The Dodo Blog

After you’ve learnt the basics of wet felting – how to make flat felt and how to make a simple shape with a resist – it’s tempting to think that all you need to learn next is which shape a resist must have or which technique to use for a particular project. I’d argue that, before you think (or even while you're thinking) about those aspects, the next thing to do is master the layout.

In fact, I can say with total certainty that the moment I understood this and started working on my layout, was the moment my felt massively improved. I know I run the risk of being annoying for insisting on this. But I would love to support you in becoming a better felt maker, so I accept that risk.

There are two ways you can work on your layout. You can either spend some time making samples or just go ahead and work on your technique while making a piece. I know most felt makers avoid sampling, but I still think it’s the best way to perfect your work, and save time...

Have you just recently discovered wet felting, and don’t know where to start? I’ve put together a list of resources for you to help you know what to learn next.

START BY MASTERING THE BASIC WET FELTING SHAPES

When people approach me about learning to wet felt, they often tell me they’d like to make scarves and garments, so they’re particularly interested in nuno felting.

But to get to nuno felting and other more demanding techniques, you need to be confident with the basics first.

So, here are the simplest instructions for the 3 basic shapes, whether you would like to work with wool batts or with wool tops.

• Felting a cord with wool tops
• Felting a cord with wool batts
• Felting a ball with wool tops
• Felting a ball with wool batts
• Felting a sheet with wool tops
• Felting a sheet with wool batts

And here are a couple of additional tips that can help you perfect your technique:

• How to correctly pull the wool
• How to know if you’ve got enough soap?
• How to...

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,...

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been looking at the topic of resists. But the focus was more on what you need to know at the beginning of your wet felting journey.

If, instead, you’re a more seasoned felt maker, you might be facing other issues, like what to do with the piles of resists and paper templates you collect along the years.

As you need more resists for your projects, you’ll start collecting them in all shapes and sizes. And, most probably, what’ll happen after a while is that you no longer know what some of them were for. At least, that’s what’s happened to me

To avoid this, I recommend you create a pattern archive. This is what I’ve started doing some time ago, after things became really chaotic.

I now have a system that works really well. So, if you want to give it a try, here are my tips on how to organize your resists and patterns.

Create 3 templates:

1. The original pattern drawn on paper. On this one you write:...

Did you learn to felt 3D objects by laying out the wool around the whole resist? I did. And so did most felt makers. And it’s probably the easiest method to follow when you’re starting out and still don’t feel confident enough to try a more complex layout method. It works perfectly for round vessels for example.

But here’s an issue that showed up for me when I was only working with “closed” felt pieces: how do I add handles to a bag when I have a closed felt shape? That was a tricky one to solve…

This was the moment I decided it was time to try felting around a resist without closing the felt. And that’s when I finally found the solution to adding perfect handles to my bags!

But, in this process, I discovered something else. I found out that the edges of my felt looked waaaay better than when I had to cut them and heal the cuts.

How many times have you cut your felt, tried to heal the cut, and one (or more) of these things happened?...

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...

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...

I’m really excited about this week’s topic because I find there aren’t many wet felters exploring it. And that’s the usage of batts for wet felting.

Batts are more commonly used in needle felting, but they’re definetely worth exploring in wet felting too.

When applied right, batts can:

• save you so much time and effort, since the layout is a lot less laborious than it is for tops
• help you achieve a more even layout

Also, if you're open to wet felting with batts as well as tops, you'll have a wider choice in colors, since often suppliers have a different color palett for batts and tops. And, in my experience, they produce a felt that is a bit different from the one made with tops: less shiny but smoother.

These are 3 new lessons about 3 different ways to lay wool batts, when to use them, as well as the advantages of working with them.

So, if this is something that sparks interest for you, you can access this week’s lessons by signing up for the ...

Yes! That's right. I've been working on a free felting membership and it's now available for you to enjoy :)

You see, I’ve been blogging and vlogging about wet felting for over a decade. And what I’ve noticed is that in those formats, it’s easy to lose track of what I’ve already covered since the information is scattered everywhere.

I also wanted a place where you could ask me questions in a way that other felters could also benefit from the answers. So, after considering the pros and cons of the different platforms, I decided this would be the best way to have everything under the same roof.

It's called The Dodo Sandbox because it's a place for you to play, experiment and grow your felting skills :)

The membership area is divided into the “core training” and different chapters or modules, each dedicated to a different topic. When you enter the members’ area, that’s exactly what you see.

Of course, I’ll be creating new...