From Stitching to Felting
For years I spent many happy hours making soft body cloth dolls, mainly Santas and witches. But with advancing arthritis the required hand stitching became too difficult so I tried other crafts. I have painted, glued, stenciled, molded plaster, pressed leaves, strung chimes, beaded and even whittled.
But, nothing seemed to grab my heart or imagination. I was getting depressed thinking that I’d never find something both satisfying and stimulating. Between stiffening fingers and failing eyesight I was seriously thinking of abandoning crafting all together and settling into the life of a crotchety old lady who rocks in her chair and talks back to the TV set.
Then came wool… yup, that curly, fleecy stuff found on sheep before it’s spun into yarn. Wool, I discovered, can be needle felted into almost anything and its versatility is amazing. Needle felting, the process of molding and condensing wool fibers by jabbing them with a barbed needle, reminded me very much of clay sculpting and the wonderful hands on feel of creating something out of a lump of nothing. Once again, my mind filled with creative ideas and the desire to experiment and my hands itched to try making a doll out of wool, and voila, an obsession was born. Soon it became necessary to find homes for all the felted dolls that were quickly taking over the house thus Felted Witchery, my Etsy shop, was born.
