf and decided to try felting for myself. I bought some wool roving, read as much as I could in books and online, and began to felt through trial and error. I've been addicted ever since! There is so much to learn; I am currently experimenting with shibori techniques as well as with integrating more yarns and fibers into my work. 

My favorite materials include wool, silk, and tencel. I love adding vintage finds like keys, buttons, and lace that I find at the local flea market. I tend toward neutral colors, like browns, grays, and white and away from very saturated color combinations. To add contrast, I usually combine white with a bright color or I choose the classic contrast of black + white

My biggest challenge when it comes to my Etsy shop is publicity. Because I do not produce a lot of work, it is difficult to continuously update and therefore stay current in the felted accessories category on Etsy. I began to realize early on that if I add an item every two weeks, it gets lost among the many, many felted listings. I try to draw attention to my work by taking good photos, but this adds to the amount of time it takes to post each new piece. My current strategy is to make a batch of pieces ahead of time, photograph them, and post them one by one within the month while I am working on new projects behind the scenes. This has been working out so far, but I am always looking for new ways to draw attention to my shop. Getting on the FP is of course the biggest challenge and provides the greatest publicity.

In future projects, I want to experiment! I want to treat felting as illustration with cloth, to make collages of different textiles and textures, and to try my hand at creating very intricate, abstract wearable pieces that are way over the top in comparison to the fairly dressy-but-everyday work I am featuring now. 

 + + + + +  

There are so many talented Etsy sellers! I can't pick just one favorite to share with you, so I have made categories and selected a few :)

I love...
Handmade soaps :: Adoration Soap & Soapy Chica
Illustrations :: Kelly Smith, Corid, & Kelly Thompson
Clothing :: VintageOpulence, CLP & joodito
Textiles [too many to name!] tijusai, greavesdesign, & kjoo

Wednesday 11 February 2009

Hi, I am new here










I originally got started in felting when a class that I signed up for in puppet making got canceled so I switched over to a felting class. Quite an exciting start isn't it? My favorite technique is wet felting and dying wool. I love anything fiber, fabric or wool related. It is hard to pick a favorite color, I usually end up using blue, teal and purples. I really need to remember that those are not everyone's colors and start introducing more shades and colors into my work.



My biggest challenge in running my shop is attracting customers. I have quite a few hearts, get lots of lookers but few sales. I have had the site critiqued several times and other than being told to take better pictures, most people have liked it. At the moment I have very few felted pieces in the shop because those are what has sold so that tells me to keep going in that directions. It is also hard to find time to do all the networking and promoting that needs to be done to have a successful shop.



I love all the food shops, bad for me but it is interesting to see how they present their products and they always give me new ideas. I would love to have more funky spun wool. I am going to continue to felt and especially to experiment more and really push the limits of what I can do. I hope to attract more buyers in my shop by having my own style of felted artwork.

Monday 9 February 2009

Makeyourpresentsfelt


Hello, I'm Chrissie from makeyourpresentsfelt.




I first started to felt when I saw the work of some children with special educational needs at a school in UK where I was a volunteer mentor. I have always been a ‘crafter’ and really wanted to try felting for myself. One of the teachers showed me how to wet-felt over a pebble and then there was no stopping me!


These are some of my all-wool pebbles.

I’ll felt with just about anything, but it’s always nice to have some fine merino that felts really easily so that you can get quick results! Natural colours of the countryside always seem to be the ones that I return to, and grey. Though I do like to add more explosive and eye-catching shades for contrast.

I opened my Etsy shop over a year ago and I find the marketing and publicising aspect to be the biggest challenge. I am not really someone who finds it easy to draw attention to their work – I love doing it, and it’s such a lovely feeling when people admire it, but it’s always a surprise, too!

There are just so many wonderful talented people who sell through Etsy that it would be almost impossible to narrow it down, (I have about 68 pages of favourites!) but I particularly admire a lot of the European artists like lapomme, who tells magical stories to go with her items, hensteeth for the freedom of spirit in her mixed media collages using old letters and envelopes, and Sassalynne for the wonderful array of colours she dyes into her threads, yarns and textiles and for her boundless energy. Don’t get me started on the jewellery shops I adore!




Even if I never ever sell another felted thing, I will always be a felter – it’s such a versatile and magical process that you can experiment with in an infinite number of ways and is a constant delight. And I could always help FeltElf with her yurt!

Friday 6 February 2009

Introductions

- Tell us please how you originally got into felting.
I first started felting when I moved to Edinburgh in 2004, I saw a workshop advertised and remembered the wonderful felt coats that a college friend of mine had made for his final show. I just knew I'd love it!!
- Your favorite technique
My favourite technique is wet felting, although I am persevering with some needle felting at the moment and enjoying it.
favourite colours .... all of them in as many different colourways as possible, although I do have a particular fondness of all things green!
- What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your shop?
My biggest challenge is fighting the urge to procrastinate, so easy to check your shop and lose a whole day browsing Etsy, oops.
- What other shops out there do you love (not necesserely textile)?
Shops? So many... I love Elsita's shop and all her kooky creations and, by the way she has a great link to an extraordinary felter called mamaquilla .Also Alfalfalovesme, Dadaya, Ystefani, EnchantedGypsy and many more
- What item in your shop would you most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for you?
From my shop it would have to be Deep Turquoise, it's much lovier than the photos suggest.
- What are your future plans concerning felting and your shop?..
For the future I will be working on some felty creatures and would love to build a yurt and get into natural dyes for my felt, and, I'll be searching out non-mulesed Merino wool.

Thefeltelf



Tuesday 3 February 2009

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear all,
let's restart our blog...!

I propose you a short questionnaire...It's a lot of brilliant artists here, and I am really excited to get to know all of you!

- Tell us please how you originally got into felting.

- Your favorite technique
- Your favorite materials
- Favorite colours, colour mixes
- What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your shop?
- What other shops out there do you love (not necesserely textile)?
- What item in your shop would you most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for you?
- What are your future plans concerning felting and your shop?..