Tag: needle felting

needle felting, needle felting workshop

Learning to felt

amandafelting

Using felting kits and trying to follow You Tube videos when learning to felt can be hard, sometimes you need to see it and be guided in person.

If you’re looking to learn how to needle felt, or you just like hares, or you want to treat yourself to an afternoon of therapeutic crafting, then you might like to know about the Hare felting workshop I am delivering at MerseyMade in Liverpool 1.

It’s on Saturday 30th September and it lasts for 2 hours starting at 2pm.

MerseyMade is a lovely venue with gift shop and cafe downstairs and artist studios (where you can look round and see people at work) and workshop space upstairs. So lots of lovely things to browse while you’re there.

We will be making hares with a choice of wools and designs. I like to encourage people to go their own way in what they create but if people just want to follow what I have made, that’s cool too.

You will pick up some tips and knowledge along the way to use in future projects, (and take home your felting needles).

Tickets are on Eventbrite, find my page on Needle felting workshops for the link. They cost £30 but please use code HARE10 for 10% off at checkout.

craft fairs, needle felting, Uncategorized

Makers Markets – a look at how far I’ve come and hopefully some tips for you!

amandafelting

Hi, looking back through my old blog posts I realised that I’ve come a long way since I last posted about markets and craft fairs!

Hopefully this post about how I have developed my display is useful, but my original post “How to Survive a Craft Fair” still has a lot of basic “good to know” tips for beginners so take a look at that too if you’re just starting out.

February and March 2023 saw me at two new (to me) fabulous and popular Markets in Liverpool, Good Market at Penny Lane and Mossley Hill Makers Market.

What have I improved on since the beginning?

Apart from the obvious change in quality in my creations, the natural progression that is seen when you work at a craft for many years, the appearance of my stall has improved. Here are a few (useful I hope) tips based on things that I have learned since I started out.

Display It’s good to have variety of height in your display. I have resourced and twiddled with boxes, shelf units and branches in my displays over the years to achieve variation in height so that some items are nearer eyeline. To keep a clean look, all my additions are white.

Think about investing in one of those stretchy table covers that helps to hide what you have stashed underneath the table. It can help your stall look more professional and together.

Have a display item that helps people stop and look. Have a talking point – I put some of my felted dogs in a small crate labelled Dog Rehoming Centre with the name of the area in front of the title. It makes people stop and smile and talk!

Don’t put too much out! Hold back from putting out everything you have ever made. It can make it too busy and confusing. Group in themes, keep it simple and pleasing to the eye. I have a box of additional items with me so that I can put extras out as items start to sell, or maybe change a couple of items part way through if something isn’t working. Watch what people look at, if some items just aren’t catching people’s eye, try something else. Use this craft fair as a chance to do valuable market research.

Practice your layout beforehand. If it has been a while since your last market, if you have a lot of new products, and definitely if it is your first ever craft fair, have a run through first. Measure out the space you will have on a dining table, workbench or even floor, and work out how what you will put out and where it will go for best effect. View it from different angles. Get a second opinion. Take photos! This can help you feel much calmer and more confident on the day.

Price points I have learned what items catch people’s eye and causes them to stop and look, and the sweet spot where they are likely to make a purchase.

You might have a quality item that took you hours to make and that you have priced accordingly, that might not sell in the venue you are in, but, it shows your talent and what you are capable of, and people will stop and see what else you have. They may just take a business card and bear you in mind for that special birthday or Christmas present.

Your sweet spot price point will vary according to the particular market, season and area. It might take you a while to figure out what it is, but when you do, aim to make lots of items at that price point. For me it meant thinking about my designs and how I could make items more quickly. But do have a range of prices, I sometimes have “stock clearance” type baskets with sale prices of items that I made a while ago and just have not sold. People do love a bargain and it will help you make your table cost back and clear some space at home!

Venue Before applying, do a bit of research first. What have previous markets been like, who has sold there and how have they found it? (Instagram posts and comments can help with this!) Is it indoors or outdoors? I know I could never have an outdoor stall as my items are so light they would blow away on a windy day!

It can be disheartening to have a stall at a fair with a very light footfall so how well advertised is it and is it in a busy area with lots of people about who are likely to pop in?

