Needle Felt Sunrise/Sunset with Cecilia Ho

So last Sunday I and my sister-in-law took Cecilia Ho of FelTastic Fashion’s virtual workshop on needle felting through FiberWorld 2020. The theme was to create a sunrise/sunset sort of picture. I was excited because if you check out her Instagram or other sites, she does some neat work, and she’s a certified instructor, which is also helpful in learning.

For those in the United States, she sold kits (which you can still buy) with all the necessary colors of roving, the mats, backing, and needles. Since I am not in the US, and did not trust (or wish to pay for) international shipping on such a tight timeline, I assembled my own materials:

Last winter somebody in the knit/craft group gave me a number of things for needlefelt, including the blue foam mat, the needle with the blue handle (which I discovered too late isn’t replaceable) and the bundle of roving on the right. I purchased the brush-style mat, an additional set of needles (in the little tube), and a punch that holds up to 6 needles in it with a wooden handle. I also bought some craft felt to use as a backing onto which to build up my picture. I dug up my little collection of bright colored mohair top too.

We had a group of 10 in the class, and I’ll admit I was a little impatient in the beginning as Cecilia walked us through examples of her work, but really this is because a) I’d already been checking it out and b) I am not the most patient person. I was ready to get going!*

I found Cecilia to be one of those instructors who is sharing more knowledge than you realize as you go along, dripping it in bit by bit. You don’t feel like you are being stuffed full, but at the end of the session I had a pretty nice little piece of work. First, as a reminder, this is what I produced in a similar (or longer) amount of time on my own:

And this is what I had at the end of the two hour workshop:

Big difference, right? I’m really really happy with how well the sunset I did during Cecilia’s class came out. And most of it was just following along with her guidance on how to approach mixing colors, building from background to foreground, and adding in a tree and sun for some experience forming more concrete shapes. The only bit where she really looked at my specific piece and said “why don’t you…” was with regards to adding a little more blended fiber over the sun (she was right btw – it did help).

My one minor rebellion: she recommended against the mohair top as being too fine, since this would make felting it down take longer. I totally used some of the gorgeous wine color and bright copper/peach I have in the sky. I did keep the amounts small and well mixed with the wool roving though so it seemed to work out, and gave the little bit of glow I wanted. I’m really good at following directions to the letter, except in cooking and crafting.

This is the sort of class I like – one where I walk away feeling like my next effort on my own should get me something close to the caliber I generated under the instructor’s guidance. Maybe 75-90% of the way, not 100% on the next try… But I’ve had the experience of generating something which looked AMAZING in class, but when I tried it on my own, I was lucky if I managed something even 50% as good. This is an incredibly frustrating experience, and when it happens, I generally consider it a failure of the instructor. They were more focused on sending me home with something pretty than transferring knowledge and skills.

Also… given how 2020 has been going, a craft which involves stabbing things repeatedly is perhaps more than a little therapeutic. I don’t believe in using craft to hide from reality, but it certainly can be an effective means of recharging so you’re ready to face the world again without inflicting violence (emotional or physical) on those around you.

Feeling jealous? The good news: she will do private virtual 1:1 workshops, or put together a curriculum for a small group. You don’t need to wait for another FiberWorld or similar event.

*The Clifton Strengths Finder is one of the few “personality” tests I found insightful rather than b.s. and among my other strengths is “activator” – which is the positive way to look at being impatient. Thankfully, this is tempered by “strategic” which saves me from being impulsive.