I've just finished my latest woolly project - felt coin purses with sew-in snap frames. Colours and patterns are based, as ever, on my fascination with rocks and minerals. The purses in this photo are my geological tributes to Nature's wonders (OLIVINE: green/yellow; WATERMELON TOURMALINE: pink/green; OPAL: blue/green/yellow; JASPER: red/orange; AMETHYST: purple).
I tried at least 3 different techniques (all of which involved balloons). Contrary to many of the videos on Youtube i actually felted these guys flat, laying handfuls of wool over a round plastic template, rubbing with soapy water, flipping the template over and laying more wool - repeating until 4-5 layers have been added. Making a slit in the top and removing the template, I inflated a balloon inside the felt and gently continued to wet felt the purse until all surface fibres (inside and out) were rock solid. After rinsing the purses i left them to dry with the balloon still inside. When dry I zig zag stitched around the opening and enclosed the edges with some sew-in clip frames.
