Getting Inspired

wow my head looks enormous from this angle :D

Every now and then it's fun to break the routines and try something new. I had been dying to get my hands on actual felting instead of the numerous felt-in-machine-projects (which, I have learnt, are actually called fulled, not felted projects) and was a happy camper when the local civic institute published their list of their new courses. Among all the interesting choices, like "Facebook Basics" and "Facebook Follow-Up "-courses (seriously, wtf?!) I found two felting classes I signed up for.

The first one was truly inspiring! While the others took on some more challenging pieces, I humbly concentrated on making flowers all through the 8 hour class. Seriously. You'd think one would make heaps of cute little flowers in that time. I made three. Yippee. But quality over quantity, I say!

The flowers were assembled from five pieces. First I made little squares, one a bit larger and four smaller ones, and after felting I cut them into little "amoebas".




Then I needle felted them all together, using the bigger piece as a base and bundling the smaller ones in the middle. Piece of piss!

Then I went through all the petals one by one with soapy water, scrunched the flower, soaped some more and voilá, it's a flower.




Staying true to my colors as always, I made one in pink and one in turquoise. The smaller pink flower seen on the pictures is the test-version, the one I went mad on with the scissors. Amoebas, amoebas, that's the key to success!






 Here's some of the items others made:

Now if I would've been feeling a bit more adventurous, I could have used my time making a gorgeous hat or a cute little bag. But I wasn't, so I didn't. But some of the others took on the challenge and wow, they did a great job!

One of my personal favorites was the green crocodile. Making it looked more like voodoo than crafts! The finished beast looks fierce and was made by the youngest of us in class, roughly guestimating this crafty crafter was at least 16 years younger than moi. You gotta start young!

Not all of as were thinking small. Two of the ladies made chair pads and for a moment I felt as if I would've wanted to join in. Then I saw how much material (and work!) goes into them and decided to stick with my chosen path.

Now. If someone shows up in class with pink merino wool and matching equipment, they have to be respected. No matter what you're making at least make your project match your scissors! I found my kindred spirit in Pink Scissors Lady!

These slippers look so adorable finished. I will from now on value all hand made felt slippers even more seeing how much work goes into making them. They didn't seem that difficult to make, might even give it a go at the next course, but for now I'll stick to the knitted ones. But these are adorable!

All in all - I can't wait for next class!

how u like them apples