My tactile craft this week is felting. I’ve been feeling nostalgic about our last trip to Hawaii and the wonderful Polynesian dancers, musicians, and artists that we saw at our last luau.

Hawaii craft turtle stamp
Luau craft: temporary tattoos with handmade stamps, Maui

Inspired by the Maui sunset and the beautiful singer narrating the history of Maui in silhouette, I revived one of my craft detours, felting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_vtxayDXFM/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

It’s the kind of craft that’s easy to pick up and complete in one sitting. You can use old knits as surfaces and collage elements. You can even use yarn that you find around the house. I picked this up in one session in the knit design class where I hand manipulating machine made knits.

Here’s a more completed example of my felting then:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_vs4sPjWaK/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

Felting is a form of fabric collage. There is another 3D version to make figurines but this one is applied to a flat surface. Needles pass through 2 layers of fiber adhering the two together. It’s a hands on moment to moment craft that uses knit fabric scraps and yarn. I use a felt mat brush and felting needles and jab my yarn colors in place:

It feels quite immediate and therapeutic. You can find these tools on Amazon. Here’s a video demo to see it in action:

So in sum, the steps are:

  1. Place felt mat brush beneath the knit you are using as a “canvas.”
  2. Take yarn, crochet, knit swatch, or mohair, and shape it directly on the surface.
  3. Stab the surface with a retractible set of needles. Be careful!

Try it and share your results here!