Sunday, February 5, 2012

Wet Felting Class - A Polka Dot Purse

Oh dear, you can tell I'm a bit under the weather here.

Last Friday I took the day off work and attended a wet felting class at a friend's house. The teacher, Judith Colvin of Bitterroot Fiber Arts Studio, was visiting from Montana. I had done some wet felting years ago, but it was more on the order of felted soaps, and felted Easter eggs. I had never made anything that required templates and water not neatly contained in a bowl.

I'd always found the idea of water everywhere off-putting, but, in fact it really was not bad at all. I did not bring an apron (don't own one) and I brought a change of clothing, but did not need it.

The purpose of this class was to make a pillow sham but Judith kindly allowed me to make a purse. (I dallied before signing up and the purse class was filled.)

It was a lot of fun! But, wow, after hours of felting, I was feeling it in my lower back. Wet felting is not for sissies. In fact, the reason I gave it up years ago was because it inflamed the tendonitis in my wrist.

The following pictures are from Judith's blog.

Most everyone made a pillow sham, but I made a purse. Judith, our fearless leader, is on the far right.

Felting away...

Originally, I was going to add some embroidery, but now I'm not so sure it's a good idea. I went a little nuts with the pre-felt embellishments. This is what I mean when I say I'm not that artistic. ;)

If Judith visits again next year I just may take her Nuno Scarf class. If you live near Montana, I highly recommend her classes! (She also has an Etsy shop - the link is on her blog.)

Superbowl Sunday

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend and Superbowl Sunday. I have been fighting off a cold and am a bit draggy. I am moving very slowly, but I do have a couple easy projects in the works. I also did a little organizing of my clothes. I now have a shelf of Teagarden T's. I counted 13 of those, but might have missed one or two in the laundry. ;)