It's not new, but that is the beauty of it. Shambolic, when you look up the meaning of the word, is chaotic, cluttered, messy, muddled, and untidy, but that is what I love about shambolic felt. My first exposure to it was in a class taught by Marlene Greuter where we made a shambolic jacket. Our pre-workshop assignment was to put together a collection of articles of silk clothing from second hand shops. How fun was that--my kind of homework assignment! The colors I chose were in the teal and salmon families, augmented with cream,... Read More

We all know the ending of that phrase is, "try, try again." Felt making is like that. There are infinite varieties of colors, textures, techniques, and processes out there. Some methods work better than others; some work for some of us but not for other people. Some work once but not twice. But, one of the reasons I love felt is that it is so variable. I love those happy surprises that happen when an edge is turned under with a tad more fiber in one place than another or the edge scoops in a bit more in one place than in another. I... Read More

Felting is like engineering to me. I was an English major, never an engineer and not once took a course even remotely related to engineering. So I really should say felting is like what I perceive engineering to be! It includes thinking inside out, upside down, and devising ways to join which part to what other part in order to make the final result match the imagined piece. Yep; that's engineering. The Icelandic felter, Anna Gunnarsdottir, has an amazing engineer's brain; her pieces reflect the fact that they are thoroughly... Read More

When I took my first class in felt making I thought that was it. Now that I knew how to make felt; I knew felting. How wrong I was! Had I been listening closely to my instructor, I would have heard really heard and understood--when she said, "There are as many ways to make felt as there are felt makers." The longer I felt, the more felt makers I meet, or come into contact with, the more I understand the truth of her statement. I can't remember my second felting class, but I certainly remember that first one--and the most recent... Read More