fiber arts today; wet felting

Last year when Dillon and I were heading to Florida on spring break to check out Full Sail University, I posted on my facebook status where we were heading. A friend from New Jersey, contacted me and told me that a fellow Artfester, worked at Full Sail and that I should look her up. We hooked up on facebook and then when Dillon and I arrived in Winter Park, we met her (the sweet Cami Smith)

and her husband out one evening to get acquainted. So through facebook we've been able to keep in touch and then when I knew I was heading down this way, Dillon and I went over to her house for brownies and ice cream one afternoon. (yum) - as I explored her artsy, cool house, I spied a project on her table and inquired what she was working o

n. She works in fiber arts and she said that it was wet felting. I shared that I hadn't tried it before and thus our art day was hatched!

another Artfester, Jane, was contacted and plans were made for today. We met up around noon and jumped right into FUN! After showing us what we were going to do and how to do it, we began to work on our pieces. I decided to make a garden after seeing one of Cami's pieces.

here's Jane modeling the latest in wet felted hats or a bowl; whatever you want it to be!

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here is what my piece looked like as i began the first few layers

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here i am starting to add more layers and you can see my picture developing

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next it gets sandwiched in

between screen netting and i'll begin the wet, soapy process of agitating the wool

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here Jane and Cami are agitating and kneading their pieces

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at last I am done with the wet, soapy, wringing and kneading process

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i was tempted to clip some fur from Stanley and rove it into my piece!

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Now i place my piece in the middle of this bamboo curtain and roll it up tight. then i begin to roll the curtain back and forth to further tighten the wool

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here is my finished piece. (from this stage anyway!) now it needs to dry au natural

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on a fun note, on the way to Cami's house, I stopped at for coffee and had the most incredible chance encounter. I ran into Starbucks and a nice gentleman bought me a coffee and then we started chatting. I told him I was there visiting my son who is attending Full Sail. He looks at me and says, "I'm the president of Full Sail! (of course I don't believe him and say, "no you aren't"!) Anyway, he was so sweet, gave me a big hug and said he would send dillon an email!