The Dodo Blog

If you're following my Instagram account, you know that I've been sharing photos of my new baby items for some time :)

The idea of creating more felted pieces for kids has been on my mind for long. I just think it's the perfect medium for babies: soft wool and silk, natural non-toxic fibers, environmentally friendly materials, washable and long lasting products. Just perfect!

In the past I've created workshops on baby hats, play food and - one of my best sellers - baby booties. I wanted to expand this collection with more complex pieces that could also allow me to work with more advanced felting techniques. And that's what I've been preparing for the last couple of months: an online course on how to wet felt your baby's booties and jackets.

This is a 3-week, step-by-step video course, that walks you through all you need to know to felt your baby's booties and jackets in 3 different sizes, 3 design variations and 3 felting techniques. It includes:

• Booties' downloadable pattern in
...

Just wanted to let you know you can enroll for the Wet Felted Hats Masterclass from May 15th to May 19th.

The course will start May 22nd and will have a duration of 8 weeks.

If you've been wanting to improve your hat felting skills, stay tuned for the details tomorrow :)

Talk soon!

Vanda

As you might know, I created a new course recently: the Wet Felted Hats Masterclass for all of you who’d like to refine your hat making skills.

There was a first edition in February/March, which I launched as a test course. I had built a base structure and invited people to join as Founding Members to help me fully develop the best class possible. So, it grew considerably, since I added new modules, videos and other resources. And now it’s ready for the second edition.

The enrollment will start in a few days, so I wanted to let you know what the Masterclass now looks like.

This next edition will include a total of 9 modules, walking you through:

• How to draw your own patterns with the right size
• How to modify the base patterns to create new hat shapes
• How to felt ANY hat WITHOUT a hat block
• How to felt a hat WITH a hat block
• How to create the perfect brim
• How to lay the wool so that you don't have to cut the brim
• How to embellish the hat surface with nuno felt
• How to cre
...

When I first started wet felting, there where no YouTube videos and barely any books on the subject. I bought everything I could get my hands on and started experimenting. But most things on the market were very simple. So, for the most part, I learnt through trial and error.

One of the topics that nobody was going into in detail was the correct laying of the wool fibers. And, as I see it, that’s probably the most important thing you can learn about in wet felting. Sure, you do get felt no matter how well you lay your wool. But how good is your felt then?

This becomes more important if your piece needs a fair amount of shaping or if you’re making clothes, which need to adapt to your body.

So, what is the correct way to lay wool fibers?

First of all, wool for wet felting should be laid according to the shape of the piece. Let me use the example of a circular piece, like a beret. Would you lay your wool like this?

Well, you could. As I was saying, you will get a piece of felt in ...

I often get questions about felting in the comment section of my YouTube channel. Yesterday, one came up that I thought deserved a longer answer. Since it’s a frequently asked question, it made sense to me to write a blog post on the topic.

Here’s what Kathleen McKinney wanted to know: “How do you know if you’ve felted and fulled enough? How do you know when an item is finished?”

As it’s often the case in wet felting, I have to start by saying that it depends on what you’re making.

The general answer would be “do the pinch test”. If you pinch the surface of your felt and the fibers don’t lift any more, that means your felt is ready (see video).

But there’s more to it than that, so let’s go into more details for different items:

• Felted ball – If you’re felting a ball, I recommend you do the “bounce test” to make sure it’s ready. More on that in this blog post.
• Pre-felt – If you’re making a pre-felt, you don’t want it to be completely felted, because you might want to have it
...

After nearly 4 weeks of the Wet Felted Hats Masterclass, the course has grown considerably.

I’ve been creating short online felting courses since 2016 but planning a masterclass with the goal to cover all the possible challenges you might have when felting a classic hat, drawing patterns with the right measures, and expanding beyond the hats in the course is an entirely different story.

In short, I had never done anything this big. So, I knew it would be a challenge for me. But I love challenges…

This is also the reason it made sense to make it a sort of a “trial” edition: the members invest considerably less than they would in the regular edition, and they get to help me finish building the course. And they know they had a big role to play in the final product.

I have to admit I felt a bit nervous at first. I’m a perfectionist, so I don’t feel comfortable delivering an “unfinished” product. But I’m so happy I decided to do things this way. I would never have been able to know all ...

It's oficial!!!

The cart is now open for the SPECIAL EDITION of the Wet Felted Hats Masterclass.

If you're interested in becoming a FOUNDING MEMBER, it's as easy as clicking the image below. It will take you to a page with all the information about the course. Just follow the instructions from there.

With this edition of the Masterclass you'll get:

• the EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY to help shape this course
• to be part of a Facebook group designed for this edition only
• a ONE-TIME OFFER of 50% OFF the price the course will cost when it's available again.

I'll be asking you to:

• have the available time to go through the modules every week, as well as review them
• bear with me if we have any technical challenges
• and tell me how I can make your whole experience better.

If you think this is something that might interest you, you'll have to act fast, since:

• the cart will be open for 7 days max
• the number of spots is LIMITED to 20

Please note the cart will close sooner if ...

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 particular background because the piece isn...

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 will go on for 5 weeks, during which I’ll be releasing one module per week.

But let me tell you more about this OFFER, since it’s the first time I’m doing...

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, you’ll notice the fibers sti...