The Dodo Blog

Do you ever have moments of taking a glimpse at your felting table and thinking “OMG, look at all this plastic”? It’s happened to me often, so I’ve been trying to substitute it for other materials whenever I can. And I’ve also been thinking about writing a couple of tips for the felt makers who are interested in reducing plastic, but don’t know what to use instead.

I find fighting plastic usage extremely difficult. Plastic is everywhere, and it’s so ingrained in our daily habits too. But I feel like if I’m conscious about it, there’s at least a way to avoid some of it.

Anyway, after ordering a couple of issues of the German felting magazine FilzFun, I was very excited when I saw an article about this exact topic in one of them, intitled “Filzen ohne Plastik” (Felting without Plastic). It was written by felt maker Corinna Nitschmann and I find it has a lot of great ideas, some of which I had never thought about. So, I’ve spoken to Corinna, who gave me her permission to use her article...

In 20 years of felt making I haven’t (yet!) had any issues with moths. It may just have been luck or because of the way I store my wool. It’s definitely not because I don’t have tons of wool in my studio 😊

Since I frequently get questions about how I store my wool, as well as how to prevent moth attacks, I’ve compiled what I know and what I could find from different sources to offer you information that hopefully can protect your stash from these pesky little fiber predators.

A SHORT WORD ON THE LITTLE CREATURES

There are many types of moths, and most of them are harmless for wool. So, as most felt makers know, we’re talking about the so called “clothes moths” here.

Moths go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. But it’s only in the larvae stage that they feed on fiber.

Keratin is what they’re after. This is a protein found in animal-based materials like wool, fur, hair, feathers, mohair, and even silk. If these materials are stained with food, perspiration, or...

"Filzen: Alte Tradition, Modernes Handwerk" (German version)

"Felt: New Directions for an Ancient Craft" (English version)

by Gunilla Paetau Sjöberg

This might be the best book about wet felting I have. And I do have many 😊

It’s over 20 years old, it doesn’t have amazing photos and it has a lot of text. So, it might not be the first book to grab your attention when you look at my bookshelf.

I have it in German, but there’s also an English version.

So then, what makes it so special?

I think it’s the most complete wet felting book I’ve ever seen. I could call it a felting encyclopedia.

Let’s have a look inside, so that you can see what I mean.

It starts with an incredibly complete History of felt and it covers different felting traditions found in Europe and Asia: from hat making in Hungary and shepherd coats in Turkey, to the felt masks worn by the Vikings, and socks and shoes made in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

It then dives into felting techniques from other cultures: ...

I’ve often been asked for tips on how to wet felt when you have health issues like back pain or arthritis.

Personally, I’ve also dealt with pain that was either caused or worsened by the strain I’ve put on my body due to wrong postures during wet felting.

It’s irrefutable that felting is a very physical activity that can be hard on your muscles and joints. But it’s also true that you can protect yourself by paying more attention to certain details when you’re working.

In today’s video, I go into how to keep a good posture during the layout phase. If you find this useful, stay tuned to part 2, where I go into my tips for the felting and fulling phase.

P.S.: If you’re a healthcare professional (and would like to help) or just have more tips to add, please send me an email with that information. I’ll make sure I add it to a future video, so that everybody can take advantage of that knowhow. Thank you!

The video above goes into the following details:

How to felt with resists

When you felt with a resist, you need to lay out the wool on both sides to cover the resist completely. The wool layers need to then go beyond the resist edge, so that some of the wool can be turned over to the other side. This is exactly what allows you to create a seamless object in wet felting.

How to avoid ridges on the resist edge

To avoid having ridges on the resist edge, you need to start working on the “seam area” immediately after the layout. You must also keep your eye on this part of the felt during the whole felting process.

When do you remove the resist?

When the wool is pre-felted, and you feel the resist is already too tight or it's even curling inside the felt, it's time to cut your opening.

Just make sure that the wool is solid enough to be cut. And remember not to cut the opening too big, since holes are the only thing that becomes bigger as you felt.

