Felting Friends: Summer Felting Fun + Who Made the Newsletter?

"We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?"

~Marianne Williamson

when you allow yourself to be wholly you,
and express in your unique way, its easier to remember
that you ARE brilliant. Express your creative genius today!

Jen Webster of British Columbia, Canada shares her fabulous felted
summer soaps using New Zealand Corriedale and her trusty felting needle.

If you don't know how to felt over soap, give it a try
see our tutorial below. Merino Cross Batts are also VERY easy to felt over soap.

New Zealand Corriedale | Merino Cross Batts

As always, we wish you happy felting, and let us know if you have any questions
or need any support by emailing us at customer service@livingfelt.com

With Love,
Marie

Sandy Pape really made our week with these adorable little chickies
and her wonderful Love Note, Thanks, Sandy!!

"Greetings everyone at Living Felt~

Attached are pictures of two felted birdies I recently made.
I had a lot of fun creating these little guys!

I used your core wool for the construction of both of their bodies.
The yellow birdie is covered with "Chickie" and the pink birdie is covered with "Water Lilly".
Their feet/legs are made out of bent wire.

Also, I feel the need to tell you that I could not find two colors of felt from your company, so I ordered them from another company (I will leave their name a secret)!
Anyway, the reason why I am telling you this is that the wool I received from the other company was horrible and the shipping was extremely slow!

Living Felt has the BEST felt out there and is the BEST company to deal with!
I am sure I do not have to tell you this because you already know this,
but I just wanted to say "thank you".

I am very grateful for having such a wonderful company to deal with
and to rely on for getting such high quality wool and needle felting products."

Kind Regards, Sandy Pape
North Port, FL

Marianne Oberbillig crafted this lovely doll complete with her pet wolf!

"I am attaching one of my sculptures that I have created using your wonderful products.
I have displayed my sculptures at art shows and I have my own shop on Etsy. (mobeobie)
This little girl and her pet wolf are on display in town during
our Summer Series exhibit titled "Nature Made".
Thank you for such great and thoughtful service."

Marianne Oberbillig
Lake Mills WI

...visit facebook to see even more great pics by our mutual felting friends,
and send us your pics to be featured on our blog, in our newsletters,
and the Living Felt Website. Your pic might even make the home page!

How to Submit Your Photos

, we need clear, crisp photos
-- Please send the best photos you can! :)

More Felting Friends Pics on the Blog!

Living Felt Friends on Facebook

If you've never felted over a bar of soap, you might like to try it just once
and see how you like it! Some people really get down to business and felt tons
of bars for gifts and craft shows. It becomes a self soaping scrubby bar :)

As with any project, there are endless ways to go about it, and below
is one approach that I have found easy and fun to do!


For great results on your first try, start with merino cross batting, and a bar of olive oil soap. If your soap has very sharp edges, consider rounding them with a vegetable peeler or knife.		Lay two overlapping strips, one running north and south, the other running east to west. It should be just enough wool to evenly cover you bar of soap.


Fold/wrap the wool tightly around the bar of soap, covering all areas. If you leave a hole in the wrapping, you will have a hole in the finished product. Holes grow wider as the wool shrinks towards other fibers and away from the gap.		Now your bar should be completed covered in wool.With batting, the fibers are already going in many different directions, so the felting will come easily. Roving or sliver will do better with at least three layers to get the fibers criss-crossing.


Place your hand inside a pair of knee-high stockings and grab the bar of soap, then fold the stocking around the bar so it is fully encased.The wool should lay flat and be without folds. The stocking provides a nice barrier and will hold the wool in place while you felt.		Wrap hair bands around the stocking to hold it in place. Dunk your soap in hot water, pressing hte water through and the air out. Begin massaging the surface of the wool through the stocking. Rotate the bar in your hands, rubbing all sides and corners to felt the wool evenly and firmly.

When the fibers begin to migrate through the stocking, gently peel it off and continue felting by hand.Rinse as needed if it gets too sudsy, and when you have a nice skin on your felt, shape it and set it to dry. It will firm up as it dries. If desired, put a label on it and there you have it! Here is a free label template in Word you can use and change... It's called Soap in a Sweater

Here is what Jen Webster writes about her needle felted soaps:

Believe it or not, the needle goes into the soap fairly easily . You do have to be careful, as I have broken off a couple of needle tips into the soap. I am using handcrafted soap from a local lady, and they are a little softer. I think too that the soap softens from the felting process. I do let the them dry a few hours before needle felting. I have had some bars the wet felting process didn't do the best, and using the needle you can clean up the uneven spots, and add fibre in the areas that didn't quite get covered.
Cheers,
Jen

The LIVING FELT
2nd Annual International Felting Contest!

The LIVING FELT International Felting Contest promotes
quality in craftsmanship, creativity and the uniqueness
of self-expression within a particular theme.
There are two categories you may enter.

Download Entry Form and Complete Guidelines

Felted Doll Category:
Create an Art Doll of Your Design
Wet felt or needle felt a doll of your own design. The doll
can be human or fantasy, and must have at least head,
and hands made from hand-made felt.

Advice from Caterpillar, by Allison Sloan

See last year's amazing entrants here
Download Entry Form and Complete Guidelines

Theme Category: Seuss~pirations!
(Inspired by Dr. Seuss)

Oh! The things you'll felt! Within the theme you may create 2D or a 3D creation,
it can be a sculpture, a doll, a functional item, a purely decorative item,
a wearable...you name it!

For our Seusspirations category this year, we encourage you
to make up your own unique beings inspired by the Good Doctor.

Awards & Prizes:

1st Place Winner in each Category:
* $250 Gift Certificate for Living Felt *
* promoted on Living Felt website & publications *
* featured in Art Doll Quarterly Magazine *
* Certificate and Ribbon *

2nd Place Winner in each Category:
* $100 Gift Certificate for Living Felt *
* promoted on Living Felt website & publications *
* appear in Art Doll Quarterly Magazine *
* Certificate and Ribbon *

3rd Place Winner in each Category:
* $50 Gift Certificate for Living Felt *
* promoted on Living Felt website & publications *
* Certificate and Ribbon *

Download Entry Form and Complete Guidelines

Some of the most outstanding creations will be
showcased in ART DOLL Quarterly!

SEE THE ARTICLE
FEATURING 2010 CONTEST WINNERS

To share this contest with your online groups and felting friends,
simply point them to this page, or tell them to go to our website
and click on Win! at the top of the page!

Peace Felt 2011 Registration is Now Open!

How would you like to receive a beautiful, hand-crafted
gift that symbolizes Peace, Love and Unity from
another part of the country...or even the world?

Last year we had over 500 participants exchanging
just such gifts, together we created a
Circle of Peace Felt Around the World.

This year we already have 250+ participating
from 15 countries around the world!

You can join us this year. There is no cost to participate.

Full details on our website:
More on Peace Felt

See last year's exchanges on our Peace Felt facebook page

If you participated last year, or are ready to sign up,

Register for PEACE FELT 2011 Here