felt ornaments

felt mistletoe cluster from ohdedoe,
and a few felt ornaments from the whip up roundup: stars from the purl bee,
and the felt ogee from betz white.

and i'm so flattered that my felt candy cane tutorial was also included! thanks, whip up.

felt ball ornaments

these are some felt ball ornaments that i made a few years ago. they were very easy to make, and turned out pretty much exactly the way i imagined them (which does not always happen!).
they are solid wool balls, made by hand with the finishing step of throwing them in the dryer, which makes them firm up and become very dense with a uniform surface. sadly, i have no dryer here in japan, so i haven't made these for the last few years. after the wool ball is made (and you can use any wool for the core, a cheaper wool or a color you want to get rid of), i used needle felting to apply the motif. which is super super easy--using a felting needle to needlefelt onto a solid felt ball is a very straightforward technique!
i don't have a tutoral for these, but there is a good basic video tutorial that i referred to when i first tried making large felt balls is here, from the crunchy parent on youtube.

felt ornaments with tutorials

here are a few of my handmade felt ornaments from years back, stockings...
and candy canes! the candy canes are an especially easy project for your very first time making felt. they are wrapped around a pipe cleaner and then felted by hand. super fast, great for kids.

tutorials for both of these project are in the archives, stockings here and candy canes here, and they are also linked to over there on the right in the tutorial list!

felt lanterns from papaververt

these gorgeous lanterns were made by papaververt, who makes a lovely array of modern felt vessels that you may have seen before. via poppytalk.

much love, illy giveaway

just look at those flowers--felt, orange, poppies--3 of my favorites combined in one! this is one of the items made by much love, illy who is sponsoring a shopping spree givaway via paper n stitch: more info here.

march handmade market at chionji

these little guys are made of felt, and are sooo cute!
the same artist needle felted these animals on to fabric items.
they actually sell their works in a combination zakka/cafe/bonsai shop, it sounds awesome, i think i need to check it out.
and i love these pins made from reusing fabric with japanese traditional family crests, or komon.

woven felt valentines hearts

wow, how did it get to be the end of january so fast? i'm leaving tomorrow (which is in a few hours) for a week long research trip to indonesia. but i wanted to leave you with another little valentine's day craft-woven felt hearts.

i used the lovely craft felt we have here in japan, and i recommend this link for the weaving instructions. these hearts were all made from 1 small sheet of red and white felt, with a little left over.

if you've never tried making these woven hearts before, i would recommend trying it with paper first, because i think you will have a better idea of how it works. but, actually, the felt is easier to handle then paper, because it's more stretchy and flexible.

more goals for a new year: balance

balance is a big goal. balance in play and work and study, time, sleep, healthy food. these felted rocks are by reya, by the way, and aren't they beautiful?
one specific balancing goal is to start doing yoga again, i need to! and i know myself: i need to join a class to keep motivated. the vintage post card above is from 47th street supply company.

hmm. i think i might keep sharing a goal a day for a while, i don't feel like i'm running out yet!

what about you? any goals for 2010?

five days of felt on twig and thistle

twig and thistle has been doing a 5 days of felt series, which has some great ideas, including these felt bows,and these projects from martha stewart.

more awesome holiday felt inspiration

an amazing felt wreath, by pickles, via whip up.

more beautiful work by littleloveblue, whose felt garland project is featured on the storque this week.
and a lovely collection of scandinavian holiday crafts (some including felt) found by themayberrysparrow.

actually, the danish hearts by pingvina of copenhagen are a craft project that we always did in my family when i was a kid, and one of the projects that i will be sharing with my english students this week!

mini craft books

recently, i have been loving little japanese craft books, almost more like booklets. as you can guess they are smaller than regular craft books, but can have some adorable and useful projects in them, nonetheless! this one is about making felt flowers using needle felting.
it has simple instructions (with photos, patterns, and diagrams of course) showing how to make the petal shapes for different flowers, and how to then put the flowers together. flickr set here.

this little book is full of patterns for hand carved stamps, which are quite a popular craft in japan.the designs are all simple, but they are very cute. flickr set here.
and this little book is a glossary of crochet stitches (don't be fooled by the english word knitting on the cover), including symbols, photos, and how-to diagrams for 60 stitches. so useful when i was trying to learn beginning crochet and japanese charting at the same time! flickr set here.

i just added these 3 little books to my shop. although the stamp design one has sold out, more copies will be on their way, and as always i can reserve one just for you.

snowflake embroidery by resurection fern

just beautiful, including a tutorial. from resurrection fern, via craft gossip.

current inspiration-needle felting embroidery book

i am so inspired by this book. maybe it's just my recent fascination with embroidery combined with my long love of felt, but i think the combination is brilliant. just added to the shop.

