Free Spirit

Ein Gedi, the famous kibbutz at the Dead Sea in Israel is perfect way to relax and chill out after a hectic five day Felting Master Class presented by International Felting Teacher and my felting guru Phyllis Hoffman from Australia. www.phylstudio.com
This was organized by The Israel Designer and Craftmen's Association of Israel
www.designcrafts.org.il and their very efficient secretary Tali Talmor.

A year ago we started FELT 4U www.felt4u.etsy.com and I must say felting is really unique in that it is dynamic and an ongoing learning exeperience, something like my philosopy of Life itself.

When I was in my early thirties, I met a man who was 21 years older than me. I was in the process of a divorce with two children. He was ruggedly handsome, an artist and bohemian who had been briefly married. He was so different from anyone I had ever met before and I fell head over heals in love with him. He changed my life in many ways made me into the person I am today. He taught me to be a free spirit and that is how I think of nuno felting. www.felt4u.etsy.com
Free and floating with texture, color and simple versatile structure.

Lets Celebrate Fashion

The runway shows are now on in Europe and every morning it’s a treat to read Suzy Menkes’s coverage in the International Herald Tribune. It also helps Elaine and I get inspired for the
nuno felted silk and wool scarves and wraps that we make under the label FELT 4U.
According to fashion trendsetters, next autumn will see scarves almost touching the floor! And the cowl neck is also still a big fashion statement.
I also loved to see the way men are also wearing their scarves. David Beckham and Leonardo Di Caprio were wearing theirs in recent photo shoots (both gorgeous!). Perhaps it’s time for
FELT 4U to stop ignoring the male market – but somehow we are getting more and more involved in extending our line into women’s fashion (note our new wrap shirts on www.felt4u.etsy.com and soon to be marketed Kimono wraps!)
But this is a digression from what I really intended to write about. I’ve been thinking a lot about how lucky we are that fashion has becoming so relaxed. Think back to a few decades ago when you were tied to a certain length of skirt or width of trouser leg depending on the fashion of the season. Colors were also set – if red was out, you wouldn’t be seen dead in it!
Nowadays there is very little considered to be a fashion faux pas. Colors can be matched whichever way you choose and you can realize your most eccentric fashion fantasies. Retro style lets us become as nostalgic as we want, boho chic means bringing out the hippy in us and gothic is a trendy way of just letting black abound in our closets. I love it!!! The only constraint is probably age – but that’s a subject that deserves its own lengthy diatribe.

So, this posting is really to say to all of you out there, feel free, enjoy whatever style and image you dream of having. Let’s celebrate the age in which we are living.
Best wishes to all of you out there in blogland
Elana

Curious Conversation

My journey some years ago en route to Curious Conversation started with the idea of creating a merino wool wet felted sculpture, possibly a hollow vessel out of which would emerge a needle felted head. I liked the idea of creation, and birth and wanted to string them together somehow. That was before we started FELT 4U
Did I know how to wet felt a sculpture? No, but I was sure keen to learn. As a student of hands on learning through books, internet and experimenting, I checked out wet felting vessels and thought it looked easy. Oh dear how wrong I was!
After five layers of black and white wool tops over a large copper milk can, that I had bought at a Flea Market in South Africa in the 1980's, I wondered how on earth I was going to wet it down as it had turned into a kind of unwieldy monster.
I read somewhere about using pantyhose when wet felting. As luck would have it, my sister had given me a bag of her old ones. I found something that looked suitable and tried in vain to cover the monster by myself. I was really panting and sweating profusely, but to no avail.
So I invited a couple of friends and together we managed to tame the monster into a flesh colored pair of used pantyhose. .
I hosed it down with soap and water and rubbed for days on end, as it gradually morphed into a
floppy lopsided grey creation with unexplainable openings.
In the meantime I needle felted a head which evolved into a Sci fi bodiless alien from all the
pricking. Certainly not the newborn's head emerging from birthing as I had envisaged.
But I was not yet finished. My floppy lopsided creation needed some weights to ground as well
as to round it, so I felted a dozen balls and put eight inside.
Aha, now we were getting somewhere, the vessel, the head, the balls and me.
To elevate it to its rightful place I put the vessel on a iron thing that I had found somewhere
(I love collecting junk, but that is another story) and put four balls to resemble a baby pram.
Finally the head completed the ensemble or so I thought. But I was wrong. Something was missing. My eyes scanned the horizon of the mess in the workroom and there I found it.
My Egyptian Cat, just waiting to have his say.

Elaine

SPRING ......
2009 is flying.
"Stop the world I want to get off". Is that a song or a movie?. I'm not sure.
What I am sure of is that spring is in the air.
I can smell it in the scented blossoms of the almond trees.
I can hear it in the soft call of early migratory birds heading homeward.
I can sense it in the vibrancy of the fashion colors now dotting the shop displays.
But mainly I feel it in the yearning to be newly creative.
Like two busy bees, FELT 4U's Elaine and Elana are rocking and rolling as we craft our latest merino wool nuno felted garments for Spring/summer 2009.

