I was delighted to hold a Creative Wet Felted Vessel Workshop in Boulder, Colorado earlier this month.

Bohemia https://www.bohemiaboulder.com was the venue and aptly named for the seven cool and energetic participants who joined me there! Cindy and Abby @Bohemia were fantastic hosts and I hope to run another workshop there sometime

“The Magnificent 7” from left to right: Stephanie, Keri, Du, Drue, Kate, Heather and Stacy

Only one of “The Magnificent 7” had ever felted before and all were up for the challenge of creating their own felted vessels in a marathon session on this snowy Saturday in January. It began at 10am and I got everyone to pose for this “before” picture above, (alongside images of my own felted bags and vessels providing examples of different styles of vessel/large bags and showing what could be achieved in one day of wet felting on an extra large resist ball).

**Stage 1: Wool palette selection**

I supplied all the felting wool and equipment. I bought most of the wool from Living Felt https://feltingsupplies.livingfelt.com, (although most of the novelty wool and yarn I brought with me from Scotland, as the choice is much better here).

I had asked everyone to bring an idea of what style of vessel they wanted to make and their colour palette. Here are some …

**Stage 2: Tutorial**

I provided demonstrations, and everyone quickly got to work, getting to grips with applying the wet wool upside-down and inside-out.

Stage 3: Rolling the sleeves up for some serious play:

I was expecting plenty of chatter, and although just about everyone already knew each other, the workshop was very quiet at the start with intense concentration taking over, interrupted only by digs at the DJ when Spotify made its third repeat

Stage 4: Finishing off their unique vessels…

Some of the seven were more ambitious than others, a couple had animals to care for at home, so had to dash off, but everyone had a great day, were rightfully proud of their accomplishments and went home happy but exhausted (none more than I). In the end, the group produced 5 x large felted bags, 1 x cat cave, 1 x dining centrepiece. I was so impressed at how creative and original everyone’s products were.

If you are interested in participating in a wet-felted vessel workshop, please contact me, and I will let you know if I have any planned in your area. At some point, I aim to host Scottish Borders felting residentials, but the earliest this could happen would be the summer of 2027, as I’m already booked up for this summer. In the meantime, please check out my upcoming events and exhibitions so that you will be the first to be notified of new artwork, exhibitions, open calls for workshops etc… Happy felting!

The Magnificent 7

“Everything goes around, goes around, goes around”