wooly trees

Do you ever have a thought of doing something and then it just takes off in sort of a different direction with almost the same end result?

I had a serious yen to make feather trees. I watched YouTube videos galore and decided that maybe I could do something similar but without feathers. I happened across this site and fell in love. Seriously in love. I attempted to purchase one kit and then was going to make all kinds of trees. They were sold out. And then .... they were changing the kit and upping the price. I still would have purchased one but they weren't available yet and I had a yen!

So, I came up with my own measurements after watching their tutorial only about 100 times or so. I picked up felted wool kind stuff from JoAnn Fabrics and started playing. The wool cutting wasn't a big deal. The wire? Now, that is an entirely different story. The gentleman at the shop estimated the gauge of wire that was used. I tried it and didn't like the way it bent. I went with a thinner gauge wire and doubled them. 

I started doing these by hand. Twisting two pieces together. And then my brain clicked. I have a son-in-law who makes coils for those smokeless tobacco things. The same concept worked here. Hold the ends with some needle nose device, stick the other ends into the drill and wham! Desired result is accomplished.

 I'm pulling photos off my phone and they're rather sporadic at best. I made these wires ... LOTS of them .. and placed them in individual ziploc bags which were labeled. That was first. If you try this ... make sure you keep sizes separated to make the project easier.

After all the wires were done, I moved on to twirling cut felt onto each of them. If you happen to live in Phoenix, this makes great summertime activity when it's too hot to do anything but sit on your tush in the recliner. Glue and twirl ... lots of that action.

Glue, twirl, glue, clothespin to dry for a few minutes and on to the next hundred or so!

As I went through each size, and they were appropriately not tacky, I placed each in a bag. A little bookkeeper still lurks in my soul somewhere.

When each of the individual branches was done, it was time to attach them to the dowel with floral tape and make it look like a tree! This was the first one I did. My goal was to make about half a dozen of them. Well ... I started twirling and then I twirled some more and pretty soon I was out of control. Completely.

So worth it!

Special thanks to the people at Sarafina Fiber Art. If I am ever fortunate to make it to Maryland ... I'm stopping by!