Hi everyone! I am new to blogs and etsy.

I guess I'll introduce myself, my name is Mary, I was born in Toronto, and have lived in Athens, Greece since I was 14. All my life I have been making things, sewing, knitting, and lots of different crafts.

I recently discovered and fell in love with felting, both wet and needle. I am self taught and love to explore all the possibilities there are with wool. I love the luxury of natural products, wool, silk, bamboo, linen, cotton, and leather. My esty shop is vanti designs ( www.vantidesigns.etsy.com) . Some of my favourite creations are :








I hope to make things people will love. Designing is something I do all day, whether on paper or in my head. My inspiration comes from the world around me, people, places, and nature.

There are many new projects that I am currently working on, among them are a few silver rings and pendants and a few handbags. My shop will include these in the near future, and I hope you will enjoy my new felts as well.

This is a wonderful way for us to share ideas, as many have contributed to teaching others on the internet I will try to do my part and help with more blogging :)

Happy felting!

I Am The FeltedChicken...

HI EVERYBODY!! I've been meaning to make my introduction, so here I am.

My name is Chrissy P. I live in Hollywood California, and yes, I work in the movie business. My day job is working as a scenic sculptor where I carve styro-foam Movie sets & Theme Park rides. It's pretty awesome....

BUT... Because of a bad ecomony & possible actor's strike, I haven't worked in about 10 months. So I kinda fell into felting to satisfy my artistic needs. I started by sewing felt gingerbread houses as cheap Christmas presents. This got me interested in working with felt as a medium, and the rest was history!!!!

I enjoy making 2 different types of things-




I have an unnatural love for reusable tote bags & love to gift wrap stuff, so I combined these 2 into making reusable gift bags. I like to call them (re)GIFT BAGS (get it... cause you can regift them!!!) It's a waste to see those tacky paper gift bags get all trashed & then you can't regift them, but they still cost you like $5.





And been a sculptor by trade, I also enjoy needle-felting. Finding this technique was amazing, because I love to make stuffed animals, but am really bad at creating 3-d sewing patterns. It's like heaven!!! I get to sculpt stuffed animals out of fiber!!! Dream come true!!! I have also just recently been experimenting more with wet-felting & it is also super fun!

So that's about it, oh, except that I love to drink boxed wine & my favorite food is toast. I'm fairly new to the whole crafty community, so please check out my Etsy Shop & Crafty Blog.

I recently posted a really detailed Tutorial on How-To Felt Easter Eggs!!! It's a great project for big & small kids alike! Learn to wet-felt wool over traditional plastic Easter eggs!!!

Thanx Felting Team!!!

NotSoShabbyChic: Introducing Myself (Finally!)

Hi!

I am very new to felting as well as to blogging and to Etsy. This is a whole new world that has opened up to me in the last month and a half or so.

I got into felting as soon as I saw other Etsy sellers' felted items -- I just fell in love with it all: the toys, the handbags, the home decor, all of it.

My favorite technique so far is needle felting. It is the only one to which I have devoted much time. Below are a couple pics of some of my completed items as well as works in progress:




My favorite materials are wool in any form. I especially love the silkiness of mohair:


My favorite colors/color mixes are usually pink and green, but with felting I'm also enjoying using lots of different colors together, and bright ones too:


My biggest challenge when it comes to running my shop is sales. I am still fairly new and therefore not that many people know I exist yet. I do tend to do better with sales when I'm actively promoting, but lately I've been slacking. The lack of sales also tends to do a number on my self-esteem. :(

There are SO many other shops that I love!!! It will be hard to narrow them down! But I will try: raewadolly.etsy.com (amigurumi, kawaii), TotusMel.etsy.com (tatted accessories), michaelarras.etsy.com (woodworking), gotcrowcreations.etsy.com (needle felted birds), feltmeupdesigns.etsy.com (needle felted birds), thedryingrack.etsy.com (needle felted houses), and mincingmockingbird.etsy.com (sarcasm + bird paintings!!!!... best combo ever lol...).

The item in my shop that I would most like to receive as a gift if someone were shopping for me would be either my needle felted duckling or my needle felted rabbit:




My future plans concerning felting include doing more of it, getting better at it, and trying new things -- not just in needle felting, but also with other methods. My future plans with my shop include trying to promote it more and to also include more felted items.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! :)

--Rebecca (NotSoShabbyChic)

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

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

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.

Introducing Split Rock Ranch!

