How it all started
It all started with my a great co-worker, Tara, or better yet my great friend Tara. The whole time I knew Tara I wanted to learn how to felt but it just never happened. She was moving back to Canada and left me a bag of wool rovings, batting and some felting books that she could not fit into her 4 Runner. I was sad to see her go and looked at the wool as a great consolation prize for having a dear friend leave and was excited about learning on my own.
I read the books and looked at the wool and kept saying ‘this weekend, I will learn”. Then life happened, as it always seems to. The bag was shoved into the closet and moved with me and my then fiance to our new home, where it then sat in the attic for two years. In the Spring of 2010 I found the bag and finally had the desire to make it happen.
I had lost the books in the move but the internet is a wonderful place. I scoured the net, searching for directions for felting, watched you tube video after you tube video. Then I found Nuno Felting.
I wanted something light and more delicate but that would still have the strength of wool. I then stumbled on some pictures of “nuno felting” and I fell in love. Nuno Felting is a very time intensive process called. This technique is relatively new, and was developed by an Australian fiber artist named Polly Stirling in 1992. Nuno is actually the Japanese word for cloth, and the technique binds loose fibers (usually wool), into sheer fibers (like silk in this case) to create an extremely comfortably and light welt felt.
I went out right away and purchased a yellow cotton gauze scarf and had at it. The results were pretty cool, not the best or most distinguished scarf but that was OK because I learned so much from it. I was then hooked-ordering silks in yardage, rovings in ounces, and dyes to experiment with.
I have been successful in making really beautiful scarves that start up so many conversations and interest. Often times people see one of the scarves and just look at it in silent wonder, trying to figure out how it was made. At craft shows I have to bring some supplies to explain and show how I make my items, as most people don't know what felting is, let alone nuno felting.
My studio started out as my dining room table expanded with all its leaves, covered in a tarp in our small kitchen. It was not ideal, but I made it work. My in-laws then made me a little studio in their basement about 5 hours away so I could work on my craft while we visited. I have since recently 'relocated' my young son from his larger room to the more 'quaint' office room that I had taken over. Don't worry he loves his new room and big boy machine bed! I am happy to announce that I now have proper space to work more and more efficiently.
It is with great urging from friends and family that I started selling them here on Etsy and more recently at art and craft shows in my area.
Take a peek at my shop! I hope you enjou what you see. http://www.etsy.com/shop/SaraSetzerFeltworks
