Felting Forum News

Artist Offerings Needed for Australian Bushfire Relief

2009-02-19T20:49:00.019-09:00

A State on Fire
a message from Felting Forum member, judelicious.

Each summer February looms before Victorians as 'bushfire season'. But of course life goes on as usual, it has to. This year however, life has not gone on as normal. A firestorm of more than 30 fires across Victoria has marked Feb 2009 as a black period of Australia's history, racing over hilltops and houses in seconds and devastating whole towns in minutes.

10 days on and i feel incredibly fortunate to be continually receiving good news of the survival of close friends and relatives in affected areas. But the smoke that still hangs over us like a fog ever-reminds me of those who are not able to say this today, of the parents who have lost sons and daughters, the children who have lost their dads, those who have lost partners and life-long friends, animals. livelihood, homes and businesses as fires ripped indiscriminately across our lands.

The issues that are unfolding from this disaster are so vast and complex. I realise it can be difficult to understand when one may be so far removed from it, and to remember these things when they start to disappear from the headlines (especially given thatso many areas around the world are inflicted by natural disasters daily).But it will take months, even years to rebuild these shattered lives and communities, and for Victoria to overcome this incredible attack on our increasingly threatened & ever-precious water supply.

Please do not forget.

Thanks, Jude - that was beautiful! We have many members of our forum who's lives have been somehow affected by this disaster. Forum member, Jude is one. I asked Jude to write a plea for help. And our dear forum member, Kaza, has been working hard in conjunction with the Red Cross to organize an art auction during the height of tourist season in her community in Victoria.

Our collective compassion and creative energy of our talented members is a very powerful thing and I'm asking all forum members to donate at least one felted art item to help make a difference with the recovery; to help rebuild shattered lives.

Please Visit Kaza's Blog for the details. http://www.karensfeltworks.blogspot.com/

Or Mail your donations to:

Karen Erickson
C/O Artist's Offering Fundraiser
P.O.Box 308
Cowes
Victoria, Australia 3922

Follow this link for tags to identify your donation(s) - adding a price is optional

Lets sound our voices on our social networks! Spread the word and lets show the world we care!

Felting Forum News Jan/Feb, 2009

2009-02-02T14:07:00.003-09:00

For those of you who are using a dial-up connection, I wish SO Badly you could view this with ease. But so you don't miss any news, I have all of the info here in plain text.

Greetings Felting Friends!

I hope we are all off to a great start to 2009. I have a feeling it's going to be a big year for felting! Many of you noticed that I didn't send a newsletter in January. Thanks for your patience with me - you could say I have been having a few technical difficulties - read the big announcements on the next page and I will fill you in.

The word is out - and felting is hot right now. I believe our amazing members are playing a huge role in making that happen with unending creativity, innovation and enthusiasm. We have a farily new section on the forum called Marketing Our Work and the conversations are quite enlightening. So many members are getting out there and working very hard to show their work to the world. Many are selling online and at local shows and events, others are demonstrating, others are teaching and at the end of every day, there are many more people in the world stricken with Felting Fever! And of course, this leaves a huge demand for supplies and instruction and our members are stepping right up to that plate too!

Speaking of Felting Fever! A big welcome to the many new members of our forum. Even though I can't reply in person to all of the lovely registration email messages in person, I do read each of them and LOVE hearing all of that enthusiasm. For any of you that may be feeling shy or hesitant - I encourage you to set that aside and jump in. Our forum is a great place to share your first projects and ask for specific advice. You won't find much criticism though; I think most members feel the same as I do - if it's felted I love it!

I have to give a HUGE thanks to our forum moderators - and we only have two - Kaza and MTRuth. You guys are the rocks of the forum and you rock! Thanks!!!!

Thanks everyone for making the forum a very special place!

Kay Petal Your Happy Forum Admin

Special Announcements

I'm sure many have you have noticed that forum is not looking like it's familiar old self these days. I am so happy to announce that we are now running on the latest and greatest Forum software!

