Exciting News: Free Felting Workshop!

I have EXCITING NEWS!

I have been working with Sue Bunch of Back to Back Fiber Products for the last couple of weeks dreaming, plotting and planning a free online felting workshop. 

Like, what?!

That's right! It all started during one of my Wednesday night Facebook LIVE chats. I host one each Wednesday evening at 8pm CST. We cover all sorts of art teacherin' topics which are archived on my page. One evening we were chatting about Teacher Burnout and I mentioned that one way I combat burnout is by hosting craft nights at my home. I don't do it as often as I would like because, honestly, when the weekend hits I usually spend the following 48 hours in pajamas binge watching RuPaul's Drag Race and making big messes. This lead to following the idea: what if we spent the month of April, during my Facebook LIVE chats enjoying a craft night? We wouldn't have to leave our house, we could spend time with folks who get us (art teachers!) and we could learn a new craft while creating something beautiful and fun. What could be a more perfect evening than that?

So, how can you join the fun?

1. Start by "liking" my Facebook page. This is how you can stay posted and join the chats. If you've never joined a FB chat, it's quite simple. If you've liked my page then at the time when I'm LIVE, I will pop up in your feed. Don't see me? Then hop on over to my page. If you happen to miss the chat, NO WORRIES! All my chats are archived on my page. I'll also be archiving them on my YouTube channel. So you can join the craft night live or think of my page as an after pass. 

2. Purchase the supplies for the workshop. Sue and I have been working very closely to put together a kit which will proved all the supplies needed for our month-long felted workshop series. She's been super kind to keep the price economical and offer free shipping to those in the continental USA. If you are outside of the US, please contact Sue for shipping information. 

You don't have to purchase the kit to join the fun! If you already have the supplies, you don't have to purchase the kit. I'm teaching this class for free because I LOVE needle felting and craft nights. This is not a money making venture for Sue or me. We are doing this because we love felting so much and want more folks to explore this craft. So don't feel obligated to purchase. Just be sure to join the fun!

Here's a peak of what is inside each kit:

What does each kit include? All of the supplies you would need for the month of April's free felting workshops. Each Wednesday evening, for the month of April, I will be introducing you to a new felting technique. Here's a peak at our fibers schedule:

Wednesday, April 5th: Learn to Needle Felt

To kick off our craft nights, I'll share with you how to needle felt! Included in the kit, Sue has provided a little list of supplies you'll need for each session. I'll provide a more detailed description of what we'll be making right here in blog post form as we get closer to the date. Essentially,  I want to share with you the basics of this craft so that you'll feel comfortable creating whatever you like! All projects will be very open ended so that you can explore what interests you. 

Wednesday, April 12th: Intro to Wet Felting

While needle felting is one of my favorite crafts, sharing needles (ahem) with your students in the classroom might give you the shakes. Wet felting however is PERFECT for kiddos of all ages and it's super fun to explore. I'll be sharing a couple of my fave wet felting techniques on this evening.

Wednesday, April 19th: Sculpting with Fiber

Felted sculptures are so much fun! This is an area that I really want to explore more as well. I'll share ways to create basic sculptures with an armature and both wet and dry felting techniques. 

Wednesday, April 26th: Felting in Fashion

Y'all come prepared to create something fashionable! We'll be creating that wee palette hair clip I love so much and felting old sweaters into masterpieces. I'm super excited about this one. 

Are you excited yet? I know I am!

Join the chat right here tonight. If you have ANY questions, either leave them in the comments or throw them my way this evening. I plan to do an unboxing of Sue's kit so you can see what you'd be receiving. 

Interested in ordering a kit? Pop on over here! If you have any questions for Sue, feel free to reach out to her at sue@backtobackalpaca.com. 

I can't wait to have y'all over for a craft night starting in April!

DIY: Intro to Sculptural Felting!

Hey, y'all! I'm sad to say that last Wednesday was our last #creatingwithcassie Facebook LIVE craft night for felting. I chatted about Fashion Felting and will share a blog post about that super soon (I'm a pinch behind...as per usual). The previous week, we ventured into Sculptural Felting and I shared the basics on how to needle felt little creations...while creating this penguin whom I've named Pepe le Paint...or something. Here's the video from our live creating session:

I've done a ton of needle felting but I've never taken it to the third dimension. Sue sent me a bunch of samples to share with y'all to serve as both ideas and examples of what can be created by needle felting. 

Sue created the cardinal, the penguin and the cat. I'm currently working on a ton of felted cacti which I'll share with you real soon (if you follow me here, you can catch some one-minute how-to videos). By the way, Sue has a great YouTube channel with a ton of felting videos. Check it out here! 

Now, I mentioned that this past Wednesday was our last craft night for felting. For the month of May, we are moving on to CLAY! We'll spend the first half of our craft nights as we used to do: sharing tips and tricks. So come prepared to talk shop about clay, both kiln and no kiln fire. Then...we'll create! You can use ANY clay you have on hand or you can purchase your clay kit right here. You can also find out more details on what we'll be up to right here. 

