Wet felting is an ancient yet accessible art form that’s perfect for beginners and experienced crafters alike. The process involves layering fibers, wetting them with soapy water, and using gentle agitation to encourage the fibers to interlock, creating a dense and durable fabric. With a bit of practice, you can create beautifully unique, textured, and colorful pieces to wear, gift, or display!
What fibers can you felt with?
If you’re just starting out with felting, we found a wonderful tutorial page that takes you step-by-step through a basic wet felting project.
A Dose of Inspiration:
Our talented newsletter subscriber, Pamela Frame, agreed to let us showcase some of her beautiful creations. She uses a wet-felting technique called Nuno Felting, which includes an addition of fabric. Often, wool is added to one side of a single layer of fabric, but nuno felt can be made with wool on both sides of the fabric or fabric layers on both sides of wool. The layer of fabric adds strength to the felted piece, making it great for garments. Pamela sells her creations at Handwoven Originals in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Pamela Frame had a long career as a performing cellist and teacher. Now she makes painted wooden beads for art jewelry and enjoys making fanciful flowers and floral scenes from Italian crepe paper. It was those floral scenes which led her to working with fiber: first needle-felting, soon followed by her discovery of the process of Nuno-felting.
When asked how long it takes her to make a silk and wool wrap, her answer is “all my life”.
To see more of Pamela’s work and inspiration, check out our Crafter of the Month spotlight.
The world of wet felting is filled with endless creative possibilities, and we hope this post has inspired you to embark on your own felting journey. By choosing natural fibers for your projects, you’re not only making stunning and unique pieces but also embracing sustainability and eco-friendliness. So go ahead, unleash your inner artist, and experience the joy of transforming fibers into beautiful, functional, and sustainable works of art.
Don’t forget to share your wet felting adventures with us on Facebook and Pinterest! We can’t wait to see the amazing projects you create using these incredible fibers. Happy felting!