i've tried something similar on my own several years ago, but this method (these are the how-to photos from the book) show a very precise process of needlefelting directly onto the fabric, and then applying some soap and water to get a more smoothly felted surface...
and then the final details and touches with the felting needle.

there are so many detailed and colorful projects; there's a full flickr set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltcafe/sets/72157622847355110/
i want to try this technique as soon as possible, maybe on something with a holiday theme...

felt food, harvest feast and sandwich

this amazing harvest feast made of felt by dana at made was the winner of the so you think you're crafty contest. via craft.
and this lovely felt sandwich was made by tania of myrtle and eunice.

these are some great blogs, be sure to check them out. and of course, i love these wonderful high quality felt craft projects, with great tutorials to go along with them.

christmas and winter felt tutorials

i really did a lot of felting last year at christmas time! here's some of the photos in my holiday felt flickr set.

i wanted to share in one place a few tutorials i created around christmas last year; i thought i would bring them back if anyone wants to make some felt projects this winter. and by the way, did you notice that i put links to all the tutorials i've written on this blog? they are over there on the right, all the way at the top so that they are easy to find anytime!

felt candy canes-these are soooo easy, perfect for kids, beginners, parties.
little stocking ornaments-one step up from beginner, they include felting around a little resist (made of bubble wrap). this is actually the perfect project to try that, since it's small and manageable, and the final project doesn't have to fit anything exactly.



these are heart-shaped oven mitts-which also involve felting around a flat bubble wrap resist. when you are ready to try a little bit bigger project.
and a felt french press cozy-it uses a big flat piece of felt. so the felt making is simple, but again you are working at a little bit larger scale. and then you trim the felt piece and refelt the edges, so the goal is a piece of felt that is pretty uniform. you could also use commerical felt for this project.

some of these tutorials mention things that i don't have in my etsy shop right now, but if you want a custom order, it might be possible. the felt ball ornaments won't be available this year (i don't have a dryer to make the felt balls nice and smooth), but i'm planning on writing a tutorial for them, and trying some new needle felting ornament projects.

and, for anyone who likes felt, (i assume that's you, otherwise you would have stopped reading by now), you should visit the fabric blog true up, where this whole week, kim will be posting about wool felt. yay!

felt, fall, leaves and scarves

elena from the etsy shop odds and ends always creates amazing and inspirational felt work, and this scarf is gorgeous!
this handknit rainbow scarf is from namolio, doesn't it just look so snugly?

this project is from raspberry fairy on flickr, and i saw it in this collection of felt leaf garland crafts, which i heard about thanks to the long thread.

ok, so to be completely honest i feel like winter is already here, or at least around the very next corner. and i am certainly already thinking ahead to some crafting for the december holiday already. but first, i wanted to take a moment to share some lovely fall and felt projects i've come across recently. and besides, the height of brilliant fall leaves here in kyoto is still a few weeks off!
ok, this one is wintery, but they are wearing red scarfs! and they are soooo cute. they are made by jesse from all things small, which is her darling shop filled with wee creatures.

last weekend's markets

last weekend i went to 2 markets on sunday. kyoto has a lot of cultural treasures, and in my opinion, market culture is one of them!

by the way, have you seen that banner with the red acorns over there on the right side of this post, for felt cafe japan?------>

it's my new project, which i'm very excited about; gathering and sharing resources about japanese crafts, crafting in japan, and crafty shopping in japan. if you have any ideas about this new site, or would like to contribute, please let me know!

one of the sections on felt cafe japan is all about the different markets in kyoto, here:
http://www.feltcafejapan.com/kyoto-handmade-markets

there are antique markets that have some handmade items, and handmade markets with more younger craftspeople. last sunday i went to one of each.

the photo at the top of this post is from the tenjin market, the anique/flea market at kitano tenmanu on the 25th of each month. the photo is of one of the side areas, where they were selling plants. the little structure with the white tables is selling coffee.

this is the same market, near the entrance where all the food vendors were. there was a mix of traditional local pickle makers, and festival food. toward the end and on a different street, i had the biggest buta-man (steamed pork bun) i've ever seen. super delicious. in this photo, the dark blue banner says 'kyoto pickles' and i bought some! i'm still learning the names for pickles, so i don't know what they are called, but they are purple, include ginger and cucumbers and i love them.

at the antique/flea markets, there are usually some crafts too, often more of the traditional kinds. for example these little chirimen bunnies.

i made a flickr set with more pictures from this market.


then i went to the handmade market at kamigamo shrine, which is held on the 4th sunday of every month. it was my first time to this market, and i definitely plan to go back as often as i can. there was a nice selection of crafts, even though i didn't get there until later in the day. and the setting-peaceful woods and a nearby stream-was lovely.

this woman was selling felt off of her bike.

wonderful felt slippers.

great little felt animals!
you can see more photos in this set.