The gentle art of felting, with Claire Bullock

Claire Bullock came to talk to us this month about felting. It’s difficult to describe how funny and entertaining Claire’s talk was – so I’ll simply say that we spent a happy afternoon chortling away.

We also learned alot. One of the great things about Claire’s talk was a practical demonstration of how she incorporates scraps of fabric into felt. Claire de-mystified the process, and demonstrated how quickly and easily these delicious textiles can be made. For those of us whose felting tends to produce weighty door-steps, it was a revelation to see just how thinly Claire lays her wisps of wool down, and then how gently she felts it.

Gently teasing out wisps of wool ready to felt
Laying the wool down
Adding scraps of fabric
Gently felting the layers together

Claire brought a lovely selection of her work with her, which she kindly let me photograph to put on the website here. Wouldn’t it be great to have a workshop with her to learn some of these techniques? No more felt that looks like a cow-pat and risks knocking people out if thrown as a frisbee. Here’s a link to Claire’s website for further inspiration.