Future markets Popular markets have an application process and they may want to see what your usual display looks like. So when you are all set up and your stall is looking gorgeous, don’t forget to take lots of photos to use in future applications and to show off on social media.

What about you?

I’d love your feedback on what has worked for you! Or maybe from a customer’s point of view if you love visiting craft fairs and makers markets. Please comment below.

custom dogs, dogs, felting with fur

Dog fur or hair? What’s the difference?

amandafelting

When I started working with dog fur/ hair to create needle felted dog replicas, I became curious about the difference between dog hair or fur. What to call this new material I was working with, were those two words interchangeable? Was there a difference?

OK, so now I now there is a difference and I shall attempt to explain that in this post.

So there is no chemical difference between hair and fur, they are both made from keratin. They can however differ in texture and growth cycles.

Hair

Examples of dogs with hair include Poodle, Bedlington Terrier, Schnauzer Bearded Collie and Bichon Frise.

Hair can be straight, wavy or curly and generally feels smoother and finer. It tends to be longer and thicker than fur. Hair grows in a single layer rather than in a double coat and goes through a longer growth cycle. Because of this longer growth cycle, dogs with hair shed less frequently, this leads to people with allergies choosing them over dogs with fur, though this doesn’t always solve the problem! Dogs with hair might need more grooming (as in doggie haircuts) so that their hair doesn’t get too long.

Fur

Dogs with fur include Golden Retriever, Labrador, Newfoundland, Pomeranian

Dogs with fur have shorter growth cycles so they shed more frequently, this is so that they can change the thickness of their coat depending on the season. The fur is finer and denser than hair and often grows in a double coat with a coarser overcoat over the finer undercoat. This helps them to regulate their body temperature. So dogs with fur seem to be more adaptable to changing climates and weather. Their fur is shed before it gets too long so less visits to the dog salon!

So I now know more than I did and I hope you do too! If you want to get in touch about your dog or to enquire about my work with dog fur, I would love to hear from you!

Please use the contact page to get in touch!

Amanda x

custom dogs, felting with fur, needle felting

Felting With Fur – part 2

amandafelting

Hello, I absolutely love felting with fur! It opens up so many possibilities, and provides such as special felted keepsake for the animal’s owners.

For this dog replica I was lucky to have such a lot of fur to felt with, and it was so soft and feltable! This fur was from a much loved Japanese Spitz and the crimp of the fur very closely resembled the sheep wool I felt with.

Because of the quantity and texture of the dog fur I was able to start by felting a whole body and head from it. It might not have created as firm a shape as I can achieve from felting with wool but this fur certainly provided a good core as a base.

I felted the ears and the face.

The features were the only part of the dog that had to be created with wool. Once the ears and the face were completed, I set about gently building up the fluff to give the dog the shape needed for this particular breed.

And here he is, the finished dog, a very special make.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or custom requests or visit my Etsy shop here.

ETSY shop
felted mobile, needle felting

Getting there with my sheep mobile!

amandafelting

 It’s taking shape…

So I weaved some willow hoops, I used up all the sticks I’d soaked and ended up making three.

(Probably should have soaked the sticks for longer but I was soaking them in the bath and the youngest needed a shower!)

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It was time to start attaching the felted sheep and clouds.

Sheep and clouds went onto the larger hoop first.

Then I attached the two hoops together ( this was the tricky part- balanced and level being hard to achieve) .

The stars threaded easily onto the invisible thread. In the last post I wrote about being unable to thread them with the ribbon, must have been the finer needle I was able to use, and attached two to the upper, smaller hoop.

The sheep, clouds and stars are now on three levels. Not my original intention but it makes sense right?

I’d made three stars but I think it will have to be two or four now to achieve balance…?

It’s something I’ll come back to, sometimes you need to step away from a project and come back with fresh eyes.

I also need to obviously trim the ribbons and neaten it up that way, in case your thinking  “she’s left it a bit messy looking”.. but will leave that to the very end.

Anyone else out there making a mobile? How’s it going for you?

I’ll keep you posted guys…

Thanks for reading! x

needle felting

A commission leads to a cacti obsession…

amandafelting

Those little pots are so cute!

I hadn’t thought of making cacti before, I usually make animals when I needle felt, but that’s the beauty of a commission make.

When a customer requested two cacti and a hedgehog, naturally I was ready to have a go!

