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Post by Cherry on Dec 16, 2019 16:48:47 GMT
Aloha forum! Ive been gone from here for years, but my last pair of slippers wore out and I couldnt bear to wear store bought junk. Naturally, making wool felt slippers made me think of this forum and how important it was to me when I was first exploring wet felting. I hope this link works: photos.app.goo.gl/xJLXLja4wHF692Bh8Pic is of just one slipper, as the other is awaiting the needle felted swirlies. I wasn't sure if I should post in dying (roving dyed with kool-aid) wet felting, or needle felting. But here is where I started, and without wet felting, I would have no reason to dye or needle felt. So here is the right place to return to after all these years. When I started felting in 2014, I was very depressed, working at a job I hated, and trying to quit an online game I was addicted to by replacing it with something creative. Learning felting here and feeling like it'd be great to become an active part of this group got me through for a little while. By the time Marilyn came to Kauai, I was back to square one- super depressed, no longer felting, and back in the addictive game. I did eventually manage to leave my soul-sucking job, quit the game for good, and claw my way out of my deep depression. And now I am felting again! Maybe this is all TMI, but after looking around the forums, it seems like it might be important to convey that this kind of community (forum, not Facebook, not Instagram, etc.) has some important and perhaps intangible attributes that make them so valuable. My Husband and I now live in a tiny travel trailer, slowly exploring the mainland, spending winters in warm places and summers in cool places. When we are in places with good connectivity, plenty of water, and convenient gray water disposal, I intend to make felt things. And to participate in this forum to try to pay forward the knowledge and encouragement I found here. I'm grateful to find the forum still here.
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Post by MTRuth on Dec 16, 2019 19:00:25 GMT
Welcome back! The link works great and your slipper is awesome. I am so glad that you find the forum meaningful and that you're back on the right track in your life. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
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Post by lyn on Dec 16, 2019 20:58:09 GMT
Thank you for sharing - you've shown the power of making something with your hands!
Your slipper is gorgeous - such a lovely colour and the needle felted swirlies are beautiful.
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tanya
Junior Member
Posts: 24
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Post by tanya on Dec 17, 2019 11:14:21 GMT
Lovely slipper! ❤️
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Post by Cherry on Dec 17, 2019 13:40:38 GMT
Thank you Ruth, Lyn and Tanya. I think I'll add an accent color or two. When finished, I'll update this thread with a pic of the pair.
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Post by lindsay on Dec 18, 2019 7:33:34 GMT
Hello Cherry and welcome back to the forum. Many thanks for sharing your felting journey and how felt-making has helped you. I’m always very grateful for people who talk about mental health and mental ill-health as still, sadly, some people find it difficult to accept or understand. The more people talk about it the more people realise they are common and normal conditions. Also hearing how you have overcome illness and become well gives people reasons for hope and optimism. So, not TMI for me!
Alas I can’t see the picture but I will persist!
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Post by lindsay on Dec 18, 2019 7:38:01 GMT
Ok, I got there! Lovely slipper and great design. I’m interested that there doesn’t seem to be so much colour migration from the red into the white inside. Did you do something specific to minimise this? Also, what type of wool did you use for the body of the slipper?
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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2019 13:26:13 GMT
Lindsay, thank you, thank you. You nailed my reason for talking here about my depression. There is no shame in it, and to avoid mentioning it is to deny its impact, and remove the possibility of encouraging a suffering stranger to keep on for better times.
I don't know how I might have prevented color migration! Maybe I just got lucky? You know how you have to work at a cut edge to better felt together all of the layers? I spent some energy rubbing along the cut before rubbing across it. Maybe that helped, or maybe the fluffy loftiness of corridale prevented total entanglement/migration at the center of the stack.
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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2019 13:31:49 GMT
Ohhhhh. Not the edge, but the inside. I think the number of layers of natural (undyed) wool have something to do with the lack of color migration. Maybe. I don't really know!
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Post by Shepherdess on Dec 18, 2019 18:28:41 GMT
A lovely slipper and a heartwarming story. I don't know what I would do without my fiber family. They keep me going and lift me up. Depression is insidious and very limiting. The struggle is real and fibre helps.
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Post by Shepherdess on Dec 18, 2019 18:34:56 GMT
Ok, I got there! Lovely slipper and great design. I’m interested that there doesn’t seem to be so much colour migration from the red into the white inside. Did you do something specific to minimise this? Also, what type of wool did you use for the body of the slipper? Throwing creates lots of fuzzy migration to the surface. I find course wool will migrate through fine wool much easier then wools that are the same. Having said that, I think it depends on the mood felting gods. I have a pot that has 3 different colour layers. The inside and outside migrated through to the opposite side but the middle didn't move.
If anyone has more or different info I would love to here it.
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Post by Pandagirl on Dec 18, 2019 20:02:36 GMT
Welcome back Tina! Beautiful slippers. I’m glad you’re back to Felting. Craig and I are going to Maui in January, we’ve had another tough year and didn’t get away last winter.
I’m happy you kicked the depression train. It can be very hard as you know. Happy holidays! Enjoy your mainland travels!
Did your husband give up his woodworking business? He surely had a talent for it.
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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2019 21:58:59 GMT
Thank you, Shepherdess. Y'all have so kindly welcomed me back. I'm not at all sorry for having shared the tough stuff with you. After hearing about the migration controlling deities, I'll be sure to talk nice to them when trying for this effect in the future! When I look closely at the insode of the slippers, I can see some red strands. They are almost done now, so I'm not going to be seeing a while bunch of the insides going forward.
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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2019 22:06:35 GMT
MARILYN! It is so good to reconnect with you! Having broken bread with you IRL, I consider you my forum person I'm sorry to hear that you've had rough years, but happy to know that your Hawaii visits are resuming next month. May your Maui trip be wonderful and set the tone for your 2020.
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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2019 22:19:18 GMT
Did your husband give up his woodworking business? He surely had a talent for it. I forgot to answer this above. Yes, he did finally close his business. Not because he really wanted to, but because I started our new adventure on the mainland without him and waited patiently for him to join me. Now he works at woodshops for a season or two and then we travel a while. Rinse and repeat. I am no longer a wood widow, as he comes home after an 8 hour work day, doesn't work weekends, and leaves his work at work. I've got a teeny bit of needle felting to do on the second slipper and will post a final pic soon. (Have to say something related to the topic!)
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