Four Felt stories from Otaki Retreat 2013.

Here follow 4 little felting stories of some of our fellow NZ felters, as promised.

Some of the projects were big and some were little, but they were all done with enthusiasm and in the spirit of experimentation.

The Felt Story of Rita's tank-engines.

Rita set about making a large rug for her grandson, and it had to have Thomas the tank-engine and friends on it. 

As you can see she started off with cutting prefelts.

Their faces were crucial, they had to be just right. Some silky balloons added to the train party. Then followed several hours of a softly, softly felting method, so that nothing would be out of place. Just when she started to lose all patience, it came together.

Rita (left) and Ellen at the show-and-tell.

Rita finished the rug the same day, and very proudly showed it off to all, and rightly so.

It should be a hard-wearing play-rug, and warm and soft to boot.

The Felt Story of Kay's Hedgehog.

Kay was inspired by a book she recently read, and created a gorgeous little hedgehog.
She used needle felting as a technique.

This is how she started it, an egg shape with a point for the snout.

Add some paws, ears, a button nose,

and of course all its' prickles. In this case they were made from gotland wool curls, and instead of looking sharp and dangerous, we all just want to cuddle it!

The Felt Story of the Whole Gotland Fleeces.

Cheerful Yvonne Monk, who is a prize-winning fleece breeder, and also one of our traders, brought in a number of whole gotland pelt fleeces. Because of their length and climatic conditions, these had started to felt slightly while still on the animals. She had them carefully rolled up, so that they could be spread out in 1 go.

So several people had a go at felting a whole fleece, and trying to keep the curly locks seperated. A layer of wool was laid on the back of the fleece.

This picture above shows just the dry fleece , you can see it is holding together by itself.

You can imagine the hard physical work that followed, it had to be done outside, because of the amount of water involved. 

And although different people had slightly different end-results , the pelts all came out gorgeous and soft, retaining the animals' character.

The Felt Story of Ellen's Egg/Tealight.

Two thin layers of felt with threads and fibres trapped between them, were wrapped around a plastic easter egg. Ellen wanted to play with the light filtering qualities of felt.

After the felt was strong enough to stand up by itself, she cut the egg open and removed the plastic shape.

A glass tealight was placed inside, and the base was felted some more, to make a snug fit.

The candle was lit, and you can see how soft the light shines through the felt. A few crystal drops were added later hanging from each point.


But, you may ask, what about the story of Maureens' rug, and the show-and-tell, and,and...

To be continued.....