Felt Making

I have a friend, we will call her Helen (because that is her name) who has a friend, we will call her Yvette from Starjump Arts (because once again that is her name!).   One friend has flirted with felt - where as the other has embraced the art of felting, with such love and enthusiasm she now teaches it!!

Felting is something I have admired, from a far!!  But with the fear of liking it so much (that yet another craft is added to my list of hobbies) I have tried hard to stay away!! But I will admit to purchasing a poppy kit back in 2013 - the stunning box and contents now sits in my cupboard awaiting such time, that time actually allows me to complete it!

So when H said she was going to attend a class, I jumped at the chance - sadly only to find the date already allocated on another activity. So I waited, waited, and waited just a little while longer and eventually a date appeared that was free in my diary - so off I went - map in hand over to Red Door Studios in West Ham.

Arriving a little early (well very early in fact!) I settled in, admiring the surrounding of this very quirky studio.....

I was kindly given a cup of tea and some felting books to admire..... well felt from the raw source .... some sheep books!

And before I knew it - we were off.  A class of just two - near enough one to one tuition no less!!! We were shown the first few steps of the felting process and then selected the colours we wanted to use..... it's so hard coming up with something really creative when put on the spot - I really should have thought much harder on the train journey up!  And even harder when the sample the teacher is making is outstandingly good!

So, I decided on my usual rainbow theme.....

The felt sample from the other class member.... looking good!

Then it was roll, roll, roll a little more. Turn, roll, roll, roll some more, Turn, roll ...... well you get the picture - there was a LOT of rolling!!

 They all needed to dry, so at this point we stopped for lunch. So the dried pieces looked like this....

And this master piece from our tutor - tremendous..... I did think, while taking the picture, if she would actually miss this piece of felt should it disappear into my bag by accident.... but I did the next best thing and purchased some materials, so I could make my own version of a sunflower..... watch this space!!

Ta Dah.... with just a little extra embellishment at home..

Off, now to find my diary to pencil in a felting weekend - Poppies and Sunflowers here I come!!