Freya's Storage Box

I thought I'd post custom work as I design it and make the felt and objects in the studio. To follow this project's progress, check in under the label Custom Work.

A long time Festive Fibers admirer, my client and her new husband are treating themselves to a custom storage box as a wedding gift. I am honored.


I decided to make a cardboard version of their box they can play in the space in their room.  To get a better idea of what a large colorful object might look like in their room I painted something crazy colorful onto the box - I will add legs.  They will tape it back together into an upright position and place it in their room.

Here it is assembled and a shot of me standing next to it (Below) pretty cool!

Birthday Bag for Cassie

This past Thursday afternoon I gave a private felt class to 3 beautiful young ladies. My girlfriend's daughter, Cassie, will be turning 20 in the next week and as a present for she asked if I could do a felting project for Cassie and her two girlfriends visiting from the UK. I said sure! We decided to make bags, my goal was to make small bags that go right under the arm over the shoulder. Keeping the project on the small side with the intention of it taking about 4 hours.

5 hours later and saddlebags in tow, Cassie, Brooklyn and Sarah (l-r) were very excited about their bags! (I think they were excited that they ended up being bigger than we all expected!!! and they could put more stuff in them!)


Happy Birthday Cassie!

Filzfun: Felt Magazine from Germany

For those felty fans out there, this is one cool magazine. I am awestruck by the kind of felt that is being made and the creative felt makers that are out there. These artists really make me want to get out of my proverbial felt box. Oh and check out page 28, I am featured! This was a fun magazine to be featured in. They interviewed me via e-mail with certain questions, my answers are pretty much as I wrote them in response, one paragraph follows below...

EXCERPT: It is said that your sources of inspiration
are nature as well as Asian sensibilities.
Could you tell us more about this?
I can't really say that one thing is more inspiring than another.
I love the full range of all that is nature, and the incredible
variation in color, pattern texture that nature shows us. I also
love the simplicity of Asian design, the Art Deco era. When I look
for inspiration, I use magazines, art reference books, the internet,
dreams, my garden, oh so many things. I keep a visual journal. As
I am a magazine junkie, I tear my favorite things from the many
stacks of mags I buy, and then paste them into a big journal.
This helps me keep the piles growing in my house and studio and
also is a very cool snapshot of things I love at easy reference.

Anyone who wants to purchase a copy, New England Felting Supply carries these and thay also have most back issues. If you want a subscription, you can contact Verfilzt Und Zugennaht through their website

About Felt on the Cape

The next stop on my workshop schedule is a one day class on Cape Cod, September 28, 9:30-4:30 . Felt on the Cape is a 3 year long tradition, hosted by my friend Ginny Boylan. Ginny is a surface designer and furniture (and interior) painter extraordinaire. When she met Tom and I at a show 4 years ago, it was bond at first sight! We immediately began planning a session in her studio.

We are doing flat patterned felt for a day in September, and as a special request from the students attending...I will teach an alternate project in the afternoon session. Or whom ever wants can make flat felt all day long!!

A full studio...We left for lunch and found Kitty napping, where else would you go?

There are a couple spots left for this class. I can be contacted through Festive Fibers or go to my workshop link at the side of this blog for more workshop details.

Ottoman Workshop

3 days ... design ... felt making ... and assembly required!

What a great 3 days! I know, I know, these workshops are all great, I love teaching and I love helping students focus their creativity. Add to the mix, spray glue, drills and staple guns and what do you get? A piece of furniture you can take home with you! How totally awesome is that?

In these two shots, Estelle and Betti have already laid out their fiber for their ottoman, and are going back in and stabilizing the pattern using a needler, called the Fabulous Felt-O-Matic, (love this machine!) which condenses the fiber stack so that the first wet roll is easy, with very little rearranging.

A day of wetting rolling and voila, felt is made! Hung out to dry for the 3rd day of construction.

The trim is added, in this case, after by hand stitching onto the top, painted feet are screwed on.

Two very satisfied girlfriends, and two very beautiful ottomans! Thank you ladies!

For very detailed directions my class is published as a project in Carol Cypher's book How We Felt

Felt Flowers at the Alstead Library

We had 11 students of all ages in today's workshop! The young students had helpers, but most didn't need the help, everyone was great, especially as our little 2 hour class was a speedy mini course! Fast. Fast. Fast. So, everyone worked hard to keep up with my instructions (most never having made felt before, what an introduction!)

Shedd Porter Memorial Library (above) Our Librarian, Barbara is so cool, she runs some very fun programs, like Coffee House (open mic) and Craft Saturday (which falls every 3rd Saturday free to whomever wants to attend.) It is a great way for the local community know more about what happens at the library, and I was glad to finally be a part of her programming.

To make it very simple I made a little kit for each student that contained just enough fiber for the stem, stamen, three layers of petals and a leaf, and the wire for the stem.

Fiber was felted into all the little bits...

By the end of the first hour, everyone crowded their tables in the shady side of the library (Who can blame them, it was HOT and it was only 11 in the morning!)

little piles of felt began stacking up... scissors were then used to cut the petal shapes


The cut petal shapes were then stacked onto the wired felt stem, and the stem were twisted into a knot on top...presto! A little more bit of hand shaping to curl the petals, cute huh?


As the clock ticked to noon, Barbara announced she had to start locking up and how were everyone's flowers coming along? Well, I don't need to say they were fabulous, so everyone crowded together for a group shot!