Hand Felting.

One of the many things I love about having an etsy store is that nobody can dictate what I have to do, I can explore my creativity and try out new creations.
I am learning many new skills but one of the most rewarding and exciting techniques I have tried so far is hand felting. In the past I have seen felted items and thought how lovely and formed they looked but never considered the process involved.
I decided I wanted to have a go at making something that was very unusual and gothic looking but also cutesy, I've always liked gothic styles so this would seem to be a good place to start. I saw a pattern for a little drawstring felted pouch bag and thought it would be nice to try and put my own twist on it. In my mind I knew exactly how I wanted it to turn out, a very cutesy but scary bag that looked almost cartoon like - if that makes sense.. and so the dead goth bag was about to be created.
I did some reading up on hand felting and although it seemed quite a daunting prospect I was ready to begin.
I knitted up my bag much bigger than I wanted the end creation to look because felting shrinks your item a lot, it was recomended to use a swatch of knitting to practice on first but I was too eager for that. Another important thing to remember is that not all wool felts, it needs to be pure wool or a decent percentage, acrylic wool and super wash just don't work.
Hand felting is basically agitation and hot water..it's that easy!  I equipped my marigolds filled the sink with hot water and put in a few drops of washing up liquid as that helps to open up the fibers in the wool. I put in my item and after a few minutes I could see the fabric start to fuzz. If you decide to give it a try don't be worried if your item seems to get bigger first it usually does but will then start to shrink down.
Here is a before and after felting of the basic bag, see how after felting almost all of the knitted look starts to disappear? and it takes on and almost solid appearance.

You can take the process as far as you like, when you are hand felting you are in control and can keep checking your work every few minutes until you get the desired effect.
I have to say I have got pretty confident these days with hand felting and recently realised I was stirring the dinner on the stove with one hand and felting with the other :)

Here are the finished products of both my bags - enjoy and thank you for reading.

                                                                          Scarlet.

                                                                    Scary Mary.