I sourced my cute little terracotta pots from Elfkendalfairies on Etsy.

First job was to put in the “soil”. I used Shetland batt in natural Moorit brown.

Next I collected all my green wools, then researched some photos of cacti before getting stuck in.

You can see from the photographs that it’s just a matter of making sausages, putting them together and then adding ridges.

I needled it into the existing soil and then as it was now all squished down, topped it up with some more batt wool.

The second cacti was a round one.

The pale yellow green wool is quite wiry in texture so is great for the hairy spikes.

I loved making these and am making more, this could be the start of a new direction for Felt Fabulous!

If you would like some, have a peep in my Etsy shop or get in touch.

Perfect gift for that friend who keeps killing off all their real plants!

 

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Thanks for reading!

 

 

needle felting

Making a felted sheep mobile

amandafelting

Making progress…

So I needle felted the parts of the mobile a while ago. I love making Herdwick sheep using Herdwick wool and I thought that some mini ones would be just right for a mobile. Counting sheep to get to sleep and all that.

I also made some clouds and added mohair fleece to make the texture curly and fluffy.

Stars were the final felted item, I actually used soya bean top which I’d bought in my exploration of vegan alternatives to wool. I found this really tricky to needle felt with but really love the finished result. All golden and super soft.

I left this project for a while, unsure of what to thread them onto the mobile with and mulling over the general structure. As you can see from the cloud picture, I went with white ribbon in the end. This threaded through my felted makes surprisingly easily , until I got to my soya bean stars!

No way would that needle and ribbon get through. I’m trying invisible thread next I think.

I also need to get up into that loft to get some willow sticks down to weave some hoops.

I’ll hopefully post soon with an update.

Thanks for reading!

needle felting, shop

Bunny blog post!

amandafelting

Hello! Welcome to my post about my needle felted bunnies !

Last week I was feeling a bit under the weather, you know, where you don’t feel awful but you have not a lot of energy.

Making more bowls felt out of the question as that involved standing in the kitchen for lengthy periods of time and vigourously rubbing and rolling as I wet felted.

A couple of weeks earlier, whilst sitting on a bus, I had noticed a rabbit (a pretend one) attached to a student’s rucksack and had that lightbulb moment; ping! I’ll make bag bunnies!

Here is my attempt.

 

DSC02192
Bag bunny attempt

Yeah, not great. Disheartened I left bunny making for a while…until last week when I thought I’d have another go.

What helped me this time was actually looking at REAL rabbits. I have two in my garden! What a wasted opportunity if I don’t observe them! I noticed that I’d got the nose shape all wrong and his front paws were too big.

Needle felted rabbits after real rabbit observation.

Actually, the rabbit with the carrot is a slightly improved version that I did once I’d got more in the swing of it. The first version wasn’t so smiley and his back feet not as substantial. He also didn’t start off with a green scarf.

I put the white rabbit on my Etsy shop and then rediscovered some accessories from my old card making/wedding invitation days.

This inspired me to make a bunny bride!

Bits and bobs
She holds paper roses
A veil and necklace

 

Using some of these accessories, I then improved my white bunny by adding a ribbon around her neck and giving her some flowers to hold. I made her feet more substantial too and improved her nose by adding a bit of brown under the pink. I relisted her as the new improved version.

 

Then followed smaller, “younger” bunnies… A cheeky brother and sister pair…

She wears a felt dress with flowers embroidered on.

 

And finally some babies! I had wet felted some brown Bluefaced Leicester wool a while ago (to make cloaks for little Lego figures) and thought this would make a lovely blanket for them. I blanket stitched around this and added some daisy stitches. I also wet felted a bowl shape as a bed and embroidered a couple of daisies on there too. All my bunnies, even these baby ones, have “whiskers”, made from threading invisible thread through their faces using a needle, ouch!

Sleeping bunnies

So, there we are. I really enjoyed my week of needle felting bunnies. It was exciting to feel myself getting better at the process as time went on. I came across the rabbit that was my very first attempt at needle felting, probably from a couple of years ago now.

DSC02189
First ever go at needle felting.

I was so proud of him and I actually like the shape of him. Hmmm, might have a go at other bunnies in this pose…. I’m sure I will be returning to bunny felting again soon. Watch this space!

Most bunnies (apart from early “experiments”) available to buy at my Etsy shop.