The Basics of 3D Wet Felting (Free Download)

Hello, felting friends! We get a lot of questions at the gallery about my work such as: what exactly is wet felting?; what is the difference between wet and dry (aka needle) felting?; how are felted sculptures made?; etc. In response to these inquiries, I put together a flyer that outlines the basics of creating 3D forms using wool fiber, along with some care instructions. I thought readers might appreciate it too, so am posting a high-res file (.jpg) here for you to download, print, and share. Note: This is not a step-by-step tutorial, but rather an at-a-glance overview to 3D wet felting. I do have a step-by-step printable tutorial that I provide to workshop attendees, and plan to make available as a free download here soon. Enjoy and happy making! 

Black Felted Wool Rabbit

Look who showed up in the field of rabbitbrush this morning! Specs: Exterior: Wet-felted wool; Interior: Local Pima cotton, silk, and river stones. 28" (h) x 7.5" (w).

Earth, Water, Fire :: Felted Wool Sculptures

Completed this woolly trio, inspired by the elements, this morning. I duplicated the original study (the white polka dotted piece in earlier blog post) and added white wool to the tips of the dreadlocks in this newer version. The tree-like piece was the most challenging with its tapering vertical stripes; they needed lots of tending to in order to keep them straight-ish during the felting process. I am pleased with how nicely they play together as a trio, but not yet sure if I'll try scaling them up. Exterior: 100% wet-felted wool; interior: local Pima cotton, netting, and river stones or glass beads. ~20-23" (h) x ~7-7.5" (w)

Talisman :: Felted Sculpture

The house is filling up with my felted wool Sentinels and Talismans, and we may soon run out of space to store them :) I suppose this work is in response to the pandemic, and the desire to create strong (and sometimes quirky) protective "dieties" for the world. I will continue to explore these themes in the studio and see where things go. Wishing you all strength, protection, and hearts full of hope and joy.

Talisman I (felted wool sculpture), exterior: wet-felted wool; interior: pima cotton, glass beads, netting, 23" (h) x 6" (w).

Sentinel with Crescent Moon

Completed another small (26" ht.) "Sentinel" last night — with crescent moon. Love the mixed-breed dark grey wool (from R.H. Lindsay) — it smelled very animal-ly while wet and contains a fair bit of vegetal matter :) This series of felted sculptures consist of 100% felted wool forms with glazed and fired clay bases

Felted Sculpture :: Developing New Series

Some snaps of work I'm continuing to develop that I started creating while in Mendocino. Working title of series is, "Sentinels" — guardians, watching over us; which seems especially comforting now during this global pandemic. I'm also exploring the phases of the moon; tethered as it is to our planet and to our individual bodies. Photos: The large sculpture is 43.5" (h) and the small one is 23.5" (h); both consist of hand-felted wool hollow forms, with concave (closed) tops; bases are either fired/glazed clay or painted terracotta. #wildlywoolly #feltedsculpture #feltedwool