Felt is the oldest known textile. Layers of wool fibres are built up, wetted, pressed, and rubbed until the magic happens and the fibres bond into a warm, durable and beautiful material.
Making felt is a wonderfully sensory experience: playing with colour, feeling first the dry, soft carded fleece, then the slippery, soapy felt forming under your hands. What was separate becomes connected; transformation happens.
I have made felt with people from three to eighty three. It is relaxing, encourages playfulness and experimentation, and can be a wonderful collaborative project or an expression of individual creativity.
Recent projects
Childwickbury Art Fair
I have been invited to work at Christiane Kubrick's annual art fair over several years, running feltmaking and large-scale weaving and embroidery activities.
Feltmaking workshops
I have run feltmaking days in primary schools producing both individual and colloborative pieces.
I have also run one-day courses introducing adults to felt making.
Felted crafts
I make felted cushions in calming natural colours and simple graphic designs. I also made the banner for Story Tent and make colourful, tactile props for my storytelling
A story
There is a story told by the nomadic peoples of Mongolia that felt was discovered by a shepherd, who, wanting to keep his feet warm through the winter, stuffed his shoes with wool. After a day's shepherding over the rocky steppe, he removed his shoes to find the first ever piece of felt - a perfect foot shape.
What people say
"It's so therapeutic, so relaxing"
Felting course participant