The Dodo Blog

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.

You plan the piece you want to make.

You draw and cut the resist.

You lay your wool.

Everything is going great, but when you start fulling, your felt just seems to be stuck. Somehow the wool just doesn’t seem to become compact. In fact, nothing seems to happen.

You’ve been felting for hours and you feel tired. What started out as fun is now getting on your nerves. So, you decide to stop.

But then you ask yourself:

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY PROJECT IF I STOP NOW?

IS MY PIECE RUINED?

SHOULD I JUST LEAVE IT ON THE TABLE LIKE THIS? (I ACTUALLY NEED THE TABLE!)

I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT WENT WRONG!

Do you recognize the scenario? It’s happened to me dozens of times. The difference when it happens now is that I know exactly what to do.

So – because I suspect it’s happened to you too – I wanted to bring you a couple of tips today on what to do.

Let’s start with “what went wrong”

Well, felting is a physical but also a chemical process. That...

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...

Welcome to the first episode of my new Q&A series.

If you still have trouble finding the right way to make a resist for a 3D wet felted object, this episode is for you.

Today’s question is from Kathryn, from Walla Walla, in Washington state.

And Kathryn writes:

“I am trying to make a wet felted case for my son’s new MacBook Pro computer. I viewed your template making video for the clutch bag – thinking I could use that for my effort.

I made the template and started to lay out the wool and realized that I didn’t know why I needed the top resist.

You have a resist that has a top and bottom, when I thought I only needed the bottom to cover with wool, so that I could make the pocket.

If I don’t intend the top to have a pocket, why do I need the top part of the template?

I ended up cutting the template in half and placing the top part under the bubble wrap to serve as a guide, as I wanted the top to cover the bottom of the bag as I see...

If you’ve been felting for some time, and you also use the pieces you felt, I’m sure you’ve already had this problem.

No matter how carefully you lay your wool or how resistant your piece has been felted, if you’re using it often, sooner or later its surface will be worn-out. And this is even more obvious if the piece has a pattern.

That’s normal. It’s just the way wool is.

That’s exactly what happened to this bag, that I’ve been using on a daily basis for the last 2 years.

But it’s a bag I really enjoy, so I decided to repair it. Now, as you know, it’s extremely difficult to make new fiber attach to the wool that’s already been densely felted.

Still, there is a solution, and that’s what I’ll be showing you in this video.

Hope you enjoy it!

P.S.: Do you have other ideas on how to repair felt? If so, you’re welcome to share them in the comments below.

Today I’ve got a short video for you.

It’s on a subject that I haven’t heard anyone talk about yet: recycling felted wool rests.

It might not seem very important to you, if you’re just starting out with felting. But if it’s something you do on a regular basis, I bet you’ve already asked yourself what you should do with all those bits and pieces that you got from cutting parts off your projects or from items that just didn’t turn out the way you expected.

To me this is really something important. I work with high quality wool (with the certifications Öko-Tex® Standard 100 and Global Organic Textile Standard), so it would never cross my mind to throw away any rests. I keep every little bit, even the pieces my students don’t want to save, when I’m teaching live workshops ? This means I ended up with bags full of all shapes and colors, and I really wanted to do something with them.

When I started filming my latest felting...

I’ve been working in a new video workshop, which I hope to finish and post in the next couple of weeks. And the video tutorial I bring you today will be part of this workshop.

I wanted to share it with you, because I know there are so many questions about how to make a pre-felt.

Hope you enjoy it!

Talk to you soon!

No matter if you’re just starting out or if you’re an experienced felt maker. Whether something goes wrong with a project or you’ve made a pre-felt and didn’t use it all, there are always felt rests. Mine keep increasing! I have lots of bags with pieces in all colors and sizes. And I tell everyone who’s ever attended one of my workshops not to throw anything away. The way I see it, wool is too precious to land in the garbage bin.

But, of course, what’s the point in collecting them if you just keep having bigger bags? So, here’s an idea of a sweet and easy project you can make with something like a bag that went wrong (I have lots of those too). All you need is a piece with 10 to 12 cm, depending on the template you choose.

Here are a couple of shapes I suggest. I used to make keyholders and magnets like this. They can be sweet and original gifts!

And these are some of the pieces I have in those bags I was talking about ? ...

Hi there!

I´ve often been asked how do you make a sample to determine the shrinkage factor in wet felting. Well, that’s exactly what I’ll be covering in today’s video.

It’s actually very easy. You should make a sample, and measure it before and after felting.

There are three fundamental factors to take into account though:

1. Use the same type (or types) of wool for your sample and project, since not all wool types have the same shrinkage.
2. Use the same number of layers and equally thick ones for your sample and project, since the thickness of the layers influences the shrinkage.
3. Felt the sample and your project to the same degree, since the more you felt, the more the piece will shrink.

Check out the video and let me know if I’ve covered all your questions!

Hello!

Now that Christmas is just a month away, I’m sure you’ll be thinking about the presents for your family and friends by now.

So, I decided to bring you a simple, but really sweet idea, that you can make for a child. And it's FREE!

Think of it as a Christmas gift for you.

Enjoy!