Orange Leaves Unfurl

I’ve had a few questions asking how to create the vase I’ve created in a few iterations recently. There is a tutorial here demonstrating the first seven steps which bring you to this point, where the vessel is ready for adornment with more felt.

Once you have created the felt package using two batts wrapped around your cloth or plastic resist, you need to work the felt just a little to get the fibers to mesh together. Lay your package down on some sort of textured surface,

roll it up and then rock it back and forth for a few minutes. Add hot, soapy water several times to help the fibers on their way towards felting.

Cut out the shapes you want to layer out of a piece of loosely held together felt. This sheet of felt was created out of two layers of roving that were very gently agitated under a piece of rubber mat until they barely held together. You can also buy pieces of felt in this stage, sometimes called pre-felt.

Place the cut-outs wherever you choose, then gently roll them up in the mat again, being careful to keep their position intact. Pour more hot, soapy water over the matt and rock back and forth for a few minutes.

When you check on the piece, it should look like this. Notice the horizontal imprint from the mat.

It is now time to cut open a slit at one end of the vessel and remove your resist.

Slip a soapy hand inside the vessel and continue agitating from the inside and outside at the same time. You can rub the bottom of the vessel on a washboard to force it to shrink in a certain direction, but be careful of the layered elements. These should be rubbed with plenty of soap on your hand to keep them from being pulled right off the piece.