When I left home, knew, that I'm going to see a lot of interesting activities at the Transylvanian Crafts Festival, but I also had a few plans already, about what I want to know and who I want to speak to.
One goal was to find the felted products and those who are doing felting, which I did and today I want to show you what I saw and what I learnt about it.
These were the first two felting products I saw and took some photos immediately as I knew I'd do a post about it and wanted you to show how widely used felt is and how many products you can create using felt. I loved the colorful material, but the design of the bags did not win me over. It's a technicality so no big deal.
This wicker basket was calling my name and would have been happy to get it, as it contains the raw material you need for felting, which is wool and it's not cheap. The colors were not exactly to my taste, but that can be negotiated.
Here something magical was happening. These crafters were from Hungary and were making a huge felt piece. I took a photo but could not stop to watch what they were doing as I had huge ground to cover, but I can tell you they were preparing the material to be worked on.
This was another place, where there was another basket that was calling my name. On the left, if you're wondering, but I'd be happy with the basket on the right too as it had some nice yarns.
Like these.
I suppose not many can guess what the lady was getting ready to do> I can. She was preparing to make some felted shoes or slippers. At this point I hope you can see you can use felt for basically anything you want.
And here is the proof of what I said above. You can make pretty much everything using felt.
Just look around, they had slippers, bags, small carpets, toys (those colorful balls on the plates, hats, a vest, hair ties, some strings, scarves and so on.
To add to the list of products I mentioned above, here you have felted hearts and not only.
You have a phone holder here, or a wallet, I can't decide which one it is.
And this is where things get more interesting. This top or vest is made of felt and dyed with leaves. This is the next level when it comes to craftsmanship. Don't ask how much it costs, because it costs an arm and a leg, but you get a unique product that it stands out of any crowd.
Here you can see some scarves among some leaf dyed clothing items, which I'm going to talk about later in one of my posts.
I was really amazed by the creativity of these crafters. This sleeveless dress was made of felt and silk. It is not my style, but from creative perspective it's a masterpiece, I can tell you that.
I keep saying this is the next level and I have said it a couple of time, but this really is.
Hats, shoes, scarves, ponchos, necklaces (made of felt of course), earrings, bags, everything you want.
Those shoes were looking really confy and even though it was not really my color, I thought let's see how much it is. Well, the price matched a pair of good quality leather shoes' price. I was told these are cold during summer and keep you warm during winter, but damn! I'm not ready to pay the price.
For me, a color combination of brown and blue, if it's the right shade, it is always a winner and this piece stole my heart. I loved it. Just gorgeous!
Even the seabird was made of felt. Better for kids, then some cheap plastic toy.
There were more cool toys there, for small children.
Looking at these products, makes me think that sky is the limit indeed. The creativity of these crafters is amazing and I also think there's a market for these product, I mean there are buyers, because these are not cheap, yet so many are selling them.
The next day I went back to the festival, to talk to the crafters and gathered a lot of important and valuable information. I saw this basket full of goodies as well.
Then I saw these two ladies, pushing the roll from one end of the table to the other. It was really strange and I knew there's a well defined purpose for it, just didn't know what it was, so I asked. At first the older lady said they are bored and do this to pass time, which i knew it was a joke and I didn't not appreciate it because I was interested in the real reason, so I stood there looking at them, to which she then said, they are rolling the felted cloth, to press it and this was exactly what I wanted to know. There's a process, which has to be respected, if you want results and I show you in a minute what it is, as I had the occasion, to talk to another lady, who was kind enough to walk me through it.
But first have a look at this amazing blouse, that is made of felt and I suppose it has some embroidery on it as well. The lady who was selling it was busy with customers, so i didn't ask, but I suppose the price leaves you with your jaw dropped. These are very expensive, but when you see how much work goes into them, you'll understand why.
Aaaaand, here's what I was interested in. The lady was making the felt. She first cut out some gauze and spread them on the work surface. This was necessary as she didn't want a smooth material, she wanted on with bumps. Then she spread the wool on it, carefully matching the colors, after which she sprinkled soapy water on it.
After soaking the wool properly, she placed a plastic sheet with bubbles on it, and started to press it very gently. This phase has to be done with a lot of care because those individual pieces has to stick together and also it is time consuming as it takes up two hours I was told.
I asked the lady to allow me to take a photo of the result that far and this was it. The white spots are the gauze beneath, that are causing the felt to be bumpy. I suppose there will be several layers added after.
This was the raw material she used. I would have left out the yellow, but it wasn't my felt, so ...
Anyway, I was told there are courses and workshops to learn felting, expensive these too, of course. I'm not going to attend as there are free courses on the internet, I don't see why pay for something you can learn on your own.
I hope you liked my experience with felting. Now let's see who has seen such products, or better yet, who has tried it. Let me know in a comment.
Oh, I almost left this out. This is another way to layer wool for felting. It's an old machine, two cylinders working like a comb, but I don't know if they use it.
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