What is it about Felting?
Is it the wide assortments of colors and textures of the fibers?
Or perhaps the fact that you can create anything you can imagine, from a painting of tulips, to a 2 foot tall dragon, to one of a kind jewelry?
Maybe it’s because of how the fibers feel in your hands as you work on your felting project? Could it be because you ‘see’ the animal-sheep, alpaca-goat-as you pet the fleece you just purchased?
All of the above, and then so very much more.
Felting is an art form that tickles all of your senses: you can feel the fibers beneath your fingertips as you pull a shingle of roving to layout on a scarf design; you can smell the faint scent of the animal as you begin wet felting that scarf; the colors the fiber were dyed are vibrant and remind you of a greenhouse of exotic flowers; and, if you aren’t careful, you might just get a taste of that soapy water!
Felting, too, gives you the chance to explore your creativity in a very forgiving manner. Whether you are working on a needle felting project, or a wet felting project, there is only so much control you have over the fibers. Often I find that the fibers have a mind of their own, and when I acquiesce, the project is taken to a place I couldn’t have imagined. That’s because felting requires me to get out of my own way and allow the fibers to do what they do best: crimp and wave, and blend like watercolors.
What is it about felting? Everything.
