Boot Makin'
I love fibers and textiles of all kinds - this is not a secret. But what I may not have ever shared about myself is that the very first online store I ever opened sold my hand-felted goods. I made bags and scarves and iPad cases, all decorated with wet-felted animals and plants, precious little wool paintings that sold rather terribly but that I adored. The smell of wet wool will now always take me back to that summer, where I bought a felting book and taught myself how to interlock those fine strands using nothing more than hot water, soap, and my own determination.
However, life sometimes has a funny way of making us forget the things we once loved in the name of Progress and Seriousness - and it had been years and years since I’d broken out the felting goods. So, naturally, I decided to tackle a project I’d never before attempted (slippers) using a fiber I’d never before worked with (alpaca). It took three-ish weeks, but all the fussing was more than worth the wonderful time I’ve had reuniting with my old, wooly love.
Step one was making a massive plastic template for laying out the wool. A bizarre shape and three times the size of my feet, I had to keep reminding myself that making felt requires a whole lot of shrinkage (ever thrown a wool sweater in the washer/dryer by mistake??). And thus, the process began.
I started by laying out a few ounces of plum and chocolate merino wool, directly on top of my template. This first layer would eventually become the inside of the slippers.
I then carefully wet the wool, using hot soapy water, before flipping the template. Any loose edges were folded over and more merino was laid out on the second side to fully enclose the template within.
After more water and another flip to fully seal the merino interior, I laid out layer upon layer of fluffy, light grey alpaca fibers. They stuck to my hands, my face, my clothes, the cat…but ohhhh so soft! I persevered.
After wetting, flipping, folding edges and repeating the whole laying out process for the second side of the slippers with the alpaca, it was time to begin actually felting. A layer of tulle fabric was placed carefully over the wool + template and I gently agitated the whole mess with my hands until, through friction and heat, the fibers began to stick to one another.
Once the fibers were starting to mesh, everything got spiraled up in a piece of pool cover (basically just heavy duty bubble wrap) and rolled and rolled and rolled until my arms wanted to fall off. All the little bubbles provided more agitation and the wool finally began to shrink! I worked at it until the edges of the slippers started to curl, a sign that they had shrunk smaller than the template inside.
The slippers were then separated and the template removed…
…creating two separate pieces! At this point, I realized that the merino and alpaca weren’t really felting with one another, instead creating two distinct layers…whoops. My solution was to flip the slippers inside out (as seen on the right) and to use my hands to scrub the alpaca and merino layers together until they joined. Once I could see white alpaca fibers showing through the dark merino layer, I knew the crisis had passed.
What followed was a whole lot of smacking and kneading and general wool abuse to get the fibers to felt and shrink…and after a little bit of shaping, behold! A boot!!
Once both boots were shaped I trimmed them down…
…and once they were fully dry I shaved the felt. Alpaca is…hairy. And while I like a little texture, this was too much - see that right boot. Storm (the cat) was particularly obsessed with the slippers before I shaved them. If they were left within his reach he had his teeth and claws in them in an instant, little savage that he is. A little time with a razor smoothed everything out and removed any temptation for the kitties - there have been no attacks since!
Upon first wear, I realized the slippers were QUITE slippy…so I soaked some leather and formed up a couple of soles…
…that were then glued and sewn in place.
And voila!!
It’s been a long, weird, challenging spring and it just felt good to make something again. I might not be wearing these babes much till fall (the summer temps have arrived!) but even still - getting my hands in something artsy was enough to satisfy me for now.