I carry some felting supplies but limit it to those that are difficult to find such as inflatable balls or those that are an added convenience to you when ordering fiber such as felting needles.  To view the fibers and supplies I sell click here. 

I no longer carry  the felting supplies that I feel you can get on your own cheaper or easier than I can provide them.  Here are some sources for those items.

You will find more resources at Pat Spark's website www.peak.org/~spark/spark.html

How to find and communicate with other feltmakers

Pat Spark is a felt artist that has an incredible website www.peak.org/~spark/spark.html with her felt artwork but it also has an extensive amount of resources for feltmakers.  I consider her website a “portal” to the felting community and highly recommend you visit it. Information at her website includes listings of other felt artist, suppliers, teachers, and calendars that include upcoming exhibits, exhibit opportunities, workshops and conferences, other events and felting instructions.  

North American Feltmakers Network - Pat also distributes a tri-yearly newsletter (mailed to your home) called the North American Feltmakers Network.

Feltlist E-mail Discussion Group - Pat Spark, Originator/Moderator - Subscribe and discuss felting on a daily basis (via email) with felters in the US and other countries (or just "lurk" and listen to the discussions).

www.feltingforum.com - Growing by leaps and bounds and is a fabulous online felting community with discussions, resources and the ability to post images of felt work.

International Feltmakers Association - Contact via the appropriate email address given on the website (easiest since it is overseas).  A subscription to the quarterly felting magazine called Felt Matters is provided as part of the membership benefits.  www.feltmakers.com.

Book List

There are instructions throughout this website for many projects but nothing takes the place of a good book - except a workshop!!  I have only listed books that I personally own.  Some are filled with great instructions and some are focused more on felt imagery.  All of them are full of inspiration! 

Books are listed under “traditional” or “needle” felting or "dyeing" according to the primary technique but many books combine both.

Traditional Wet Felting                             Author                                          ISBN#                 

* Great book with good detailed instructions using Merino Wool Top

**Great book with instructions for both Merino and Norwegian Felting Batts (referred to as “Gotland” in the text)

*** ISBN number is for the Japanese version but now it is available in English too!

Needle  Felting                                    Author                                                 ISBN#                 

Dyeing, Wool Information, Misc.         Author                                                  ISBN#                 

Where to find a workshop?

These are some great places that often teach weekend and weeklong felting classes.

Craft School                                  Website                               Phone                                  Location               

 Felter’s Conferences                      Website                                       Phone                    Location               

Felting Soap

I make my own Olive Oil (Castile) soap using the recipe in the book called "The Complete Soapmaker" by Norma Coney.  But I am no longer able to keep enough supply to sell it on this website.  However, the good news is it is easily available if you know what you are looking for.  Look for soap that is made from olive oil and sodium hydroxide (lye).  The less “other” kinds of ingredients the better and avoid soaps with granules such as oatmeal, pumice or cinnamon (for obvious reasons).   Bars of soap can be shaved, ground, or grated on a cheese grater before adding water – or just let the bar soak in your felting water for awhile!

The benefits of olive oil soap are:

• Very gentle and non-drying on the hands.
• The soap solution has a “slippery” nature that provides lubrication between the fiber and your hands that helps keep surface designs in place.
• The pH of this soap is basic which speeds up the felting process.
• Produces fewer suds than detergents so you can see your project as it felts yet rinses out of the finished project almost immediately.

Ingredients:  water, olive oil, sodium hydroxide

 Soap stock solution (adjust as desired for your brand of soap)

Mix 1 part ground soap and 4 parts hot tap water.  Stir or whisk frequently until all of the lumps dissolve.  You can use it immediately however, it will become gelatinous (snotty like) over the next few days and it will to go farther as a stock solution.  If it starts to harden beyond the gelatinous stage then stir in more hot water and make a note to add more water during the initial dissolving of the soap next time.  I leave the soap stock uncovered on my counter and use it for many weeks.  However, I have been told by other felt makers that stock soap solutions will mold if you cover them.

 Soap working solution

This is personal preference and develops over time with experience.  For example, I use much more soap in my water when I hand rub a project than I do when rolling it in the pool cover.  I never measure the amount of soap and water since it is more of a “feel” than an actual recipe.  Start with a soap and water dilution that is slippery between your fingers.  Perhaps ⅛ - ¼ cup soap to a gallon of water?  Add more soap or water as needed.    

Notes about felting soap

Other soaps commonly used in felting are liquid dish soap, glycerin soaps, Murphy’s Oil soap, and every day body bars.  Ivory Soap Flakes used to be a favorite but they are not longer available. 

 To make your own ivory soap flakes:

Place a bar of Ivory soap (no other brand!) on a plate in your microwave and turn it on.  Watch closely.  The bar will foam up into a large puff.  Once it has completely foamed up remove it from the microwave and allow it to cool.  Once it has cooled you can crumble it into flakes.  If you do a lot of this you may want to consider dedicating a microwave to this purpose (ie, no food).

Thanks Gail Trautz for showing me how to do this!

Hat Stiffeners

I am no expert on this subject so I am just providing my personal experience as a "jump-off" point for you to figure out your own method of hardening felt. 

First I used a product called Leko Hat Stiffener from www.hatsupply.com.  It is an alcohol based product that you brush on to the felt (I always did this on dry felt).  I liked it because the felt was stiff without changing the look or feel of the felt surface.  Alcohol wicks into felt very well, delivering the stiffener deep into the felt.  The drawback is that the alcohol based liquid is expensive to buy  as well as to ship.  It also has an odor that lingers for a few days after application and longer if you keep the hardened felt  in a tightly closed container.  I understand that www.hatshapers.com has a powdered product called hydrolac that you can mix with alcohol that works similar to the Leko product but I haven't tried it. 

Recently I made "homemade" stiffener using  shellac and denatured alcohol purchased from the hardware store.  I mixed 40 ml shellac into 460 ml alcohol.  The mixture stayed a little cloudy and had to be mixed frequently to stay into solution.  I used it over the course of several days and the stiffness, feel and appearance of the felt was the same as with the Leko product but at a fraction of the cost.  Also, the smell was not as bad and did not linger nearly as long as the Leko hat stiffener.

Hints

Table leg extenders - To raise your work table and save your back, measure the diameter of the table legs and cut PVC pipe that will slide over the ends and raise the table to the desired height.  Pull old socks over the bottom to keep from scratching the floor.

Grinding up soap - Use and old meat grinder such as the cast iron, hand crank ones that clamp on the table, to grind bars of soap into smaller pieces.  For olive oil soap bars dilute one part soap to 4 parts hot tap water and whisk occasionally until the soap is dissolved.  This will cool and gel over several days creating a “snotty” stock solution.  I leave this uncovered next to the sink for many weeks and use it as needed.  I have heard that if you cover it mold will develop.  Dilute this stock solution into water to the concentration you desire for you working solution.  As long as the water feels “slippery” it should work.   Note:  Liquid dish soap and other soaps will work too but it may dry out your hands.

Rinsing felt - Use your washing machine to rinse the soap out of your felt by filling the machine, adding your felt piece, allowing it to soak several minutes, and using the spin cycle to remove the water.  Repeat as necessary to remove all soap. DO NOT AGITATE OR USE THE AGITATION CYCLE AT ALL!