Today I spent about three and a half hours transforming this…
…into these!
I have to say that, although they’re not quite finished yet, and there are definitely things I’d do differently next time, I’m really pleased with my first attempt at resist felting!
I’m currently impatiently waiting for them to dry. I was hoping it would take less than 24 hours in this heat, but the humidity’s so high at the moment I think they might actually be getting wetter the longer I leave them out in the garden.
Whilst they look toasty warm, I think these will turn out to be summer slippers. I only used four layers of merino to make the felt, and really they need to be a lot more sturdy than this if they’re going to last any length of time. I’d also like to be able to glue a rubber sole onto future slippers, and this pair are much too thin for that. Perhaps I’ve really made myself some nice warm socks? (In the middle of a heatwave! Brilliant!)
I spent about an hour this morning searching for a good tutorial, with lots of pictures, explaining how to use the polystyrene lasts without taking the (altogether too risky for me) option of just chucking them in the washing machine. I couldn’t find one, so I’ve written my own. Because this was my first attempt, it will no doubt be edited as I go along and find ways to improve things. In the meantime, you can read it here!