Felting Tips

Time has slipped by and it's two weeks since I last wrote a post. Today's felting tip is going to be very brief as I have to prepare for a workshop and my internet connection at home has been too sketchy for writing. The wind plays havoc with our phone line and the last week or two have been WILD. It feels strange to only be able to connect with the on-line world at work.

When building a picture from a limited palette, blending the colours you do have into as many different combinations as possible gives more depth and interest than you would expect. 

Using two, three or even four colours at a time adds depth to the colours and therefore the whole piece.

Felting tips - playing with colour

So how did Christine get from a pile of white fleece to this finished piece? This picture was made using one of our felting kits with just 6 colours in it as well as the white.

First she added tiny wisps and pinches of the two shades of green

Gently patting the laid fibres helps to hold everything where you want it.

This example is being made with the "Peacock" colour way from our web shop. More tips coming next week as I have to get on with preparing art for an exhibition!

Felting Tips - using white

I thought perhaps some folks might be interested in tips from Mum and I about how to make felt. So here is the first "Felting Tip" from Diva Designs. Photos from me, hands in action from Christine - Mum!

We always use white merino as a background to our felt pictures for two reasons:

First, it makes the more expensive colours go further.

Second, it softens all the colours slightly and makes for a subtler overall effect.

hold the wool tops gently in one hand and pull off small tufts with the other hand

lay the tufts side by side in a row

add rows of tufts, overlapping by about a third, till you reach the size you want

lay a second layer of rows of tufts at right angles to the first layer

Once you have two layers of white laying at right-angles to each other you are ready to play with colour!