While the old forum was working fine, there was no longer support offered for the version we were using. So, I made the decision to bring in a pro and make the upgrade! I think we will all wonder how we ever got along without some of the new features. The New Posts link is the best - I am finding it a great way to keep up on all of the activity across the board. And now we can subscribe to forums and inividual topics or bookmark topics for future reference! Picture sharing has become a breeze and we can now embed video as well. You will find a User Control Panel to manage your account that has some nice features; Make sure to customize your signature file. We can now include color and feel free to share links to any websites where you share you work. Also, there is now a box in your profile to input in your date of birth-the forum will automatically announce your special day!

As you play on the forum, you will discover many new and exciting features. If you run into any problems navigating the new site - please post your questions on the forum so we can all learn together! I haven't even disocovered most of the features yet; the biggest reason I wanted to upgrade is for ease of management and greater security. Our forum is precious - the information in the posts is priceless!

I must admit that I have run into some technical problems along the way - There is quite a bit going on behind the scenes of such a busy forum - databases working together and other stuff that is clearly way over my head. But with sheer determination, I have been resolving the problems, learning as I go! I just got the email figured out so thanks for being patient with me for not sending an email in January. And I have been scrambling to fix some major issues with the registration process. A huge apology to the new members that were kept waiting for their accounts to be activated! But, I think the problems are fixed (knock on wood) and we are in for smooth forum sailing!

So! Enjoy all the forum has to offer, if you find a useful feature, share it with everyone.

Felting Challenges

We are off to a grand start! Our first challenge theme of the year was The Blues. Our talented members have certainly interpreted the blues!

We have an Alpaca Barack - made during the inauguration of President Obama; some absolutely gorgeous examples of traditional wet felting; The needle felting crowd gave us a Blue Kerry terrier, blues rock legend, Janice Joplin, made an appearance and little Sour Grapes was perfect for the blues! There are some amazing entries from new members - the Peacock is stunning! I can't possibly mention everyone here so I have put it all on glorious display on our Blog!

Thanks for the amazing entries and for following our new challenge posting rules.

We are already off and rolling with entries into our February Challenge!
Our theme is Seeing Red! Enter your interpretation of red here! And for our members who are into processing and dyeing fiber - enter your work too - this is every bit as much of an artistic endeavor as creating with fibers.

And prizes, did someone say prizes! Yes, I know, I'm late in getting this announcement out but better late than never right? The winners are announced on the next page.

Felting Challenge Winners
4th Qtr 2008

Thanks for your patience with me - I'm new at all of this and have been known to be organizationally challenged at times. So, I have finally gotten it all together and have announced our winners.

I put a name in a hat for each member that entered each month. I then handed it off to a nearby neutral hand that drew the names and numbered them so I could match them with the prizes.

And the Winners Are....Drum Roll Please.....

sycamore Moon Studios
$25 Gift Certificate
Amazon.com

germa
Rubber Handled Felting Needle Set of 6
courtesy of Felt Alive

designs by Patti
Pixie Felt book
by Birgitte Krag Hansen
From our generous Forum Sponsor
New England Felting Supply

zed
Little Felted Animals book
by Marie-Noelle Horvath

feltfinland
How To Felt Class of Your Choice
courtesy of The Felting Forum

Congratulations!!

I will contact the winners via the forum PM system.

2009 Challenge Themes

EXPRESS YOURSELF WITH COLOR!
Jan The Blues The color blue is powerful - challenge yourself to explore the many feelings of the color blue.
Feb Seeing Red Passion, Fire, Anger, Love! Red evokes so much emotion.
March Going Green Celebrate Green! Going green as in earth-friendly is important to us all but green can mean jealous, or new or even represent a little Luck of the Irish.

SPECIFIC MATERIAL OR PURPOSE
April Felting with Nature Combine your felting with a gift from Mother Nature. Earth Day is April 22nd!
May Practical Felting Create something with a useful purpose.
June Felt Using Natural/Undyed Fiber Our favorite fiber animals give us a lovely variety of natural colored wool to use for this challenge.

