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!

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

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.