Designer Feature Series: Meet Felted Friends

About felted Friends:

I am a felt maker living in a small village near Snowdon in North Wales.  I first began making felt some years back with my children, constructing a variety of little items such as flowers and finger puppets. I derived a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from the process of felt-making which I now channel into teaching, as well as selling felted animals on a small scale. Perhaps the most wonderful thing for me about working with felt is that each animal is entirely unique, with its own personality; and my children and I have great fun coming up with names for them! I work from scratch, making a wide variety of creatures, from cats and dogs to elephants and tortoises.

Inspirations:

I have always very much liked the idea of taking natural materials and creating from them something that is either visually appealing or of practical use. Felt is wonderful in this way, because it has such a diversity of uses. The raw material of felt, namely wool, is a lovely material to work with because it is completely natural, and comes in a fantastic range of textures and colors; browns, reds, creams and grays. I draw a great deal of inspiration simply from being out and about with my children and our two dogs; from walking on the hill behind our house and observing the colours of the landscape; from seeing animals in their natural environments and observing their movement and character.

Best Sellers:

The way in which I work means that no two items are ever quite the same. I find that each buyer is drawn to the character of a certain felt toy which appeals to them as an individual, and (luckily!) usually no two customers are particularly drawn to the same item.

We Make Christmas Pop Up Shopping Experience:

I will be selling a whole range of different animals, some of which I have just made for the first time, such as a (friendly) spider and a turtle.

Website:

I am just having a website put together, which I very much hope will be up and running by the time this fair happens.  If by any chance it is not please try again in a few weeks time at www.feltedfriends.co.uk