TECHNIQUES
July Mixed Media Combining felting with another medium.
Aug One Item Using Two Felting Techniques Combine wet felting, machine felting or hand needle felting.
Sept Matched Sets - Things That Go Together What a challenge!

THE WORLD AROUND US
Oct The Sea and Sky From the heavens above to the sea below - be inspired!
Nov The Enchanted World Let your imagination lead you on a magical journey through the world of faery and fantasy.
Dec Seasons Your favorite season, all four seasons or perhaps representations of the seasons of life.

Special Events

Because I am so late in the getting the newsletter out, this is already old news. But I'll share anyway because it was so much fun!

I was a participant in this event and found it so delightful to finally get to see other felting friends' work up close and personal! My special little gift from jazicat is a treasure to cherish and I'm sure the other participants feel the same way! Here is the link to the exchange event on the forum http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=25213#25213

Our members are organizing a project for the International Fiber Collaborative - time is running out so make sure to check this thread if you want to participate! http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3414&start=0

And we are just finishing up with a fiber swap! Read about the fun here - http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3619
Thanks Cytel, for putting this together. And if anyone else has a brilliant idea for a fun event - please share it on the forum.

Forum Chatter

I enjoy nothing more than watching our members break ground; developing styles and techniques never before seen in the fiber arts world. We push each other to excel with encouragement and positive feedback we insprire others in our own unique ways.

From our newest members who are swallowing their fear and putting their very first projects out there (new members - please keep 'em coming! We were all new once and there is such fresh charm in early projects,) to our seasoned veterans, we all have so much to learn from each other.

We have had some members with some really special events in their felting worlds

Una Walker www.woolywalkers.com had a great segment air on the HGTV network - she was featured on That's Clever on January 26, the segment should be available for viewing on the website in the near future. Congrats Una!

MT Ruth had her art accepted to go on display at the Salvadged Threads Exhibition. All the details are here!
http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3733

Feltpets made an appearance in an Australian publication - Urban Animal
http://www.urbananimal.net/

And I have to brag just a little; several of my dolls made an appearance in the latest edition of Art Doll Quarterly.

And member rod1e from Finlanad announced their traveling teaching schedule here!
Karoliina Arvilommi Scandinavian Felting Techniques USA 2009
http://www.rod.4felts.com/blog/workshops-and-felting-2009/

Finally, did we ever figure out what was in the felted soap? This had to have been the strangest forum topic to date! Yuck! C:\Users\Kay\Pictures\Family Pictures\New Pictures\061006\PICT0285.JPG

Member Spotlight

Our member spotlight shines on Teriann - aka Teri Canepa. Teri has been such an inspiration to us all with her realistic needle felted creations. I can't even say how many times I've showed her creations off to visitors here to my house - "Look what one of my felting friends made!" I always get the response "That's not real?" Our newsletter cover photo is courtesy of Teri. And I asked Teri to share a little about herself - Thanks Teri!

I started experimenting with needle felting in 2006 after I saw Deborah Pope on TV and found this forum on-line. Since then Ive been needle felting every spare moment. Playing with fiber is my favorite hobby but I have to fit it in around my full time job. So, most of my felting is small 3-D figures that I can carry around with me.

I guess you could say Ive learned to needle felt by trial and error. I havent taken any classes and I dont have any felting books. But I learn a lot from the other members of the forum. And I love to experiment.

I live in Michigan, and it turns out, so do lots of sheep, alpacas, angora goats and even a few camels. Its not hard to find beautiful fiber around here, its hard to resist bringing it all home.

I'm allergic to wool so I try to avoid it when I can. I cant always resist but most of the time I use alpaca and mohair instead. I start with raw fiber and wash, card and dye it myself. Needle felting with alpaca takes some getting used to. It takes a little longer to get it started but it makes a very nice firm felt. Most of my figures are made from naturally colored fiber and I don't usually use any kind of armature. That way I don't have to worry if a cat or dog happens to mistake one of my figures for a chew toy.