Now, let's check out this gallery of awesome folks who have been felting along with me. Seeing the work of other folks has really made this experience the best for me...it's one thing to share your love of a craft with someone via a blog post or a video. But it's entirely something else to create live along with people...and see what variety of creatives there are out there. THANK YOU AND HUGS to everyone who participated either live or after the fact, shared their creations and their enthusiasm. Y'all are the best. 

And a BIG shout out to Sue at Back to Back Fiber for helping to make this possible. She's still selling felting kits if you are interested! 

This van Gogh makes me so happy! Love this creation by Heather @the_doodle_birds.

Who doesn't love a purple penguin? This one is by Sepi @sepi.gol.

This Frida was made by Mariana @parkesphoto 8 year old daughter! Isn't it incredible? I love how the flowers in the crown are three dimensional. 

Deborah @visualpraisestudio has been felting the cutest hats. I see an etsy shop in her future. I love these! 

I am loving Jen @jtheen palette hat complete with three dimensional paint brush. So adorable! 

And who doesn't love a needle felted pet?! I love everything about this creation and photo by @swells17! 

Merrill @merrillguinn made a happy little penguin...I love how the beak looks like he's chatting up a storm. 

Heather's sweet unicorn...I love this so much! That mane is perfection.

Growing up in the '80's, I have a soft spot for Gremlins! I can't get enough of this one created by @art.teach.at.the.beach.

Love this tie-dye penguin, it's so groovy, baby. This one is by Emily @emily_clonts.

Check out how PERFECT Dana's @daynahbaynah felted beads are...that is no small feat. Kudos, gurl! 

Alison's @alison.m.klein colorful creature makes me so happy. I think the big eyes are my favorite. 

Angela's @nachtule felted succulents are so pretty. I'm totally diggin the purple one. 

Look at how productive Mary @mary5409 has been. I am loving the owl. 

Angela's narwhal is so much fabulous. The horn is just the best.

Check out this precious little dude! This one is by Desiree @mrsmillsartfromtheheart. 

I love two things: the color pink and otters. So when I saw Chapin's @chapin.schnick creation, I was so excited. The cuteness!

Rachel's @mrsp_art penguin with it's little waving flipper is so fun. What a great idea! 

This rainbow bird by @echopaitsel looks so cute on display in this Easter grass. 

Y'all. Heather's felting game is STRONG. I think this would be a fabulous project for kids! 

BB8 for the win, kids! How is this our first Star Wars felted creation? Ima need more where this came from. Megan @mrs.dunstan you get a slow clap and a hats off from me, sister! 

Amber @amberakes created the next two felted pieces. I really love how she blends the roving. It gives her pieces a painterly effect. 

I could see this on the back of a clutch, couldn't you? So pretty. 

Stay tuned for one more needle felting wrap up from our craft nights. If you'd like to be featured here, just use #creatingwithcassie on your preferred social media outlet. Now, go stab something, y'all! 

DIY: What Does the Fox Say? Sweater Stole

So if you've been hangin' around this blog for a while (seriously? don't you have, like, laundry to do?) then you know I have a super serious felting addiction (by the way, this is slightly off topic, but if you are "addicted" to something, do you ever refer to that thing as "addicting"? Because my mom does. Example: {actual quote} I can't eat just one Red Vine because they are addicting! Really? Why am I surprised. This is the same person who started saying "Chew That!" while the rest of the world was saying, "True Dat!" Eh, you say tomato, I say you're addicting to crazy.)

Er, where was I? Ah, yes. My addictamacation to needle felting and the fact that every other blog post features something I've stabbed (with a felting needle, people!). Don't believe me? Well, if I've counted correctly, I do believe this here is my 11th felted creation. It's all that stabbing, kids. It's such a stress reliever. 

In case you'd like a peak at those Felted Creations of the Past, here you go:

It all started with this holey sweater in my closet that I thought was the perfect canvas to give felting a go. That was followed by my Put a Bird on It number and my attempt at copying an Anthro sweater...twice. After that, I ventured away from sweater felting and stabbed a wool beret and a skirt thus creating The World's Tackiest Art Teacher Outfit. I then felted my cat, a dog and an owl. I took a summer hiatus (working with wool isn't real fun in the summer heat) but then this winter I was back at it, stabbing a Starry Night dress and a van Gogh's Sunflowers sweater.

I told you! It's totes addicting! I mean, I'm addicted because it's addictive. Oh, whatever.

So when an art teacher buddy of mine suggested we felt a fox stole sweater, the stabbing commenced. Our inspiration came from the super presh etsy shop dandyrions. These adorable sweaters and shirts have faux fox and raccoon stoles that are actually made of felt fabric and appliqued on. Insane cuteness. We decided to go the felt roving route for our foxy stole.

