Category Archives: wet felting

Hat for Brains

I did a demonstration at a felt exhibition before Christmas, using some red wool from one of those “lucky dip” bags. I have no idea what the wool is but it created a really unexpected result.

Several people commented on how much it looked like a brain…. well I had to do it didn’t I? My sense of humour wouldn’t let me walk away….. I had to make a hat to look like a brain out of what was left of the red wool. 🙂

Laying out the mysterious red wool:

I used some of my rainbow-dyed merino for the inner layer:

Laying out the merino:

It’s nearly finished but I need your advice please, do you prefer option 1, 2, 3 or 4?

Option 1: brim folded up

Option 2: brim folded up and then the uneven edge folded back in on itself
Option 3: to cut the uneven edge to straighten it up

Option 4: to fold the brim under so you only get “brain” and no brim

What do you think?

I  have been quite busy this week, finishing the cape with hundreds of felted tassels, I enjoyed making it but it really did take hours and hours to hand felt all those tassels! I just need to edge the neckline and add a button.

This weekend I started working on a textured wall hanging that has been festering in the back of my mind since I saw a photo of icicles hanging from a roof back in November.

This is the sketch I made at the time, as you can see it really was just a seed of an idea at the time…

I raided my goody bag looking for some interesting textures and found some silk noil and different grades of wool nepps along with some hand dyed mulberry silks that I think will make a lovely, colourful addition to the icicles. You know how ice has a sparkly quality when the light hits it just right? I thought some angelina might replicate that effect quite nicely.

Laying out the base (it’s about 3ft x 4 ft)

Starting to lay out the “icicles” with some flashes of colour provided by the mulberry silk.

More on the Icicles hanging next time…

I also managed to finish my “leopard print” dress this week too, I was surprised at how long this one took, I can usually make a dress in 2 days but this took all day Sunday and then every evening last week, I finally finished it on Saturday morning! This is the front:

And the back:

I hope to get a photo of me wearing it next week…. watch this space 🙂