Oh Man, I could have used these awesome Craft tips & DIY tricks years ago. I especially like the ones about microwaving old Masking Tape to revive it & putting Glue Sticks in the freezer to prevent strings!!!
Thanks Craftionary!!
How To…
A collection of How To’s & Tutorials on various felting & sculpting techniques.
Felting Tips, How To..., Sculptures, WIPs
Super Molded Felt Skulls!
I’ve been working on some new techniques this week, mainly trying to get a molded felt thing going on. Basically I’m taking the old-school process of making wool felt hats & transforming it into making cute skulls!
Going back to my roots with a little foam sculpting. Then “pulling” the felt over the foam base & setting it with glue. It’s a little tricky, but I’m getting the hang of it!
I think this has a lot of potential! Maybe an easy, quick way to create many copies & variations of sculptures!
We’ll see….
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DIY Tips Tricks & Tools, How To..., Sculpting Tips
DIY Tutorial: How To Use Flocking Powder!
So, as promised here is a quick tutorial on how to use flocking powder. I like to use it to make hard-sculpted things look fuzzy, but you can also use it for everyday crafting like: fuzzy letters for scrap booking, finishing the inside of a nice decoupaged box, or I even saw someone do their nails with it on Google!!
How To Use Flocking Powder
 Supplies needed to do Flocking. Pretty much the same as doing glitter! |
So these are the basic supplies you’ll need to cover anything with flocking powder:* Paperclay Sculpture (or other)* Acrylic Paint* Elmer’s Glue* Paint Brush* Flocking Powder* A piece of paper or box to gather loose powder when you’re done |
 Order Flocking Powder online. It comes in either shakers or a bag. |
This is how Flocking Powder comes. Either in a bottle with a handy salt-shaker top or in a bag. I buy mine online, but if you look really hard, you might be able to find it at a Hobby Shop or Specialized Craft Store. |
 Different ways to apply the flocking powder. If your powder cam in a bag, you can use a small squirt bottle to apply it. |
If you powder comes in a bag, you can use this fancy trick for easy application. Just take a small squirt bottle (got mine really cheap at the craft store) & cut the top open wider. This will give you a nice POOF of powder! |
 Paperclay parts painted with acrylic paint ready for flocking powder |
Now take whatever you are flocking & paint a nice coat of acrylic on top. I’ve seen where people say that you can change the “tint” of the flocking powder by what shade you use for the under coat, but I really can’t tell a difference. You’ll be coating the heck out of it, it’s just a safety in case you miss a spot. |
 Just apply a layer of (slightly) thinned Elmer’s Glue with a brush. |
Now just paint a coat of Elmer’s Glue onto your piece. Be sure it’s decently thick so you get good coverage. |
 Shake, Shake, Shake… Shake, Shake, Shake… Shake the Powder! |
It’s time to FLOCK! Now just pour the powder on. Don’t worry about using too much, only so much will stick to the glue. You can always gather the left over powder & put it back in the container! No Waste! |
 Put as much powder on as you want! Then let it dry |
It’ll look super fuzzy, THAT’S GOOD! Just let the powder sit & soak. It’s a good idea to try & flock the entire piece at once cause you can get some pretty weird layered effects if you try & do it in sections. Let it dry for a few hours before you shake off the extra. Most WILL come off! |
 One layer of Flocking Powder. I like to blow off all the extra & do another coat for a good coverage. |
Here are the chicken bits with one layer of Flocking Powder on them. I like a nice thick coat of fuzz, so I wait till it’s completely dry then blow off all the extra powder do another coat of glue & powder. Be sure that all the extra fluff is off cause you’ll get rock-hard fuzzy boogers if you don’t! |
 Finished Base & Chicken Legs covered in Flocking Powder |
And here is the base & legs! I really like working with the Flocking Powder cause you can get some pretty nice detail. I’ll use it for anything that is really thin like insect legs because it looks mostly like felted wool without working so hard with thin wool over armature wire. You get the look without losing the structure! |
How To..., Sculpting Tips, Super Sculpting Supplies
Swap Meet Treasures!!
We were finally feeling better this weekend, so we took a trip out to the Pamona Auto Show & Swap Meet. Now you’d think what could a sculptor / felter possibly find at an auto swap meet that is worth blogging about?
Well… I’m gonna geek out right now…
Here is my Brand New, Totally Awesome, Wicked RULER!!
That’s right! $3.00! I like how it says “Smart ideas for living”… uh, YEA!
I’m so excited cause it seems to be a nice sturdy metal ruler, with (the best part) one side goes from 0-18″ but the other starts at zero in the middle then counts out to 9″ on either side. This is pretty spiffy cause now I can center & measure out equal amounts super easy! PLUS it was only $3.00!!! OMG!!!
Files & Tools I’ve picked up at various Swap Meets along the way!
Swap Meets are also really great places to pick up sculpting tools. They always have those couple of guys selling the cheap tools like files, Dremel Bits, and the best are the Dental Tools (not the torture-esque scraping ones, but the ones that have different shaped flat ends). These make great little detail clay sculpting tools & they are usually only like a couple bucks a piece. I always pick SOMETHING up when I see these guys. You can always find a treasure that you never knew you needed!!
See, I actually use them cause they are dirty! Proof that swap meet treasures are totally worth it!
I’ve seen these EXACT same tools selling at “Art Supply Stores” for like $5-10 bucks a piece… WHATEVA!!