I'm lucky to have a family that really supports my hobby. My husband is a really great guy who doesn't mind buckets of fiber soaking in the laundry room and piles of sorted fiber on the dining room table. Our grown up daughter hasn't caught the needle felting bug yet but she designed my website and helps me keep it running and helps with my craft show booth. My little dog never chews up my projects or helps himself to my fiber.

And my Mom keeps me supplied with her home grown wool and mohair.

Thanks,

Teri

Teri's website - http://www.tericanepa.com/

Sponsor Spotlight

Blue Goose Glen www.bluegooseglen.com

Founded in 1995 as a farm business based around our sheep, Blue Goose Glen has grown to an online source for spinning and weaving equipment, dyed and natural wool roving & combed top and other fibers such as alpaca, mohair & llama. We also carry needle felting instructions and kits, felting supplies, yarns and dyes.

That's it! Until next time - Happy Felting!

Felting Forum News December, 2008

2008-12-06T18:16:00.003-09:00

Unfortunately, this does not view well (if at all) on dial-up connections so I will give
a summary of our news here in plain text!

>From the Editor -

Greetings Felting Friends!

I'm playing with a new format for our newsletter. I discovered this easy to
use widget creator and just couldn't resist putting together a flashy
newsletter for everyone to enjoy. This will help me feature much more
content from our talented members.

With December upon us, many members are busy with holiday preparations and
festivities! The forum is bustling with holiday chatter and festive
creations!

Have fun with the new newsletter and please make sure to visit our Forum
Sponsors' websites!

Happy Felting!

Kay Petal Your Forum Admin

Special Announcements

Besides our new newsletter, I Have several announcements that I am excited
to share.

The first is regarding the success of our First Annual Holiday Felting
Exchange! What a fun event. Watch the forum as the exchange partners post
pictures of their special gift from a felting forum friend.

And our fabulous forum sponsor, New England Felting Supply let me know they
are sponsoring both a wet felting and a needle felting contest through Fiber
Arts Magazine It sounds like fun and the prizes are fantastic. (That is the
only fiber magazine I subscribe to - it's lovely!)
http://www.fiberarts.com/back_issues/Nov-Dec-2008/valentine-postcard.asp

The next is our new premium member medallions. You may have noticed the
shiny round medallions under some of the members names. The medallions
signify the level of support these members generously contribute to the
forum. I have added some great new benefits and I encourage all members,
especially those that are looking for ways to promote their felting
business, to check out the membership options!
http://feltingforum.com/membership_options.html

Felting Challenges

November's Critters and Cuddly Things was a Smashing Success!! The amazing
creations are on display on our Blog!

I keep promising to announce the prizes that will be given for this
quarter's challenges at the end of this month. I have been so busy, I
haven't taken the time to get all the prize photos together so I decided to
buy myself a little time and keep it all a secret until the quarter ends -
It will be a big Happy New Year's surprise for the lucky winners! (Thanks
for your patience with me :)

And we have a great lineup for next years challenge themes. We have had
some great discussions coming up with themes . Since the challenge prizes
are awarded quarterly, I thought it would be fun to make each quarter have a
general theme. The details are all here if you want to start planning ahead.
We will start first quarter's challenges expressing ourselves through color.
Our first theme will be The Blues. I am so excited to see how this
talented group of felting interpret the blues!

2009
Quarterly Felting Challenge
Themes!

EXPRESS YOURSELF WITH COLOR!
Jan The Blues The color blue is powerful - challenge yourself to
explore the many feelings of the color blue.
Feb Seeing Red Passion, Fire, Anger, Love! Red evokes so much emotion.
March Going Green Celebrate Green! Going green as in earth-friendly is
important to all but green can mean jealous, or new or even represent a
little Luck of the Irish.

SPECIFIC MATERIAL OR PURPOSE
April Felting with Nature Combine your felting with a gift from Mother
Nature. Earth Day is April 22nd!
May Practical Felting Create something with a useful purpose.
June Felt Using Natural/Undyed Fiber Our favorite fiber animals give us
a lovely variety of natural colored wool to use for this challenge.

