Warming up to have a class at the Appalachian Arts and Craft Center in Norris, Tennessee. The week before I was so lucky as to spend a week in New York. Erin is a great travel companion and got us to everything we wanted to see. Spending 4 days with my sister and her daughters was a treat to treasure for a long time. On the Brooklyn Bridge, very cold and very happy to be able to use a felted hat to keep our heads warm.
Back in East Tennessee, where it was also very cold and snowy several women join me at the Center to create unique head pieces.
Start with a sticky ball, weigh out your choice of Merino wool, and cover the ball in thin layers. Several fun color combinations were used. No one made the same hat.
Next, you cover the ball with panty hose stretched over the wool, to keep everything contains and controlled. Dip in warm soapy water, and bounce the ball. When you have pre-felt, the ball comes out and you can work the hat with your hands keeping it wet and warm.
A lot of rolling, folding and un-folding. The final stage is when you work the hat to fit your head and give it the shape and brim you want. Needless to say that we had some wonderful surprises and individualized head adornments by the end of class time. I love to see the results.
We jokingly call this the Robin Hood hat. The colors are so great for her. If she wants to she can shape it some more, for a more rounded look, but this shape suits her great.
Nancy is just so cute in this blue hat. She left a wide brim. If she want to she can just wet the hat and make the brim smaller, very easy to do with felt.
This multi colored hat almost look like it was knitted first. Many colors was worked together in the top layer, and the blue inner layer shows up as a very nice brim. Love the texture in this one.
Ila's multi red hat is the perfect fit for her. It is fun and unique just like her. Also great colors for her.
Teal is just a colors that looks good. This is another good fit, with a very nice brim. Keep in mind that the size of the brim can vary, nothing has to be permanent on a felted hat. You can just wet it to re-shape it.
Ginger chose colors that was very successful for her to wear. Fall colors has always been on my favorite list, but some women just looks very nice in them
Adonia is also fond of the fall colors, and they are so perfect for her. Her scarf is also felted with added curlies and crystal beads. Now she has a set to wear out.
Had to make one too, This is my demo hat, and all though I don't wear much red, I think this one will be used a lot. It fits a and feels so nice on my head. And it I don't like it anymore I can change it in a few minutes!
This was a super group of ladies. I hope they all will make more hats, and most of all have fun with felting. Hope to see them all again very soon!
(Ginger, Ila, Jane, LaDonna, Nancy, Adonia and Carla, Thank you for coming!)
On a final note, New York is a very interesting place to go fabric shopping, so we did. Mood was just one of the many, many stores we visited. Many treasures were brought back to Maryville. Most of them silk that I plan to use for Nuno felting. Now I just need some time.
I guess we never expected to have this view from a hotel room, but this was right outside our window on the 34th floor. The Empire State Building was lit up every night with different colors. Have to say, it made an impression on us.