… latex gloves…
… cheap batteries…
… razor blades…
…tiny scissors…
You never know!
Awesome Links, Felting Tips, How To...
Great Week: Post #1 – Wee Felt Worlds Book!
So this week is going to be posts that announce AWESOME stuff that’s been going on around here! Last Thursday & Friday were filled with positive, exciting events!
Post #1 – Revealing “Wee Felt Worlds” Book!
Awesome Needle Felting Project Book with such a variety of styles & projects! Available on Amazon!
That’s right! It’s been over a year since I worked on this super fun book. I was honored to be asked to contribute TWO scenes into this collection of needle felted dioramas! There are so many cute & inspiring artists & projects!
*Available on February 5th, 2013
*Available now for preorders on Amazon! Check it out here!
The back cover of the book with my little T-Rex included!
There’s something magical about things made in miniature—and now you can create whole wee worlds of them, with three-dimensional critters and scenery. It’s easy to do with needle felting, an oh-so-simple process that requires few tools. Choose one of ten fun felted scenes with 50 individual items, including a prehistoric landscape with dinosaurs, volcanoes, and Paleolithic plants; a camping adventure featuring an adorable bear cub; a sweet sewing room, and even a galaxy far, far away with UFOs! Along the way, readers get tons of techniques and tips from the designers—from basic felt shaping to creating joints—and lots of helpful step-by-step illustrations.
Felting Tips, How To...
How To Make Wet Felted Spikes!
Today I am posting an old-to-me-new-to-you, fun & easy tutorial on how to make some Wet-Felted Spikes. You can also use this technique to make longer cords or snakes. It’s fun & easy & fast & all-ages. Enjoy!
HOW-TO: Wet Felted Spikes & Cords:
First you’ll need to get your material together:
• A bowl of cold water
• A bowl of warm dish-soapy water
• Some tufts of wool
• A towel (to help control wetness)
• A Bamboo Sushi Mat (or other textured felting surface)
• Some plastic wrap (to help control mess)
Now measure out a tuft of wool. I was making small spikes, so I used a very small thin tuft of wool. I found that you need to break up the wool so that it is short because as you felt it, it will stretch out & be really thin and limp. Remember that even though it may look like a lot of fluffy wool, it will felt down REALLY fast!
Now dip your tuft into the warm soapy water. Since I was making a spike, I want to leave one side dry & fluffy. This will give you a good “flange” of wool to felt to another surface. If you are making a cord or snake, then you can just dip the whole thing in!
Alright, ready to start felting!! It looks all limp & loose now, but not for long.
**THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE WHOLE TUTORIAL….
Now start to felt on top of the Bamboo Mat. Be sure to be gentle at first, the wool will be very loose and want to stretch out & come apart. If you start gently rolling the wool back and forth, it will start to firm up & felt together. DON’T roll in just one direction, it will just wrap around itself and not felt from the inside out. Now just keep dipping the wool into the warm water & rolling it on the mat. It won’t take very long to felt, only a couple of minutes.
Here is the little spike after a couple of minutes of felting. Stay away from the edge if you want to keep it a spike. See the fluffy end at the bottom, this fluff will help you seamlessly felt your spike to a felt base.
Dip & Roll… Dip & Roll…
When your spike is pretty firm, dip THE WHOLE THING (fluff included) into the cold water to rinse the soap out. The cold water will not only rinse the soap out, but also shock the wool, which will help you firm & felt it up even more.
**HERE WE GO AGAIN!!! (sorry just figured out how to make a GIF animation & am really excited how it helps illustrate process. You’ll be seeing a lot more of this now that I know how to do it!!!)
Just keep rolling & rinsing. You’ll see when the spike or cord is done felting when… well… it just wont felt anymore. This whole Dip & Roll process will take only a couple of minutes when using a small tuft. I guess if you don’t have a Bamboo Mat or other textured felting surface, you could probably just use your hands and rub the wool between them. Like when you were a kid & you made clay snakes. This would take a lot longer than if you use another surface. Try using whatever you have around the house as a Felting surface: drawer liner, non-slip floor mat, silicone oven mitt, paint tray liner, etc.
This is what your spike will look like when you finish felting. It’s a little on the rough side, if that’s how you like it… uh… But just let it air dry.
I like my felting to be pretty clean, so I needled my spike, just a little to tighten them up even more & poke in all the fly a way fibers.
*Note: Never feel like you cannot mix felting techniques. If you try wet-felting something & it doesn’t turn out right, go ahead & needle felt over it!! There are no rules when felting. They all do the same job, just in different ways. Don’t be a felting “elitist” or “purest”. Whatever get the job done for you!
It’s so hard for me to get crisp points with felt. So with these spikes I cut off the very wispy end of the wool & needle-felted directly into the tip. This firms up the tip a little. Then you can just clip any stray hairs that may still be sticking around.
If you are making cords or snakes, you are pretty much done at this point. But if you are making spikes, now is the time to take advantage of that fluffy end you left. Take the fluffy end of non-felted wool, thin & spread it out to create an awesome flange to felt. This will help you attach the spike solidly & easily, without adding a lot of extra wool.
Now just place your spike wherever you want it, and felt it on!!! I’m not a wet-felting expert, but I think you can also wet-felt it on.
DONE!!!!!
YEA!!! Thanx!! I hope you enjoy this fun & animated tutorial. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to comment on my blog.
HAVE FUN!!!
