The Dodo Blog

THE STORY BEHIND THIS PROJECT

I belong to a small felt club that gets together once a month via Zoom to felt in a group setting.

In our December meeting, the suggestion was that we create seasonal pieces. We usually felt 3D/sculptural items, and that was planned for December as well. But even though we work on a certain topic each month, we do have much creative freedom in the group. So, this time I thought of doing something slightly different.

I have tons of felt leftovers from many projects along the years, and I wanted to do something seasonal by recycling what I already had, instead of producing something entirely new. These bits accumulate with time, and it bothers me to see so much material not be used.

So, I gathered the thicker white felt leftovers (some of which was Nuno felt, which made it even more interesting), as well as some fun “Christmassy” templates I also already had from past projects. And, without having a clear initial idea, I started cutting the flat felt i...

This year, make your Easter gifts extra special!

Here’s a sweet tutorial to help you gift some extra love this Easter 😊

WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR THE BUNNIES?

That will depend on how many you want to make. So, I’ll just give you the list of materials for 4 bunnies like mine. You can adapt the colors and/or decoration to your own taste.

• 40 cm of green ribbon
• 40 cm of pink ribbon
• 2 small bells
• 2 sew-on strass pieces
• Green and pink thread
• A thin needle (that can pass through the holes of the strass)
• A thimble
• 2 thin felting needles
• Felting foam
• Some white fine merino wool
• 2 thick (about 7 mm thick) sheets of pre-felt (pink and dark brown); each of them should be big enough to cut 2 bunnies
• The pattern
• Some gold and silver thread

INSTRUCTIONS

Start by making the pre-felt with your wool of choice. I can’t say exactly how many layers you need, since that’ll depend on how thick you lay your wool. But 4 should do if you’re working with thick layers.

Cut 2 bunnies in pi...

I’m really excited about this week’s topic because I find there aren’t many wet felters exploring it. And that’s the usage of batts for wet felting.

Batts are more commonly used in needle felting, but they’re definetely worth exploring in wet felting too.

When applied right, batts can:

• save you so much time and effort, since the layout is a lot less laborious than it is for tops
• help you achieve a more even layout

Also, if you're open to wet felting with batts as well as tops, you'll have a wider choice in colors, since often suppliers have a different color palett for batts and tops. And, in my experience, they produce a felt that is a bit different from the one made with tops: less shiny but smoother.

These are 3 new lessons about 3 different ways to lay wool batts, when to use them, as well as the advantages of working with them.

So, if this is something that sparks interest for you, you can access this week’s lessons by signing up for the Free Felting Membership, The D...

Yes! That's right. I've been working on a free felting membership and it's now available for you to enjoy :)

You see, I’ve been blogging and vlogging about wet felting for over a decade. And what I’ve noticed is that in those formats, it’s easy to lose track of what I’ve already covered since the information is scattered everywhere.

I also wanted a place where you could ask me questions in a way that other felters could also benefit from the answers. So, after considering the pros and cons of the different platforms, I decided this would be the best way to have everything under the same roof.

It's called The Dodo Sandbox because it's a place for you to play, experiment and grow your felting skills :)

The membership area is divided into the “core training” and different chapters or modules, each dedicated to a different topic. When you enter the members’ area, that’s exactly what you see.

Of course, I’ll be creating new modules about other topics as I see what your needs are. And...

Today I’ve got a short video for you.

It’s on a subject that I haven’t heard anyone talk about yet: recycling felted wool rests.

It might not seem very important to you, if you’re just starting out with felting. But if it’s something you do on a regular basis, I bet you’ve already asked yourself what you should do with all those bits and pieces that you got from cutting parts off your projects or from items that just didn’t turn out the way you expected.

To me this is really something important. I work with high quality wool (with the certifications Öko-Tex® Standard 100 and Global Organic Textile Standard), so it would never cross my mind to throw away any rests. I keep every little bit, even the pieces my students don’t want to save, when I’m teaching live workshops ? This means I ended up with bags full of all shapes and colors, and I really wanted to do something with them.

When I started filming my latest felting workshop, I decided it was time to reuse all this wool I had. An...

No matter if you’re just starting out or if you’re an experienced felt maker. Whether something goes wrong with a project or you’ve made a pre-felt and didn’t use it all, there are always felt rests. Mine keep increasing! I have lots of bags with pieces in all colors and sizes. And I tell everyone who’s ever attended one of my workshops not to throw anything away. The way I see it, wool is too precious to land in the garbage bin.

But, of course, what’s the point in collecting them if you just keep having bigger bags? So, here’s an idea of a sweet and easy project you can make with something like a bag that went wrong (I have lots of those too). All you need is a piece with 10 to 12 cm, depending on the template you choose.

Here are a couple of shapes I suggest. I used to make keyholders and magnets like this. They can be sweet and original gifts!

And these are some of the pieces I have in those bags I was talking about ? Draw a silhouette you like on a piece of cardboard. Just m...