Layered Felt Bangles

Design and handcrafted by Kim Buchheit; © 2013
Snowy Saturdays are simply the best days for felting in the studio with good company, fresh coffee, and lots of yummy fibers. These layered-felted bangle sets are the result of today's undertaking. I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with how to cinch the bangles together, and decided on using silk "hankies' tied in single knots. The two natural fibers play nicely off one another and the silk, once tied, made the elegant decision to bow itself up like a flower. Thank you, silk :)

Nuno Felting with Habotai Silk

Design and handcrafted by Kim Buchheit
I bought some 5mm Habotai silk last week and did some experimenting with mixed results (see sample above). While I love the fabric itself, it takes much more effort to coax the wool fibers into this weight of Habotai silk than into silk chiffon, for example. In some areas you may notice that the fibers did not migrate into the silk at all, but rather felted to themselves on the surface. Now, that said, I am not giving up on this lovely silk — it has a beautiful sheen and feels so luxurious. In my next attempt, I plan on using a hand-sander for the early cool-water stage, and will post results with comments on that soon. If you're looking for a fool-proof silk to use in nuno felting, I recommend using 8mm silk chiffon. Also, I've used very-open weave 100% cotton gauze (or cheesecloth) with great results.

Some Blog Love

Sunshine Brooch by Katrine at The Gentle Flower

The talented Katrine of The Gentle Flower interviewed Wildly Woolly yesterday. We shared some inexpensive, easy-to-implement business tips for entrepreneurs and enjoyed getting to know one another. Read the interview here and comment if you can... 'cause it's all about the love! :) Thank you.

The Glam Continues...

Available in Wildly Woolly's Etsy shop

Designed and handcrafted by Kim Buchheit; photo by Mike Buchheit

These little posh purses will escort you stylishly into winter! Soft round-bodied sweeties with decadent luxe feather trim. Recession schmession... a girl's gotta look good. Handmade from merino wool, and each one is unique — to touch one is to fall in love! I'll be making a few more cute clutches for the holiday season, but as always, my pieces are limited editions — mostly because I love designing new things rather than making multiples... okay, I'm a little ADHD too.

More Woolly Baubles

Available now in my Etsy shop!

Designed and handcrafted by Kim Buchheit, © 2011.
The elk are bugling at the canyon and we've had a few sweater-weather days of late! To usher in the season, I've added more felted wool bracelets to my Etsy shop. Grab yours today and greet ole Jack Frost in style :)