The Dodo Blog

Today’s video is the second one from a short series about my system to design resists for wet felting.

Last week, we looked at how we can transfer the measurements from a 3D object to a flat resist. If you didn’t have the chance to watch that video, please go back and watch it now because it’s important to be able to understand this week’s topic.

So, after designing the basic pattern, deciding on which wool type to use, how thick to lay it out, on the layout and fulling methods, it’s now time to:

6. Make a sample

7. Determine the shrinkage rate

8. Increase the pattern

9. And calculate the amount of wool for the project

Watch the video for more on how to make the sample and determine the shrinkage rate.

When we have our shrinkage rate, we can increase our base pattern to make a resist in the right size to account for shrinkage.

And, finally, we calculate the amount of wool we will need to felt our vase cover.

When all of this is planned, it’s time to finally felt the piece,...

What do you do when you need a resist for a new wet felting project? Do you find yourself desperately going through Facebook felting groups, YouTube channels and all over the Internet to find the right template for the piece you want to felt?

Or are you able to draw your patterns by yourself?

If you’re going around the internet looking for the template for the exact piece you want to make, you may be feeling pretty frustrated. First of all, you don’t always find it, and, many times – if you do find it – it’s not in the size you need.

So, I’d like to suggest that you consider that you can start making your own templates for the pieces you have in mind. After all, the felt makers, who sell the patterns or offer them for free, they make them as well. So, there is a way to develop your own resists for your projects.

The question is HOW!

There is, in fact, a system. If you understand how it works, I’m sure you can start making your own templates. So, I want to give you an idea of my pr...

This is a question I know you’re asking yourself: Is the Baby Special Edition worth it?

That’s, of course, something only you can decide. But skimming through the class description will only give you a general idea. So, I’ve made a video to show you exactly what’s inside the “baby package”.

It’s divided into 4 parts:  

Part 1 includes the step-by-step video instructions, that walk you through all you need to know to felt your baby's jacket in 3 design variations and 3 sizes to keep up with your baby’s growth. You’ll get:

• 5 PDFs with the pattern in 3 sizes (0 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months and 6 to 9 months) and the 3 design variations
• PDF with the instructions on how to use the patterns
• PDF with introduction to the course
• PDF with video transcripts
• 12 downloadable videos 

In Part 2 you get the step-by-step video instructions showing you how to make a baby hat in 6 sizes that you can change in color and shape to create different designs. You’ll get:

• PDF with pattern in 6 si...

Today I’m bringing you something special, the Baby Special Edition.

Usually, you can only get these classes separately.

Now, for a limited time, I’m combining the Sweet Baby Jacket & Daisy Baby Hat with the Comfy Baby Booties & Tiny Baby Mittens in one package. In other words, you get 2 for the price of 1.

If you’re interested in felting baby items as gifts for family members, friends or to sell, this Baby Special Edition is for you.

This video is the first one of a new series, in which we’ll be looking into the topic of making cords or ropes in wet felting.

While it’s more geared towards beginner felt makers, I know that many more experienced people also struggle with this. During my years as a felting teacher, I’ve gotten many, many questions about how to solve different issues that show up when you’re wet felting cords.

So, the goal of this series is to go through all these questions, so that you’re able to solve these problems once and for all. Today, we’ll start by looking at how to make thin cords in an easy way.

Watch the video to see how to make sure you get the right thickness for your cord, without having any creases or wrinkles on the surface. I have three tips that will make felting these thin ropes really easy:

• the base to use for felting,
• the way to do the layout,
• the amount of water to use.

If you’ve started wet felting recently and you’re feeling a bit lost about the next step in your ...

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about different ways to make a fine and flexible.

We started by using only Merino wool. In the next sample we worked with Merino wool mixed with viscose fiber. And today I’m going to make a sample that’s going to be useful to compare with the one we did last week, the one with viscose.

What I’m going to do is I’ll be using the same template, 4 g of Merino wool, plus a piece of chiffon silk.

We’ll start by felting the sample and, when it’s ready, we’ll see how it compares to the previous two.

Make sure you stay until the end to be able to see the differences between the 3 samples. And, if you haven’t yet, go and watch the previous videos:

• How to avoid stiff felt
• A detailed tutorial on how to make fine and flexible felt
• A second method to make fine and flexible felt

This was a very complete series, and we’ve covered not only how to make a fine and flexible felt, but also how to add viscose fiber to your wool and, actually, how t...

In the last video, we had a look at how we can create a fine and flexible felt using only Merino wool. And today we’re going to see what happens when we add viscose fiber to our fine Merino.

For our experiment to make sense, we’re going to use the same 30cm x 30cm template and we’re also going to use 6g of fiber.

If you can remember, in the last video we used 6g of Merino to create our sample. And what we’re going to do today is use 6g of fiber again, but we’re going to have 4g of wool and 2g of viscose. Ok?

If you’d like to do this sample with me, get your materials, and just follow the instructions in the video.

Be sure to check out the differences between the two samples: the one made with only Merino, and the one where I added the viscose.

And if you’re not very familiar with the type of layout I use in this video (chevron layout), you can download a PDF with all the details about all the main layouts used in wet felting here.

I’ll see you next week, when we go through the th...

So you had a look at the program, and now you’re thinking “Yes, one technique a month. But what do we really felt inside THE DODO HUB?”

I get that it may not be totally clear to you, so let me help you with that.

First, above there's a short video of some of the beautiful pieces made by the participants in the first months of THE DODO HUB to show you what you’ll be working on.

I want you to feel supported and that you’re in the right place, no matter where you are on your felting journey. So, THE DODO HUB adapts to the students and not the other way around.

Let me show you how, based on the example of module #1, Geometric Patterns. It’s planned like this:

• Week 1: Making samples (experiment with different techniques)
• Week 2: Making a bag (applying the techniques in 3D)
• Week 3: Making a rug (in Nomad technique)
• Week 4: Main takeaways + develop your own project

You can approach this module (or any other module) any way you want:

• Follow the suggested sequence in one month o
...

If you’ve been waiting to enroll in THE DODO HUB, I’ve got good news! The registration is open as of now.

Are you new to the DODO world, and not sure what THE DODO HUB is?

• It’s a comprehensive year-long program designed to take you from the intermediate level to an advanced and independent felt maker.
• Every month you get a module that gives you a deep understanding of a complex wet felting technique.
• You have the chance to felt multiple projects for each technique, share and discuss them in the community, as well as get feedback and support from me.

But there’s much more to THE DODO HUB. Have a look at this page to get all the details. And, as always, I’m here to answer any questions you may have. Just send me an email and let me know how I can help.

Last week we spoke about a couple of misconceptions and some tips to avoid making your felt too stiff. If you haven’t read that blog post, I recommend you start there, since it’s part of a video series I’m recording for you on this topic.

And if you’re stuck in your felting journey and don’t know what to do next, I’ve created a guide to help you. You can download it here.

Today we’re going to see how we can apply last week’s tips in a practical way. So, we’ll be making a piece of flat felt. In other words, a sample.

So, get some merino wool and let’s do this. All you need to do is follow the instructions in the video.

Enjoy!

P.S.: Make sure you come back next week, since we’ll go on diving deep into this topic.