TECHNIQUES
July Mixed Media Combining felting with another medium.
Aug One Item Using Two Felting Techniques Combine wet felting, machine
felting or hand needle felting.
Sept Matched Sets - Things That Go Together What a challenge!

THE WORLD AROUND US
Oct The Sea and Sky From the heavens above to the sea below - be inspired!
Nov The Enchanted World Let your imagination lead you on a magical
journey through the world of faery and fantasy.
Dec Seasons Your favorite season, all four seasons or perhaps
representations of the seasons of life.

Special Events

First Annual Holiday Felting Exchange

The deadline has passed and the exchange partners have been paired up.
Exchange items are beginning to arrive in in our post boxes!

Here are the Forum Members that made this first forum exchange a success!

feltalive - jazicat
feltfinland - MTRuth
chibi1mom - Patdixie
peeblio - teriann
kaza - Shepherdess
cytel - curlytails
Judelicious - amajoy
kimangers - Jazicat

Watch this topic as we share our new treasures from our exchange partners -
http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=25213#25213

Forum Chatter

So many amazing topics are going on this month! The wet felting section is
really seeing some action. I'm thrilled to see the the enthusiasm for wet
felting continue to grow! It's one of my goals for the new year - to
explore traditional felting. It's nice to know there are so many helpful
members ready to answer any questions that may come up!

Speaking of helpful members - I have compiled a list of the top 10
contributors of the forum of all time! Thanks so much to these dedicated
forum members!

Feltalive - 1580 posts
Kaza - 1390 posts
MtRuth - 1260 posts
Sheperdess - 1079 posts
Living Felt - 668 posts
Nearlynoodle - 641 posts
NeedleFeltingFans - 608 posts
Germa - 478 posts
Rell - 477 posts
Gunillarehn - 471 posts

I had to laugh when my username popped up first. I could talk felting until
the cows come home!

feltfinland started a great thread to share pictures of ourselves. Most of
us have our felt art as our profile icon and we never see each other's
faces. It makes forum conversations so much better with a face behind the
names! Thanks Amanada!
http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3279&postdays=0&postorder=asc&
start=0

Member Spotlight

Our first Forum Member Spotlight is on Inger aka ingermaaike! Our
newsletter cover photo collage is courtesy of Inger.

A browse through Inger's artful blog and her lovely Etsy shops shows that
she is a master level felt maker of the best kind - the kind that freely and
warmly shares her insight and knowledge. Her blog is loaded with tutorials
and helpful hints.

Inger is an active and helpful member of our Felting Forum community. Her
support in both the Wet Felting and the Dying sections are truly appreciated
by those of us who are still on the other end of the learning curve. And we
are lucky to have Inger as an instructor at our How To Felt section of the
Forum.

Inger lives in Norway and spends her time these days felting and playing in
the snow. Inger's work has recently graced the pages of an Italian
designer childrens clothing catalog and has been published in a Spanish
felting book. Her blog has an active following and her Flickr photo gallery
is a must-see. Inger's photos are truly stunning. Her passion for felting
shines through!

Thanks, Inger - You Make Our Forum Special !!
Inger's Blog http://www.ingermaaike.nl/index.php
Inger's Flickr Photo Gallery http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingermaaike2/
Inger's Etsy Shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5228239

Sponsor Spotlight

In this first issue of our new newsletter, I am honored to feature our
friends at New England Felting Supply!

Owner Christine White is the author of Uniquely Felt and brings her
extensive knowledge of felting into the quality of the products she carries
in her shop. Chris and her staff are great - Helpful and friendly is an
understatement!

New England Felting Supply has recently launched their new website and are
now supplying the needs of needle felting enthusiasts as well as traditional
wet felt makers.

Show your support of our Forum Sponsors and stock up on Felting Supplies
from New England Felting Supply!

http://www.feltingsupply.com

Warm Holiday Wishes!!

Kay Petal
your Felting Forum Admin
http://www.feltingforum.com