Facebook

As you probably realize, I can be a bit slack when it comes to posting on this blog. But if you do want regular updates on what Felted Thoughts is up to and what I have been making and selling then the best place to go is the Felted Thoughts Facebook page. Its getting fairly popular now and I post on it almost daily. There's photo albums for all the different things I have made, because I don't post photos of everything here. I also update on what fairs I will be at so if you want to come and see them in the flesh then watch me on Facebook for news on all that sort of stuff too. It's also the best place for contacting me,
other than emailing me but all my contact details and
information are on there so head on over :)

http://www.facebook.com/FeltedThoughts

Gaga

The day after Boxing day I decided I wanted to do something completely different and try and make a celeb felt. So, at 1am (I was getting obsessed and decided sleep was less important) I got to work on making a felt of Lady Gaga's Born This Way video look. I was quite pleased with it but obviously it's not perfect. You can see who it is and I guess in felt she was always going to look a bit like a muppet puppet. She took me hours to do though but it's all good practice :)

New dimensions

After Christmas I needed to have a big think about what else I could sell other than tree decorations. I had had a few friends ask me to make animals for them, and on Boxing Day I went into felting over drive felting for 14 hours solid using these as an excuse to practice making sculptural 3D felts. I had never done this before and when studying art for me Btec and Degree, I was always a massive failure at sculpture, but I was amazed because these felt pieces turned out so well! They were so cute and quirky and just how I pictured them when I began making them.
The first one I made was a pink squid for a friend who likes sea life. A lot of people have asked if I make flat felt, stuff it and stitch it but I don't. The whole thing is felted wool fibres. If you cut them in half down the centre they would be matted felt clumps all the way through.
After making the squid I made a flamingo for myself, which isn't really 3D as I wanted to try turn him into a brooch but he isn't just a flat image, there is definitely depth to him.

But the 3D felt I was most proud of at the time was the fox head I made for Emma at Tall Fox Dot. He's slightly bigger than my fist and has such a cute little face. She was so pleased with him when she received it. It took me three and a half hours of stabbing with my felting needle, and I had a little accident and put the needle right through my finger at one point resulting in a lot of blood and a few queezy feeling people who had witnessed it, but I just soldiered on like a trooper! :oP

Christmas 2011

Just as I did the year before, I decided to make a new series of Christmas decorations to sell. 2010's decorations were all 2D squares with pictures felted onto them. They looked good but I wanted to go step further this time and create characters and give them a bit more oomph with some 3D features. So I began by making father christmas's with bulgy noses and I only loosely felted his beard so it was left fluffy. I also made snow man with carrot noses that stuck out and christmas pudding with berries. They looked good and I have sold a few so I was pleased. Then I decided to make some baby penguins after seeing a trailer for Happy Feet 2 and they were soooo popular :) He had a little round bulgy beak and looked very cute.

When placing orders, a few people asked me if I could put names or dates on to the decorations so I bought a few felt heart tags (I wouldn't normally buy them but I didn't have much time) and felted '2011' onto them and and hung them from the bottom of the character. With the names, I felted them onto the main part of the decoration. Most people wanted penguins so it was usually across their belly.

I had a large order of ten dated decorations. The pic below shows the collection of them together :)

Felted Thoughts

I have had a busy few months! As planned when I last posted (3 months ago!!), I have got myself back together and Felted Thoughts is up and running and I am spewing out felts left right and centre! The quality of what I make has improved immensely and they have even stepped into three dimensions.
Anyway, today I will begin posting about everything that I've been doing. I've decided to do a separate post for each section just for my own organisation and understanding really. Plus it would be easier if I want to link someone to a particular piece of information or photo etc. :)

Not sure if I mentioned it before but I have a Felted Thoughts Facebook page which is where I update almost daily about what I've been making and doing so hop on over there and give me a 'like' :) and say hello!