The Dodo Blog

A couple of weeks ago I got a sweet email from Jet van Grinsven, a felter from the Netherlands, thanking me for the inspiring blog and info, as well as asking me a question.

Jet is building a new home and wants to create a wall hanging, but isn’t sure if she should be using a stronger background as a base for the felted structure. Jet had been advised to use cheese cloth, but wasn’t certain if that was the best option. So, she wanted to know if I could give her some tips on that.

If making a felted wall hanging is something you’re thinking about, maybe you can take advantage of the tips I gave Jet, so here they are.

“You don't necessarily need to use a background as a base for your wall covering. It will depend a lot on what you're planning to felt. 

I'd say the first thing to think about is how thick you'll make the piece. For example, here is a photo of a wall decoration I made some time ago. It's very light, so it doesn't need any...

Coming to you from a locked down Lisbon. Can’t lie. Not feeling great. And I’m guessing you may not be feeling great either.

But it’s time to… I nearly said ‘react’. Instead, it’s time to act. I’ve started going for a jog in the morning again. And I’m slowly getting back to a routine, as normal as possible.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on something that I promised you a long time ago: the Wet Felted Hats Masterclass. It’s ready and I’m now testing all the connections and technical stuff that must be in place to make things work smoothly. If you haven’t had the chance to see what it’s about, here’s the link to check it out.

If all the tests I’m doing go well (and I’m expecting they do), it’ll be available for you to buy from January 30^th (next Saturday) to February 5^th. The course will then be accessible from February 6^th and...

One of the questions I'm asked most often in my live classes is "is this enough soap?"

Felters who aren't very experienced are often unsure about how much soap to apply to their wool fibers. But there are a couple of clues that can help you avoid drowning your project in foam. And that's what I'll go into today.

Before I get into that, I'd like to say that the best way to avoid getting your project too soapy is to add soap slowly and only add more when you notice it’s not enough.

This is why using soapy water is not my preferred method of adding soap to the wool. I like adding water, getting my hands soapy first and only then applying it to the fibers. This way I have more control over how much soap is going into the wool. If you use this method, the tips I have for you today make much more sense.

You’ll know you have the right amount of soap when:

1. The wool doesn't stick to your hands.

When you’re applying soap with the method I mentioned above,...

Hi!

Today I’m here with the Q&A Sessions, something I haven’t done for quite some time.

This is where I go through all sorts of questions you have about wet felting.

So, if you have something on your mind that you haven’t been able to solve yet, drop me a line and tell me all about it.

For that, just scroll down to the end of any page on this site. Then click on “Contact” and let me know what’s troubling you. Your question might be selected for the next Q&A video!

Ok, so today I have a question from Audrey, who writes:

“I’ve a question for you and it’s about rolling and nuno felting. Is it really necessary to roll while fulling?

I really like the contact with my piece and am quite happy to spend more time massaging away, particularly when I do not have wool covering all the fabric.

I can understand rolling being preferable for a more layered piece, or larger piece to give a more even result.  

Would love to...

If you’ve followed my work for some time, you’ll know that something I constantly mention is how I like to teach in a way that empowers you to develop your style and explore your creativity.

I see no point in just showing you how to felt an object. When I’m developing my courses, my goal is always to go into the details and the reasons why I’m using a particular technique. That way, you can apply what you’ve learnt in a different project, so you’re free to develop your own designs. That allows you to grow way beyond the methods taught in a tutorial.

That’s one of the reasons I was so happy when I got an email from Audrey Petzold a couple of weeks ago. Audrey bought the tutorial “Felt Food – Fruit” last April and she wanted to know if the basic procedures I used for making the toy fruits could be scaled up to make life size fruits.

I told Audrey it was perfectly possible, and that she just had to make sure that the inner...

Sharing tips, ideas, and experiences from felters who write me emails telling me about their felting projects has been on my mind for a long time.

It's so rewarding to hear from you, whether it's about something you created based on one of my tutorials or just to chat about felt. And I'm always thinking "Wouldn't it be great to have a space where we could all talk to each other".

Finding a way to exchange experiences about the things we love is becoming more important every day, especially in these times we're living. So, I'm looking for the best solution for that. But, in the meantime, I'd just love to encourage you to email me things you’d like to share.

Today I'll be doing exactly that: sharing great information I got as an answer to one of my recent posts.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about how to choose your felting suppliers. And I ended the post asking you to send me any recommendations you might have, if you've had a good experience with any shop.

Well, I got...

I’m so happy to announce that the new website is finally ready and available for you to explore!!! Yaaayyy!!!

Click here to have a look!

Nothing will change for you. All the content that is on the this site has been transferred to the new one. It just looks different and it’s organized in a different way (better, I hope). I’m also keeping the newsletter and all the rest as is.

I suggest you have a look at the Free Resources section, where there are lots of resources, some of which you can now download. After that, take a look at the Store and the Blog (now with categories to make things easier to find) to check out how things are organized.

I’m still fine tuning some things, and when everything is ready and everyone’s gotten used to the new site, I’ll delete the old one. When that happens, I’ll transfer the new site to the old domain.

So, for now the new site is hosted under the...

I’m often asked who I recommend in terms of suppliers for felting materials.

My first recommendation would always be to find a good one near you, a brick and mortar store, where you can see and touch the wool before you buy.

But, not all of us have good felting suppliers around the corner. In fact, depending on where you live, it’s often difficult to find a local shop that carries the big diversity of materials you need for more sophisticated felting projects.

So, most of the times, we have to resort to online stores.

Even for online suppliers, I’d still recommend finding one as close to home as possible. That’ll mean less money spent on shipping, and it’s also better for the environment.

Next, I’d look into the variety they offer and how dependable they are when you need advice on the best wool for a particular project.

Another important factor is the shipping time. If you need materials for a project you want to finish soon,...

There are thousands of ways you can decorate a wet felted project. Some just involve wool, others can include silk or other fabrics, as you know. This is then called Nuno felting. But today I bring you a sample that contains wool, silk and something else.

I wanted to show you an example of how you can use a transparent piece of silk to hold any type of synthetic material, that wouldn’t otherwise attach to wool. In this case, I’ll be using a pre-felt and a piece of white silk chiffon with the same size as the pre-felt. Alternatively, you can lay merino wool tops or batts, and use light gauze instead of silk.

TIP # 1 – USE LIGHT GAUZE INSTEAD OF SILK TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIMENTS CHEAPER

I’m also using circles of a synthetic golden fabric (that doesn’t attach to wool), but you can choose countless other materials like small beads or sequins, for example.

If you’re making a sample, please remember to measure the size of the wool now and after shrinkage.

Today I’d like to ask for your help.

I’ve already shared with you that I’m working on a new site. This new site will include everything I already have in the current one, like the blog, the free resources and how you can work with me. But I’ve closed my Etsy shop, so there’ll also be a store. And – one of my favorite features – there’ll be a members’ area. This means you’ll be able to access the masterclasses from here.

Now, the main pages and the structure are ready. But I’m designing it for you guys, so I’d really like to have your opinion on it before I go on. I want it to be a site where you feel at home, where the navigation makes sense to you, and where the images and the messaging reflect what you think about Going The Dodo Way.  

So, I’d like to invite you to share your opinion about it. If you want to take part in this, please send me an email...