The Dodo Blog

We start wet felting because we’re fascinated by the material and the possibilities of creating all sorts of things, from wearables to sculpture ✨💫 

We see what others are doing, so we dream of what we’d like to create. But, let’s face it, wool can be stubborn, and the initial phases aren’t easy. 

We try to implement what’s on our mind and quickly realize there are details that escape us. We may recognize that we’re lacking some technical skills, our edges are always wavy, our squares aren’t square, and we never quite get the right shrinkage. Yet, we don’t really know why… 😟 

We’ve all been there. It’s that annoying phase of trial and error. While some of us persevere until we get to the other side, others give up and think “this is just not for me”. 

What I’d like to tell you is that it really doesn’t have to be that hard (and it’s not you!). There are techniques you can learn which will take you to success a lot more quickly.

In FROM FIBER TO FLAWLESS FINISH IN 7 DAYS, I’ll sh...

It’s finally here, the new format I’ve been mentioning for some time!

So, what is it exactly? If you’ve been following my blog or Instagram account, you’ve heard about THE DODO HUB for sure. Chances are you're curious about TDH and you’d like to know more about it.

Since it’s a one-year program, it may be kind of difficult to imagine how it works. So, this is where the new format comes in.

It’s called FROM FIBER TO FLAWLESS FINISH IN 7 DAYS and it’s an intensive one-week training, that is also part of the first module of THE DODO HUB.

You get an exclusive sneak peek into my one-year signature program, while, at the same time:

• building stronger felting foundations;
• learning to create well-finished, professional-looking felt;
• working closely with me, getting your questions answered and feedback on your work.

So, you may be asking yourself if this is just an intro to THE DODO HUB or if you’ll be making any pieces during this training. And the answer to your question is YE...

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been making big pre-felt sheets for a piece I’m working on. And every single one of them has given me problems felting.

This can happen for several reasons. It either has something to do with the amount of soap or water, or with the temperature. When this happens, something chemical is off. So, the process stops.

But, in the end, it’s not so important to know the exact reason for this to occur. The important thing is to know how to solve it, so that you can go on with the felting.

Along the years, I’ve learnt that the solution is to change something. Depending on what I’m making, and on which stage the piece is in, I can opt for a couple of different strategies.

I’m sure you can resonate with what I’m talking about. See if you can recognize this scenario (or a similar one).

I laid out my wool, added water and soap, and gave it a quick rub. And I started rolling straight away. After rolling for a long time (like over half an hour), nothing seemed...

Easter is just around the corner. Here's an idea to make your Easter gifts extra special! 

WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR THE BUNNIES?

That will depend on how many you want to make. So, I’ll just give you the list of materials for 4 bunnies like mine. You can adapt the colors and/or decoration to your own taste.

• 40 cm of green ribbon
• 40 cm of pink ribbon
• 2 small bells
• 2 sew-on strass pieces
• Green and pink thread
• A thin needle (that can pass through the holes of the strass)
• A thimble
• 2 thin felting needles
• Felting foam
• Some white fine merino wool
• 2 thick (about 7 mm thick) sheets of pre-felt (pink and dark brown); each of them should be big enough to cut 2 bunnies
• The pattern
• Some gold and silver thread

INSTRUCTIONS

Start by making the pre-felt with your wool of choice. I can’t say exactly how many layers you need, since that’ll depend on how thick you lay your wool. But 4 should do if you’re working with thick layers.

Cut 2 bunnies in pink and 2 in brown. You’ll need...

THE STORY BEHIND THIS PROJECT

I belong to a small felt club that gets together once a month via Zoom to felt in a group setting.

In our December meeting, the suggestion was that we create seasonal pieces. We usually felt 3D/sculptural items, and that was planned for December as well. But even though we work on a certain topic each month, we do have much creative freedom in the group. So, this time I thought of doing something slightly different.

I have tons of felt leftovers from many projects along the years, and I wanted to do something seasonal by recycling what I already had, instead of producing something entirely new. These bits accumulate with time, and it bothers me to see so much material not be used.

So, I gathered the thicker white felt leftovers (some of which was Nuno felt, which made it even more interesting), as well as some fun “Christmassy” templates I also already had from past projects. And, without having a clear initial idea, I started cutting the flat felt i...

I’m working on a new class that is meant to help felt makers go all the way (smoothly) from total beginner to intermediate. If you’ve recently started wet felting or you’ve been felting for a while, but still feel like there are many gaps in your knowledge, this may be for you.

But I’ll need some time until I can offer it, since I haven’t created it yet. I’m working on the class outline for now. And I’d like to invite you to participate in the creation of the class materials. Just click here or on the image below to access the list of topics. Please let me know which ones are important to you and what you think may still be missing.

Just a last note: I’m considering an intermediate felter, someone who knows all the fundamentals, and is able to confidently felt on a resist, knows how to add fiber, fabric and other materials for embellishment and texture. All this while achieving high quality felt.

Thank you for taking a moment to answer the questions! To show you my appreciation for ...

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
...

Today I’ve got a fun tutorial that shows you how to wet felt a ball necklace for children. It’s called Kid’s Dots, and it’s a piece I’ve sold for a long time. Now you get to see how it’s done (for FREE) 🙂

I decided to film this project because Stacy Tavassoli from Truly Majestic invited me to create a tutorial for her arm knitting community. Arm knitting is done with big amounts of wool roving, the same we use for wet felting. But it produces lots of scraps that you can’t use for knitting any more.

So here it is for you. It’s an easy tutorial, which is great for beginners. You won’t need much equipment. Actually, you probably have everything you need at home already. And it shows you 10 tips that are useful for other felting projects.

I’d love to see how your necklaces turned out, so click here to send me your photos 🙂

Have fun!

P.S.: The special Mother’s Day Pack is a 2 for 1 pack for crafty moms, that is only available until May 10. Check out this exclusive offer!

And we’ve arrived at part 7 of this video series about the basic shapes in wet felting. This last video compares making a flat felt with wool batts vs making it with wool tops.

I really hope this has been useful for you and that you refer to these short workshops every time you’re not clear about some of the basics. That’s why I spent so many hours making them for you.

This is also the first video I’ve posted with Portuguese subtitles 🙂

After some trial months, the initial concept I had of sending out a newsletter with the same content I publish here has changed a bit. I’ll go on sending out the email notifications with the blog content every two weeks. But, because I want to offer my subscribers something special, I’ll also be sending you some exclusive content with insider information, videos to download or the occasional special price. Still, because I want to deliver great value, this will not happen every week, so it’ll be somewhat irregular.

Thank you for all the email feedba...

Hey there! Welcome to part 6 of this video series. We’re in the final stretch, and today we’re going to talk about how to make a sheet or flat felt with wool tops.

This is probably the most important part of the series, because this is the type of shape we most often use in wet felting.

The 3 main new pieces of information you’ll get from today’s video are a little trick that’ll help you with future nuno felt projects, how to get straight edges (you’ll need this when making hats or bags!) and what’s the pinch test.

Meanwhile, the videos for next month are already done 🙂 I can’t wait to show you what’s coming up!!!

And remember I’m taking your questions at the moment and answering them on video, so keep sending those emails!