Can't work because...

... there is a cat on my lap.
Good excuse hey!
What's yours usually?

Picture is taken by my computer's photobooth - apologies for the quality of the image.
There is daylight in my studio too now - for all those nights that I want/need to work...

How to make felt light decoration?

Today I finished off a project I started about 2 years ago. I bet you have those laying around somewhere too! Well at least I hope I'm not the only one who starts something and never finishes it! Anyway, I decided to finish it and make a few pics to show you how to do it.

Here is what you need:
light chain, olive soap or soap flakes, wool roving, towel, plastic to make a resist, bubblewrap foil.
I made the plastic resist from stiff plastic (3mm) and cut out a 'witch hat'.
The triangle is 7cm wide and 9cm high. I added a little extra (1cm) on the bottom as not to make the felt touch the other side.
If this sounds like Chinese, read on, you'll understand later!

First you need to lay out the felt.
Hold the end of the wool roving loosely in one hand and
gently pull off a section with your other hand. Hold your four fingers
against the pad of your palm, trap the wool there and pull firmly.

Lay out three thin layers of felt. When you start out vertically, the second layer needs to be layed out horizontally
and the third one vertically again.

Then place the resist on top of the layed out wool roving.

Then lay out three thin layers of felt - mostly in the middle of the resist.

Then fold the felt on the sides over to the middle.

Put some soap flakes into the glas.
If you don’t have soap flakes, you can grate some from a bar of
olive oil soap with an old grater.
Pour hot water in the glass and let the soap melt a bit.
Then use the spoon to sprinkle some drops onto the roving.

Press lightly onto the wet roving and make sure that there are no 'holes'.
If there are holes, you need to add a bit more roving before rubbing lightly.

Sorry for the quality of the following picture but I find it hard to keep
my hands still while taking a picture. So this is an action shot! :)
Rub genlty onto the wool roving while it is on the bubblewrap.
When you feel that the fibers are more attached to each other
you can rub the other side and also rub it between your hands.

Then you can take out the resist and rub it some more.
As soon as the fibers are attached, they won't attach
anymore when taking away the resist.

Then rinse the piece in water.
I usually just rinse it under the tab but used a bucket of water here.

This is what it looks like when rinsed.

Cut off a tiny part at the top of the felted piece.

This is what it looks like...

Now cover the little lamp with the felted piece.

This is what it looks like when it's lighted...

But you need to make as many as your light chain is to get this...And from a distance...
the felted X-mas trees are mighty cute and are from ViltalaKim on Etsy
the round 'disc' is a ceramic piece made by me called 'infinity'

And this is what they look like when I use my flash.
I'll try to get a better daylight picture tommorrow. :)