Now, I don't think I've ever done a super fabulous job of explaining the process of felting to you. To remedy that, about a year ago, I made a series of short clips where I chat about the supplies needed and the process of felting. I'm hoping these videos prove to answer any felting questions you might have...even if they are terribly goofy.

This sweater DIY really does date this video! By the way, after seeing some ridiculous prices on needle felting supplies at my local big box craft store that shall go unnamed (rhymes with "Fichael's"), I did a wee bit of homework and found most of the supplies available here. Dudes! This website even has little finger-protecting sheathes that look like finger condoms (go here and look, I ain't makin this up). So gonna order me some of those!

My apologies for the lack of zoom in. I didn't think you'd wanna get to close to my wrinkly grandma hands.

Honestly, I learned needle felting by watching far better how-to videos on youtube than this. I just wanted you to see how stinkin' easy it is. What I was doing was pretty small and detailed...a big ole foxy stole? Much easier.

When attempting a sweater, I usually make a paper template, pin that to the sweater and create a felt outline, usually in 100% wool yarn (see the cat sweater). For this sweater, I was feelin' frisky so I just sketched it on in yellow chalk. With my cushion underneath, I placed the roving on top (in mass wads like I talked about in the video because it tends to "shrink" as you stab) and started punching. How do you know when you've punched enough? Take a peak at the back of the sweater. You should see a lot of roving. That's your sign that it's locked into place with the fibers of the sweater.

Adding the white for the muzzle.

Working on the details. One of the reasons I love this process so much is that it goes quickly unlike my other fashion-altering love, embroidery.

After the details of the face were complete, the rest came together easily. Even if it meant staying up a good three hours beyond my bedtime on a school night.

The following day, I happened to have one kindergarten class that is waaay ahead of the rest (how does that always happen?!). Since we'd been learning about drawing shapes...and I was wearing my foxy sweater...we read a sweet little book called Fox and Fluff and got our foxy drawing skills on!

For this activity, kindergartenland and I used black construction paper and drew with black oil pastels. Color was then added with oil pastels. I used the guided drawing directions from Art Projects for Kids. Most of the kids were able to finish off their foxes by the end of their 45 minute art time and they were so excited by their foxiness.

Oh, and my art teacher buddy who suggested we go on this fox-felting adventure? She finished off her sweater too -- and this was her first felting attempt. Now guess who's the newest member of the Addicting to Felt Club?

Okay, in all seriousness, I gotta know:

Were those clips helpful to you? Do you have any suggestions? (don't worry about hurting my feelings. I was told I have a mustache by a 4th grade boy. Pretty sure it doesn't get worse than that.)

Would you be interested in more video? (you know, for DIY's, demos and such. I promise I won't torture you with my standup comedy routine or my American Idol audition recordings.)

Are you now more inclined to give felting a try and would you like it I stopped writing in bold and italics? (fine, I'll stop.)

Thanks for your input, ya'll! Chat soon!

DIY: Felted Clutch

Well, after a whole lotta water, soap, roving, blood (only one stabbing, I promise!), sweat and tears (which proved helpful with the wet felting), the felted clutch is complete! Granted, I only started it last weekend, but this was definitely time-consuming and a step outta my comfort zone. The only other item I've ever successfully wet felted was the necklace I shared last week. So I'm on the proud side of DIY-town with this one. I've been sharing one minute tutorials nearly every day over here. I put those short clips all together to create this one which, hopefully, will help you understand how this felted clutch was created:

Y'all know I love needle-felting so that portion of the clutch was enjoyable. I just hit play on whatever show I'm watching on Netflix (fellow Art Scout Laura got me hooked on Breaking Bad) and go to work. The wet felting, being something new for me, def had a bit of a learning curve. I found myself asking, "am I done yet?" over and over. I ultimately threw the thing in the washer to speed up the felting process. 

Something I also discovered is that wet felting requires a LOT of roving where as needle felting only takes a small amount. I do have a lot of roving on hand thanks to my mom-in-law who is always hooking me up. A visit to an alpaca farm a couple moons ago also made it so I have a big stash.  

Since I was using this as kind of a demo for my free online felting class, which, if you've not seen what folks created that night, check here and also search Insta with the hashtag #creatingwithcassie, I decided to keep the motif simple. Well, that was the plan, anyway. But I'm kind of a more is more is more person, so this is the result. By the way, if you missed Wednesday night's session, here you go:

It was so fun...even if my LIVE creations were lackluster!

I wanted a bright color on the inside so I opted for yellow roving when wet felting.

 Nice and bright for me to find my stuffs. 

While at an estate sale the other day, I picked up a vintage clutch with a strap like this across the back. I decided to add something similar to mine. I'm so tempted to make another clutch with a vertical strap and wear it fanny pack style. Please give me permission to do this!

My grannie hands fit, hurray!

I had to teach myself how to do the blanket stitch to finish the edge...I'd never done a blanket stitch before. Isn't that nutz? 

 I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I truly love the look of all things felted!

Until next Wednesday night at 8pm CST right here, have fun felting!