Friday, January 16, 2009

needle felted conversation heart tutorial

a perfect easy felting project for valentines day, or modified for an inaugural craft!


materials: wool roving, felting needle, silicone heart ice cube tray (ikea).this is an easy beginning needlefelting project.
start by rolling up a bit of the wool roving in a ball. roll the wool tightly.

place the ball of wool in the ice cube tray.
gently poke the wool with the felting needle. the barbs on the needle lock the wool fibers together. usually needle felting is done over a mat or brush or sponge, and the needle passes all the way though the object. but in this case you can just make sure to stop when you hit the plastic.
the wool will felt in the direction that you stab it from. so poke it from all directions.
just make sure to stab straight in and out, to prevent the needle from breaking.

turn the wool over and continue to work it from both sides and all angles.
it won't be exactly heart shaped right away. wrap more wool around the ball, and continue to stab it.
to create a more defined heart, you can also stab it when it's not in the ice tray.

you can keep adding wool as you like, to get the thickness you want.


to add words, take a little bit of a contrasting color wool, and twist it with your fingers.
hold the twisted fibers where you want to start making letters.
stab through and next to the contrasting color, forming the letters you want to write. you can always add more wool to make larger stronger letters.
if you are having a hard time finding the supplies for this project, i put together a kit of supplies that is available in my etsy shop.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

vote TODAY on change.org to save handmade!


have you been following the news about the c.p.s.i.a.? it stands for 'consumer products safety improvement act,' new legislation slated to go into effect on february 10th.

the idea behind the new law is to protect children from toxic products. but the way the law is currently written, even small and home based business who make all natural items in small batches for children would be forced to pay exorbitant testing fees to say in business legally.

the image above is from cool mom picks.

there is a lot of information available at http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org

most importantly, today is the last day to vote at www.change.org!!

Monday, January 05, 2009

i made it into the top 100 on the long thread!

ellen, who writes the lovely blog the long thread, which is about "handcrafted goods in the age of mass production" has been so kind as to include my felt candy cane tutorial in her top 100 list of 2008! thanks ellen!

to see the a list of all 100, including the tutorials that go along with the photo above, go here.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

happy new year!

2009 is the year of the ox. this image is an original traditional japanese wood block print, or moku hanga, made by qi papers http://qipapers.etsy.com. the artist also has a great explanation of the process of this intricate art form on her blog.

2008 has been a great year for me, and for felt cafe. thanks to all my wonderful customers and readers! i am excited about the many possibilities that 2009 holds.

this is the stunning felt work of oyku, a very telented feltmaker from turkey. okyu has etsy shop at http://oyku.etsy.com, and she and her sister showcase their lovely collection at art.i.choke.