Welcome to FeltFieltroFilc crafting space!

PolETSY:What kinds of crafts do you do?

FeltFieltroFilc: I practice and preach feltmaking everywhere possible. Feltmaking involves working with carded wool, all you need is warm soapy water and nylon curtain netting. Having laid out the design, which may incorporate various fabrics, additional carded fibres and yarns for surface design, you start massaging gently to make the wool fibres adhere to each other or penetrate other fabrics, if required. More impatient feltmakers might want to use a sander to speed up the process, but ultimately the shaping and final filling out stage is done by hand. If you wish to become completely involved, you should learn dyeing.Here lie unchartered territories of artistic independency and creativity. Nobody will be able to replicate you. Your work will be unique and perhaps inspiring too. This is what I aspire to do. 

Where do you craft? 

In my very own kitchen. I have a large extension with a table in the middle. All my tools are stored in the kitchen cupboard and take up circa 45% of total storage space. 

What in your craft space (if anything) inspires you? 

I don't work according to a system where something inspires me in my kitchen, I am inspired by the work of others, not even by the natural landscape, nothing of that ilk. I love peeking at and spying on what others are doing and if I like something, I will try to incorporate those ideas into my own work. It is about learning. I am a self taught feltmaker, so etsy and flickr, as well as voilok.ru and feltmakingforum.com provide a rich source of inspiration.

What kind of materials and tools do you use most often? How do you store them? 

I use a sander (which I store in the drawer below the oven), I use a wooden washingboard (which hangs beside the oven) and my carder is clipped onto the table, so even if I have guests I can card another batch of wool. My wool is kept in the bedroom upstairs (circa 50 kg of undyed wool, approx 15 types of wool plus silks and other fibres)

How do you organize your workspace? 

At the moment the wool is wound up and bundled in plastic bags, there is no system at all and this needs to be dealt with. Either I would buy vacuum bags or buy a special shelving unit and transparent plastic boxes from Ikea. At the moment, the wool is absolutely everywhere and it often ends up in food. Really, my husband often fought to get the lounge to be a wool free zone, but he gave up a long time ago. 

Do you have any organizational tips/tools/tricks that can help others improve their workspace? 

I have incorporated my work tools into the landscape of my kitchen. All of these tools are made of wood and the kitchen units are painted in natural wood colours, so the workplace and kitchen space look well integrated. My advice though? Have your own separate space, so you can leave aside the stuff you have started, but which needs to be thought through or you would like to deal with later on. 

What is your one favourite thing in your craft room? 

My washingboard. It has a ruffled wooden surface, which speeds up the process enormously and looks gorgeous!

If you could change one thing in your craft room what would it be?

I would get better ventilation! For sure, having done all of my dyeing and steaming in the kitchen, I really do not want to have an indoor sauna in the winter. Too much condensation is a typical Irish thing, but what is happening in my house is too much for me!

Thanks for having us FeltFieltroFilc!

Next time you’re cordially invited to CasaDiAries’s crafting space…