After the workshop yesterday, Marlene of Marlene's Felting Madness, expressed her desire for a felted lock or two and I said I would love to do this for her. She dashed out for a flea comb, as their close fine teeth do the best job of back teasing. Her hair is shiny and straight and will need to be densely tangled by back teasing to give the lock a start.

Then I palmed the lock vigorously with salt and water. The salt makes the hair less slippery and more likely to knot. Recall how your hair feels when you come out of the ocean? She'll need to palm her locks daily for a month or two for them to become solid. We stopped at two, and I placed a beaded on onto one of them. Later, back in her room, she decided to comb out the front-most lock and retain the beaded one. She said it wasn't difficult to unfelt it with some conditioner.

Today's workshop focused on building wool canes or ropes, with the plan to deconstruct them for surface design and sculptural effects. It was such an exciting and creative time that I forgot to take photos.

Whew, at least I have these 3 pics to share.

It was a great day. Tomorrow Marlene will take me to the airport but, not before dining on Columbus's best sushi at Akai Hana.

If you long to explore felted jewelry making and you can get to the Philly area on the weekend of May 14-16, join me at Jubili Yarns and Beads. We will be making felted jewelry and jewelry components. Expect to make several pieces while learning a myriad of feltmaking techniques that exploit felt's plastic and painterly qualities.