Playing With Wool

Green Waters, wool, SOLD

Blog 6


Many of my blogs refer to needle felting. While I have written about materials and the process of needle felting, I never told the story of how I started needle felting.

After I had moved to Ottawa, I joined the Grizzly Gang Bear Club in Nepean. From time to time, the club organized workshops. One of the workshops was a needle felting workshop. We learned to create a cute needle felted bear. I loved what I could achieve with the wool. For a couple of years, I made small three-dimensional animals.

However, when going through the boxes in my studio one day, I came across samples of different wool rovings from my six-month internship in the yarn producing company Schachenmayr. When I wanted to study fashion design after school, I needed the required practical experience to apply to university. I loved being around wool all the time, designing patterns for the new collection of colours and products before they hit the market.

I wondered what I could do with these small quantities of wool rovings. Without ever having heard of needle felted paintings, I got inspired to use the wool for a re-creation of my acrylic painting Green Waters. From that moment on, my excitement for needle felting led me to create more and more two-dimensional artworks. When I looked for resources for materials that I could not find in the local craft, art or wool stores, I also found information about other artists and finally learned the expression needle felted painting.

Alex, wool, 12.5" x 10.25"

Fast forward to 2020, when our dog, Alex, needed my care and attention after a stroke. I did not want to leave him alone anymore, and he was too old to follow me to my downstairs studio. Instead, I concentrated on needle felting which I could do anywhere with Alex at my side.

When our puppy, Shadow, joined us less than three months after Alex died, I had another reason to stay upstairs, preventing the mischief a little dog can cause. For him, I even erected a gate to make sure that he did not get into my projects – a lesson I learned from my experiences with our first puppy.

Last year, I felted during many of the Zoom calls. I always need to occupy my hands. After my accident in December, felting and drawing helped me get through the pain and frustration.

I like the ease of felting. The materials are light. Therefore, I can carry them easily. During my time in bed, I could even felt in bed. I can pick up my projects for a couple of minutes or hours because the cleanup is fast and easy. I don’t have to worry about spilling paints, covering leftover ones and washing brushes.

The repetitive motion of pushing the felting needle through the wool is relaxing and meditative. I have so many ideas for new projects that I will keep felting for a long time, and I hope that I can share this passion with you.

Flowers from Students

 If you are intrigued, I invite you to my next virtual workshop. On April 23 and 30, 2022, we will create beautiful flowers. You can copy my example, but I will also show you how to felt your unique flowers. Material kits are available for Canadian destinations. For more information, please click here.