[sally_in_wales]

Right, I tracked down the pics of those (the link was coming up funny), they are ratehr nice arent they! I reckon you could go about those partiuclar ones in two ways, you could make a basic shape round a resist (just like making the pointy hats but boot shaped) and shrink them over a last, or, I reckon you could make those over a welly, they will come out about a size too big, then shrink them down cautiously by washing to get the right size (unless you cunningly have a pair of wellies one size down kicking around)

What I would do in this case is lay out a flat piece of felt on bubblewrap, maybe 4 or 5 layers of fibre thick, damp it down so it all binds together but hasnt started felting yet, then carefully arrange that round the foot of the welly trimming and overlapping as needed to get a smooth even layer all over. Then wrap another layer of fibre all over, which is where you start decorating, and put an extra layer over the sole. The wet fibre should stick quite well at this stage.

be very gentle cos it will all shift around, but slowly start felting the layers down until you can safely start working over the whole thing quite vigorously. Felt by hand until its all properly bound together, then trim away enough at the opening to get it off the welly.

I would then grit my teeth and pop it in a very quick gentle wash cycle to shrink it down a size, and pop them on your feet when they come out to perfect the shape. If they are nearly the right size to start with, do the shrinking by hand in the sink though

I reckon that should give you that shape slipper- but I havent actually tried it yet so its only my current thinking. hopefully Stacey will suggest some improvements to the general idea

[wellington womble]

That's fulled, which I can find lots of, but not felted, which is where you abuse wool until it gives in!

I might have known Sally would know! (I think it's just a ploy to get me to look at her website. She knows what happens when I look at her website! )

Never thought of doing them on my own feet - I want to do some for a Thingymas pressie as well though. Getting hold of their feet without them realising might be interesting! I can get hold of plaster of paris and fibreglass casting material at work, but I wonder whether it would survive the washing machine? Perhaps I could make moulds and fill them with rubber cement or something?

Excellent - that's next weekend sorted out. Very handily, I am due to go on casting course for work very soon - I may be pocketing materials!

[wellington womble]

Ah - crocs!? They'd be perfect, actually, and I suspect they are dirt cheap as well! If I aim for a pair for the normal sized Christmas present, and they shrink to far, I can keep them for my little feet. Har har!

[sally_in_wales]

Now thats interesting, I more or less have to finish the pointy hats in the machine or I'd never get them all made and as tough as I want them to be (plus as I mostly have to make these on the floor I end up really creaky after half felting a hat, let alone doing the whole thing, and I find as long as I do enough felting before they go in so that all the layers are well stuck together its not too lumpy. However, some colour combinations lump more than others, I did an all white hat yesterday and its as smoth as a smooth thing, but an otherwise identical hat in two colours has a bit more texture to it. If I mix fibres, say alpaca and wool, then its really really orangepeely. Now I use that to effect, so if someone asks for lots of texture I felt less by hand before it goes in, or vice versa. To me its a useful feature as long as I know to allow for it

[sally_in_wales]

I havent used batts yet, but do occasionally use that needlepunch pre-felt for the cheaper thinner hats, it halves the making time meaning I can make them so much more affordable. Thats a thought, I have some offcuts of that which might make good extra layers for the soles of the slippers I'm going to try tomorrow, easy way to put a nice smooth layer against the foot and add thickness in one fell swoop.

You are an inspiration, even if you don't know it sometimes

[toggle]

hmmmmmmmm.

considering i'm playing with the wools you use, i'd love to know which colours you're having issues with.

i wonder what the difference is in the dyeing process that makes them behave like that, if it is consistently the lighter colours, i'd be thinking bleaching as a first guess.

[wellington womble]

I haven't got very far just yet. I think the camera is actually in the house, so I'll see if I can take some later. The link HW found is the right one.