WHAT ARE RESISTS?

By definition, a resist is anything you use between two pieces of wool to prevent that they felt with each other. In other words, you need to use a resist when you want to make a hollow object.

Only after the flat piece is created can you shape it into a 3D object. So, if you want to felt a 3D piece, your first step is to imagine how you will go from 2D to 3D.

The resist is only used during the felting process. When the wool starts shrinking, the resist starts curling up inside, and it must be removed. This is usually the moment when you initiate the fulling process.

You can have a resist:

• for the whole piece (like for a hat, bag, slippers) or
• for a part of the piece (like for a pocket or a surface design).

MATERIALS FOR RESISTS

One of the most important things when using a resist is the choice of materials.

It has to be something that doesn’t felt onto wool, otherwise it’ll attach to the layers, instead of doing its job, which is to separate them. I...

Color is one of the most important features of my work. In the last couple of months, I’ve been exploring it further in the techniques I’ve been teaching inside of ‘The Dodo Hub Membership’.

Here are a couple of examples of the patterns and colors I’ve been testing, as well as some samples.

Color is a powerful element in all types of art: it evokes emotions and creates moods. Think about how pastels give you a completely different feeling from earthy golden colors.

(Images from www.patterncurator.com)

This means you can create completely different visual effects and impact, according to the way you use color.

For those of us who haven’t learnt about color, it’s not always easy to make good choices for our projects. But, fortunately, there are a lot of good tools out there to help us.

Sometime ago I shared with you a color tool from CANVA to help you with creating color palettes for your wet felted projects.

But, meanwhile, I discovered an even better one from ADOBE. So,...

As you probably know, felting has a rich history spanning thousands of years and it can be traced back to Central Asia, where nomadic tribes first discovered the properties of wool and its transformation into felt. It’s been part of civilization, and it had a huge role in various cultures around the world.

Felt’s incredible properties, like temperature insulation and resistance to water, made it such a useful material that it was relied on for survival. It was used to create garments, shoes, hats, dwellings, rugs, and even artwork.

But even though felt making has experienced a growth in popularity in recent years, it was nearly forgotten for a long time, and considered an old-fashioned technique, much like what happened with crochet, knitting and other handmade textiles.

Thankfully, it was kept alive through the decades by the passionate artisans, who were stubborn enough to hold on to the legacy and traditions. These are the people we have to thank for having kept the flame burning...

We know that the amount of shrinkage in wet felting depends on many variables. Among the most important are:

• The wool type: breed, microns, fiber length. Fine wool shrinks more than coarser wool.
• The number of wool layers: if they’re odd or even, how many you lay. Also, thin layers shrink more than thick ones.
• The layout method: chevron will shrink more than the traditional layout, for example.
• Decoration: if you add silk, viscose, fabric, or pre-felts.
• Fulling methods: which ones you use, how many times, in which direction, was it evenly fulled, was it fully fulled. Aggressive fulling methods cause more shrinkage than less aggressive ones, as well as more fiber migration.
• Even the water temperature and the way the wool is dyed can influence the way it shrinks.

So, the only way to know what your results will be is to make samples before beginning a project, unless you always work with the same wool type, so you get to know very well how it behaves.

After you’ve made your...

As you know, wet felting has a long History. But it’s also true that some of the most incredible advancements only happened in the last decades.

After wet felting was rediscovered as a promising material for designers sometime in the 80s, people of all backgrounds have picked it up and reshaped it with fresh ideas.

We’re all incredibly lucky that some amazing creatives have explored this ancient technique and given it their own touch, adding other materials to wool, and fusing other textile techniques with felt.

I think we shouldn’t take this for granted, so I’m always interested in discovering who are the artists responsible for this rich world we now have at our fingertips.

One of these amazing artists is Polly Stirling. You might not know who she is. But I’m sure you know the technique she created. Polly is none other than the inventor of nuno felting.

Need I say anything else?

If you are interested in knowing how it all happened, here’s a video interview with her, where she t...