Learning a new skill, with a feltwork chicken

 

I make a lot of stuff. This won't come as a surprise to readers of this blog, but it's important. I love making things, and when I fall out of love with doing so, I know there is a problem. And part of this love is enjoying learning new making skills. 

At this year's Leamington "Art on the Park" festival, I was determined to book onto one of the courses on offer during the day. As it happens, one of the first stalls I found was run by Furzie Felt - and they were offering boiled egg cosie making using felt. The little chickens looked fun, and I've never messed around with felt before. Truth is, I wasn't really sure what it is. I booked on to the first session, while most people are wandering around looking at art to buy, and at 10:30 was one of three having a go. 

The materials are pretty basic - a moulded felt bottom (involving a washing machine, wooden egg and pair of tights apparently) and some small skeins of wool. 

Work starts my making the head. Basically, you roll some wool up and stab it repeatedly with a special  barbed needle. This tangles the wool up, giving it a structure. Eventually, you have a ball, which is them fixed to the bottom with more stabbing and a few more whisps of wool. It's fascinating, no glue or stiching is involved. 

The comb is cut out of sheet felt, but fixed with more stabbing and poking. The beak is rolled from more lose wool, and it's at this point you really realise how effective the stabbing method is in turning loose wool into something more solid. 

The whole process took around an hour and I'm really pleased with the result. OK, I'm a long way from producing the same level of sculpture as our tutor, but then she's been felting for over a decade. What I really enjoyed was learning how the material behaved. Like most making skill, the trick is understanding this, and then you can move on to working out what to do with it. 

So, a fun time and a new skill learned for a measily tenner. Best of all, there's enough material for a second cossie, so I better get stabbing!

Update: Second chicken made. The wite doesn't work quite as well as the brown for the eyes, but it went together well and I'm starting to pick up the techniques. Not sure they will be useful for model railway or boat work though!