Wet felting is a very organic process for me. I figure things out as I go. Therefore…I am constantly making mistakes that I have to incorporate. (I rarely just throw something away.) Since I am often changing mediums and therefore almost always experimenting, I make a lot of mistakes. But for me, these are opportunities rather than failures.
For this particular felted wool vessel, I wet felted natural alpaca roving around a ball. Because I wanted the walls of the vessel to be rather thick, I wrapped about six layers of roving around a three inch diameter ball. If you have ever done any felting, then you know the unwieldy mound of fluff that six layers becomes. Conventional felting wisdom recommends using pre-felted pieces, or needle felting before wet felting in order to prevent the layers from slipping around. But I just go ahead and wet felt the whole thing. And the layers slip. And bunch. And do all sorts of uncontrolled things. Wrinkles form. The overall shape is imperfect. And for a moment I am disappointed; maybe I even put the misshapen vessel aside for awhile. But I don’t forget it. I look at it every now and then while continuing with other projects.
And then one day an idea comes to me. I decide to highlight the wrinkles by stitching a pattern in wool yarn. Thus the wrinkles are meant to be. They give purpose to the stitching which in turn enhances an otherwise plain vessel.
And that is a perfect example of my creative process; organic, experimental, inclusive, additive.

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