Felt Meets Wire Has Moved!
This weekend I spent some time working on my blog. I started by moving it from WordPress to Blogger. WordPress is a great blogging platform, but I find Blogger to be more user friendly. After moving my blog and sprucing it up a bit, I decided I should also just go ahead and purchase my own domain name. Check out the new and improved Felt Meets Wire at www.feltmeetswire.com.
Hand Cut Versus Laser Cut
In some of my earlier posts, I discussed my use of a commercial laser cutting machine to cut out felt pieces. I used the laser to cut the felt initial ornaments that I made for my family. I also used it to cut out my first two owls, Celeste and Oliver. Since that time, I have switched over to cutting everything by hand. Here are the two main reasons why I switched to this method.
1) You may have noticed that the owls are multiplying. What do I want with a giant pile of owls? It could be fun to have my own felt owlery, but in reality I am planning to start a small business selling these little creatures along with my other creations. The laser cutter belongs to the company where I work and while using it now and again for a personal project is ok, it wouldn’t really be appropriate for me to use it for my own business enterprise.
2) I want to sell my customers items that have as much of a handmade touch as possible. I feel better about selling items that I cut out myself. I don’t want a machine to do the work for me. In addition, the laser cutter leaves a slightly melty/burnt edge on the felt that isn’t ideal.
So that’s that. I’m happy with my my choice to cut everything by hand. My small business will start out as an Etsy shop. I’m still working to create the online storefront as well as items to sell. I will keep you posted on my progress. I plan to keep Celeste and Oliver for myself, but any other owls you see on this blog will most likely be for sale.
More Owls!
I have been making lots of owls recently. Some have strings attached so they can be hung up as decorations. Others are tiny little owls that can be attached to your keychain!
Oink!
I completed this felt piggy earlier today. She is very cute from both the front…
…and the back!
Oliver the Owl
Meet Oliver the Owl. I thought Celeste could use a boyfriend:)
Oliver was made using a combination of laser cut and hand cut eco felt. He is hand-sewn with embroidery floss. The smaller features are attached with glue. His eyes are of the googly variety:)
Wire
My wire basketry has been a bit neglected on this blog so far. I’ve definitely been focused on felt recently. In between my felty endeavors, however, I have been working on a wire basket for my parents. I have spent about 30 hours on it and it is around halfway complete.
Because each basket takes so much time to complete, wire related blog posts will probably be less frequent than felt ones. However, I hope to remedy that in the future. I still plan to experiment with integratimg wire into some of my felt work. Also, once I finish the basket I’m working on, I plan to scale back to making smaller baskets that can be completed in 20 hours or less.
Here is some of my past wire work.
Plush Felt Owl
I just finished this super cute felt owl today! I designed the pattern for her on the computer and cut the pieces using a commercial laser cutting machine. I glued on the delicate facial features and sewed the larger components by hand. I’m really happy with how she turned out and I plan to make more in a variety of color schemes. I’m one of those people who needs to name everything, so this owl shall henceforth be known as Celeste:)
Felt Scottie Dog
Meet Scottie the felt scottie dog! I made this cute puppy from a pattern created by Jenny B. Harris of AllsortsMakery.com. I added my own personal touch with the button eyes and the red ribbon collar.
Scotty Dog Pattern, copyright 2006 Jennie B. Harris – AllsortsMakery.com
Felt Initial Ornaments
For Christmas 2011, I created these cute initial ornaments using felt.
I created the pattern for these on the computer by using Illustrator (which is a vector based drawing program, if you’re not familiar). To cut these out, I took advantage of the commercial laser cutting machine that we have at work. In less than twenty minutes, the pieces were cut with precision!
I attached a braided strand of embroidery floss to the inside of the backing piece with tacky glue. While this was drying, I sewed the top layer of the initial to the second layer. I did a basic running stitch for this and chose an embroidery floss very similar to the felt color. Once these two components were complete, I sewed them together with an overcast stitch and added a bit of stuffing.
I am quite happy with how these turned out. In all, I made eight ornaments in the days leading up to Christmas.
Hello!
Hi! My name is Heather. I am an artist located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2003 with degrees in fiber arts and graphic design. By day, I work as a prototype artist for Colorbok, a local company specializing in scrapbook and craft products. Outside of work, I do my best to make time for my own creative pursuits. In particular, I like to make little felt objects and weave wire baskets.
This blog will feature my felt creations as well as my wire art. I am also planning to explore the possibility of combining felt and wire together. I look forward to seeing what happens when felt meets wire.
Many thanks to my husband, Dan, for encouraging me to start this blog and supporting me in all my artistic endeavors!
Below are some samples of my artwork.
Hand Sewn Felt Flowers on Canvas
Gold Mini Basket