Custom Fiber Blend in Peacock Colorway for spinning or felting

Handspun llama yarns - fiber provided by Split Rock Ranch llamas

Jim & Brenda w/ Halter Champion Tempis Fugit

My name is Brenda and my husband and I own a small llama ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado - Split Rock Ranch. I "retired" from my "real job" in the construction industry this past June 2008 to work our ranch and my fiber business full time. There is so much I want to accomplish in my fiber art that I discover there are simply not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to get done! It is such a joy to have a business where you can work without it feeling like work and the days fly by because you are getting so much enjoyment out of your daily activities. My fiber mottos: "Where fiber is our passion...and it shows" and "So much fiber...so little time".

I have been a knitter and crocheter since I was a child but didn't do much knitting and crocheting when I was working full time and raising a family. We bought our first llamas in the fall of 1996 and we bought our "ranch" in May 1997. We were only going to have two male llamas as companions and to use as packers for hiking trips but in the late summer of 1997 we bought a female llama because we fell in love with the crias (llama babies), then we bought a show quality male llama and started to show him in January 1998. That llama started winning 1st place in every show and won a few Grand and Reserve Grand Champion awards as well as placing Top Ten at Grand Nationals two years in a row and we were bitten by the llama show bug. Our herd has grown as we have added more select females and show quality to our breeding herd and have retained many of our production (crias). In 2000 my husband bought me a used single treadle Ashford Traveller spinning wheel and I started spinning my own yarns. I realized that I had to find something to use those beautiful llama fleeces for! We also learned how to wet felt using our llama fleeces and started out making a felted vest and hat for our daughter using the fiber from our Champion llama. I quickly branched out into dyeing fibers and yarns along with the spinning and then discovered needle felting and started putting together needle felting kits and felting fibers. I also invested in an Ashford drum carder so I could card up our llama fleeces and started blending all sorts of fibers together to make unique one-of-a-kind (OOAK) custom fiber blend batts for spinning and felting. When my husband was laid off from his job in December of 2002 I decided I had to do something to supplement our income and started selling online on ebay, at llama shows and events and then started selling on etsy in April of 2007. I have met some wonderful people who have become friends on this fiber journey and have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I have also started to set aside more time to knit and crochet and want to learn nuno felting. I plan to spend more time on the production of finished fiber art in addition to the fiber supplies for other fiber artists. Does anyone know where we can buy more time for our days?!

To read more about our llama journey, see photos of our llamas, etc. please visit our ranch website at www.splitrockllamas.com. Our blog page is www.splitrockranchllamas.blogspot.com. Also, please visit my etsy store at www.splitrockranch.etsy.com.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fiber and we as felters and fibers artists are poised to take advantage of the huge movement to "go green".

I look forward to meeting the rest of the Felting Team and working together as a group to promote the fiber arts!

kokonok: Let me introduce myself

Hi,
my name is Olga, or kokonok (in the virtual world).
Kokonok (russ.) means a tiny cocoon, this cosy name was invented by my sons, reflecting my love to fibers and probably some introversy :).
I am living in romantic Heidelberg (South Germany).

I grew up in Moscow, where I studied art and then biology, the latter being my main profession. I am working as a research stuff in academy, but every minute of my free time I dedicate to crafts, playing with jewelry making, silk painting, knitting, etc.
But it was before the FELT BUG got me...not kidding. Felting is my element...
Currently, I am exploring a couple of techniques:
- shibori felting, creating 3D structure using knots, etc during felting process,
-embellishment with seed beads and pearls,
- nunofelting,
-creating lace structure by cutting patterns,...

- "organic" direction that is in fact not linked to a certain technique. I mean works inspired by nature: floral patterns, etc.

and, last but not least, vintage...

Wearable felted art "Ariane et Lulu "







I'm very happy to participate in the ETSY Feltingg Team and I would like to introduce myself in this first post. My name is Ariane and I'm German but I live in France (so I speak better German and French than English). Before "falling in love" with feltmaking I studied architecture, and worked as an texile graphic designer. As I'm always 100% applied in what I love, I quit my designer job 6 month ago. (Hopefully I have a husband who loves me enough to support!!).
My main interest in the felting process is mixing wool fibers with other fibers and materials. My project for 2009 is to experimente how to combine paper and wool in the felting process. If you tried already I would be very pleased to share experience with you. An other point I will focus on is how to create 3d felting textures.
If you are interested on my work, please visite my webside http;// ariane.lulu.free.fr (only aviable in french for the moment) or my etsyshop arianelulu.esty.com.
If you starting feltmaking and need help I'm always pleased to do my best (but you have to support my english...)
See you and happy holidays !!!
Ariane

Images are showing a combination of different "natural" wools with handmade silk paper, silk chiffon, wool locks and handspun yarn. First image shows the piece before felting. Second and third are details of the vest after felting. It's the symbioses of different materials fusing to something new that passionate me. Felting means for me to be a designer and a discoverer in same time.