Life Lessons from Craft

You could say that I am a serial craft addict. Ceramics, candle wicking, calligraphy, paper making, painting on wood and mosaic are just a few I've tackled. The only ones that I have been truly passionate about have been mosaic and for the last year,merino wool nuno felting for our own on-line store FELT 4U http://felt4u.etsy.com/

This is where you can see and purchase our shibori dyed merino wool nuno felted scarves, wraps and hip wraps. They are all handmade by nuno felting merino wool onto hand dyed tissue silk.
I’ve often asked myself why mosaic and merino wool nuno felting have been such life enhancing experiences with none of the embarrassment and frustration that came with my attempts at other forms of craft. To be honest, my battered psyche was only saved by my mother who beamed with joy when receiving a lopsided coil pot or a birthday card with the greeting written in shaky calligraphic letters.
From the beginning of learning mosaic it all felt different. There were no stars in theclass whose work we had to measure ourselves against. No piece was ever deemed a failure and all had there own intrinsic beauty and personal signature.So too in merino wool nuno felting, every creation has originality and beauty. And unlike mosaic, its easy to just keep working and changing a piece if you don’t like the outcome.After a year, every merino wool nuno felted scarf that I make for FELT 4U still seems like a fun experiment and there are countless ways in which to evolve. Mosaic and merino wool nuno felting let you play with color and liberate us from the expected color combinations.One of my favorite mosaic pieces is a mirror in orange and turquoise. Likewise, a fuschia pink and orange merino wool nuno felted scarf brightens up my day when Iwear it. I think from craft, as in life, we learn that we have to find what suits our personalities,interests (merino wool nuno felted scarves taps into my love of fashion) and talents. Usually when you find your craft you also find that like minded people surround you and beautiful friendships are built (like with my two friends Audrey and Natalie – both professional mosaic artists) and now with my partner, Elaine who sees every item we lovingly produce “as a journey in itself.”

One other tip…doing what you love with great music in the background also helps (nothing like Mozart when you are rolling your merino wool nuno felted item for the 2000th time.)
Best wishes to you
Elana
FELT 4U

Be My Valentine

Be my Valentine?
That is all I longed for during my teen years a few decades ago in the Swinging Sixties.
I hoped and silently prayed that I would get a Valentine card sent in the post with a real stamp, (which I could add to my stamp collection), from a secret admirer!

In those days, handmade/ homemade was not sought after unless you or your parents lived a kind of Hippie lifestyle.
Nobody would venture into the world of arts and crafts and actually take the time and effort to make you a card or gift.
Valentine Cards had to be bought from a store. Picked off a shelf from a Stationers Shop in an anonymous fashion. And then to top it all, the name of the sender could not be anywhere and a message had to be written in Braille!.

Anyway I never received a Valentines Card during the Swinging Sixties.
But all these years later as I mellow and grow wise, I am still hopeful!!
Who knows??

But I digress, why write a blog called FELT 4U?
www.felt4uart.blogspot.com.

So, let me introduce myself.
My name is Elaine.
Elana, the redhead is my fashion fundi felting friend and together we enjoy a creative and independent lifestyle incorporating the arts and crafts.
Our passion is felting, nuno felting in particular.
We would love to engage with you, and share our work, ideas and thoughts through
www.felt4uart.blogspot.com


With romance in the air we have created two special wraps for Valentine which are sold through our virtual store.
www.felt4u.etsy.com

My Valentine and Marshmallow ( see pix)

Perfume wafts away but a wrap will softly envelope you always with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

We will be happy to have your feedback..

Elaine and Elana
FELT 4U

Be My Valentine

Be my Valentine?
That is all I longed for during my teen years a few decades ago in the Swinging Sixties.
I hoped and silently prayed that I would get a Valentine card sent in the post with a real stamp, (which I could add to my stamp collection), from a secret admirer!

In those days, handmade/ homemade was not sought after unless you or your parents lived a kind of Hippie lifestyle.
Nobody would venture into the world of arts and crafts and actually take the time and effort to make you a card or gift.
Valentine Cards had to be bought from a store. Picked off a shelf from a Stationers Shop in an anonymous fashion. And then to top it all, the name of the sender could not be anywhere and a message had to be written in Braille!.

Anyway I never received a Valentines Card during the Swinging Sixties.
But all these years later as I mellow and grow wise, I am still hopeful!!
Who knows??

But I digress, why write a blog called FELT 4U?
www.felt4uart.blogspot.com.

So, let me introduce myself.
My name is Elaine.
Elana, the redhead is my fashion fundi, felting, friend and together we enjoy a creative and independent lifestyle incorporating the arts and crafts.
Our passion is felting, nuno felting in particular.
We would love to engage with you, and share our work, ideas and thoughts through
www.felt4uart.blogspot.com


With romance in the air we have created two special wraps for Valentine which are sold through our virtual store.
www.felt4u.etsy.com

My Valentine and Marshmallow ( see pix)

Perfume wafts away but a wrap will softly envelope you always with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

We will be happy to have your feedback..

Elaine and Elana
FELT 4U