Eco friendly felted accessories by EthicStyle

I love felting for its eco friendliness and beauty. Felted items are created out of basic materials like wool, water and soap. They radiate positive energy as natural warmth. While felting an artist doesn't add any special glues or additives. The process is very straightforward and, yet, it's not easy to turn a piece of wool into an art object. The simplicity of the process is very deceptive. I've recently discovered a really cool artist Svetlana of EthicStyle who creates unique and fun looking felted accessories.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born in Latvia in a small city by the sea. I live in Germany now and create felted accessories and home decor items. I love to experiment with wool creating bags, shoes, jewelry, toys, etc. All my items are made of pure wool. I love minimalism, natural and eco friendly materials, comfort and quality. I try to create items that are different and unique.



How did you start?
I've been designing and hand making items pretty much all my working life. After I had my daughter I picked up felting. I thought it would be nice for my daughter to have unique toys that nobody else has. Wool is an amazing fiber. It's soft, comfy and durable. It turned out to be a perfect material to make baby toys. I was completely fascinated by wool as it gives an artist so much freedom to create and experiment.



What inspires you?
I'm inspired my Japanese minimalism. I like it for its simplicity, elegance and perfection. I love nature especially in the autumn and spring when air is so transparent. I love the sea. It's amazing to walk by the sea barefoot stepping on warm sand.

My daughter brings a lot of joy into my life. Her phrases that start with: "mom, did you know that..." make me wonder and think about many things that surround us. I discover and learn so much when I'm with her.



What fibers do you work with?
I only use natural fibers such as undyed merino wool, alpaca wool, silk and plant's fibers. All my children toys are stuffed with wool exclusively.
All items made of wool feel so special when held in one's arms.

Nursing teething crocheted necklaces by Julia Ermakovich

I came across teething and nursing crocheted necklaces looking for a baby shower gift for a friend. What a great idea! These necklaces are made of natural materials and I especially like the combination of plain wooden beads and crochet. Julia Ermakovich is an artist who creates bright and happy necklaces to entertain moms and their babies. I’m glad I had a chance to talk to her and ask her a few questions about herself and her art of making nursing necklaces.



Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I live in Moscow, Russia. Up until recently I’ve been working in a bank full time and had limited time for my family and my crocheting business. A month ago I quit and am now fully engaged in developing my business and enjoying my family and friends. So it’s all about crocheting now.



How did you start?
As long as I remember myself I’ve always been knitting and crocheting. First it was making items for my dolls and later for myself and my friends. Some 7 or 8 years ago reading a fashion magazine I came across pictures of crocheted necklaces. I decided to try as necklaces looked super stylish and cool. Besides it’s much easier to crochet a necklace than a man’s sweater!

It took me some time to figure our the technique and come up with the right design though. I started with making necklaces for my girl friends as gifts. People started taking about my necklaces and I got my first custom orders. It was great as with money earned through sales I could by more supplies and afford to try new materials and techniques.

About four years ago a friend of mine asked me to make her a necklace that would color match a sling and a baby carrier for her new born baby. Thus, a nursing and teething necklace was born!



What inspires you?
I make a lot of customs orders and my clients often share their ideas and designs with me. My clients' fantasy and imagination is unbelievable. They inspire me to create new designs and come up with new color patterns.

I’m a very eco conscious person and I am always looking for new eco-friendly materials that I could use in my nursing necklaces. There are so many products that are made of organic and natural fibers that we don’t know much about! Every time I come across a new fabric or a new fiber I feel a need to incorporate them into my designs. I’ve recently discovered buttons made of coconuts. They look great and are very nice to handle!



What are you most popular items?
It all depends on what group of my clients we are talking about. Sometimes young moms are looking for something to wear every day. I make them necklaces of neutral color combinations that are less flashy and bright.

If my clients are looking for something to entertain their babies with I make necklaces bright and happy. I can add a crocheted animal or a wooden ring to make the necklace more attractive for a child.

Thank you, Julia!

DIY How to make city style felted bracelet

I have recently received beautiful wooden beads as a gift. They are of a cylinder shape and dark tan color. I don't have anything like that in my beads collection and I felt instantly inspired to create a summer themed piece of jewelry or a light and bright accessory using these beads.

The color combination of pure white and brown is my favorite. Accessories in white and dark chocolate look stylish and classy. They go well with business or casual outfits.

To create a bracelet we will need felting wool in white and brown and wooden beads. We will also need a piece of bubbled plastic wrap paper, soap and clear water.

I first start with felting a white bracelet. On a bubble wrap piece of paper I lay out pieces of wool to form a rectangle. The rectangle will later turn into the bracelet. Since the wool will shrink I make the rectangle about 30% bigger that the original size.

Once the rectangle is formed I wet it with clear water and add soap. Once the piece is all wet and soapy I cover it with the rest of bubble plastic paper and start the process of felting. I stroke and rub the plastic helping wool fibers to bind and felt.

When the wool has felted well I rinse my bracelet in clear water and let it dry completely. With a piece of brown wool I make a felted bead by rolling a wetted and soapy piece of brown wool between my palms.

Once my bracelet is ready I needle down brown wooden beads. The color of wooden beads matches the color of the brown felted bead nicely!

The bracelet turned out to be very soft, thin and light. It's made of all natural materials and is very pleasant to wear. The felting technique is very eco-friendly as to felt an item one just needs some water and a bit of soap. No chemicals are used in the process of felting. To wear the bracelet one simply has to fasten the brown button.

Tutorial how to make felted wool acorns

Have you ever thought about hanging acorns on either a Christmas tree or next to your computer in your cubicle? I have!

A sunny Fall day is ideal for a stroll in a park. That's what we frequently do on weekends when our family goes to one of many wonderful parks in Richmond, VA. Every such stroll normally ends up with a whole collection of stones, acorns and sticks picked up by my kids. With plenty of acorns in every corner of my house I suddenly realized that I can actually turn them into something bright and vivid. Felted wool acorns are beautiful, durable and could be used in many ways. They add color and style to one's house and make it look cozy and friendly.

So where do we start?
First of all we need a few good acorns. They can be picked up in pretty much any park these days. It's acorns' season!

Next we will need a bit of wool suitable for wet felting, soap and hot water. I usually try to use wool of as many colors as I can find as it helps to create a whole array of multicolored, bright and vivid acorns. For wet felting I normally take a small piece of wool make it into a soft ball, wet it with hot water and add some soap to it. After squeezing and later rolling this ball between my palms for good 10 to 15 minutes wetting it and adding soap from time to time I get a felted firm ball that could be gently squeezed into an oval to look like an acorn.

The last step is to connect our acorn heads to felted wool ovals. I use a mercerized cotton thread to sew them together. This type of thread is very strong. Chances are slim it will ever tear apart. The thread enables us to hang acorns anywhere we like.

I personally like acorns to be of different shapes and sizes. They look genuine as they pretty much are. Bright wool colors make them look festive and jolly. They are a perfect gift for anyone you love or care about!

My hand felted necklace in blue

I like simple and elegant urban style living. Men and women wear minimalist yet well designed and crafted outfits. City dwellers are always in a hurry and they like easy and practical items that could be easily put on and taken care of. I created my city style hand felted necklace out of glass and wool. It's actually such a pleasure to create these wool beads using nothing but water and soap. The felting techniques are very eco-friendly. As a result the beads appear virtually from nowhere. That's probably how our ancestors created their durable and practical outfits and jewelry many thousand years ago!