Never felt so pretty
Carolyn combines her fascination with native Australian plants and her love of crafting, and the results are simply beautiful.
Hello! Who are you?
My name is Carolyn, and I’m a mum-of-three living on a large cropping farm on the QLD/NSW border of Australia. I’m Canadian and have been living in Australia for 10 years, but I still miss snow! I’ve always been a crafter and started The Felt Flower Company as a way to fuel my creativity.
What sort of research goes on before you begin your felt flower creations?
When I start a new flower, I research and find pictures of the one I’m making. We don’t have a lot of access to fresh flowers, so pictures have to do most of the time! I usually find the best reference material on the internet. I do own a few reference books, but every flower isn’t always pictured.
How did it all start?
I was attending a cotton event in our local area and there was a prize for the best tea cup. Not owning any fancy cups, I decided to use some wool felt from another project to make a mug cosy. The guest speaker was a wool industry advocate, so the material seemed fitting. I won the competition! After falling in love with the medium (wool felt is divine to work with!), I started to challenge myself to make more interesting and intricate designs. Creating was a way for me to have some self-care time and get a break from the relentlessness of the drought. I was drawn to Australian natives for their structure and uniqueness.
What sort of custom requests have you had?
My favourite custom was wedding flowers for a destination wedding the the UK. I have also recreated wedding bouquets and millinery pieces, but most requests I get are for decor pieces. Wreaths, bouquets and garlands, plus a few mobiles. I made a two-metre eucalyptus and rose garland for a vintage caravan that has been converted into a bar for events. That was fun!
Talk us through your creative process. How long do your handcrafted flowers take to make?
The felt arrives in sheets or by the metre. I then cut the shapes I need. Everything is cut by hand with either a rotary cutter (initial squares before shaping) or scissors. I use Karen Kay Buckley scissors that I love and highly recommend! Best scissors ever.
I use florists wire and tape to create the stems and assemble the flowers with hot glue. The amount of time for each flower varies based on how many pieces are involved. A single flannel flower take about 10–15 minutes for me to complete, whereas a full bottlebrush or wax flower stem can take 30 minutes because there are so many components. Of course I think it’s worth it!
Did it take a lot of experimenting when you first started making felt flowers?
Yes, so many hours! And a lot of attempts ended up as ‘play’ flowers for the kids. There were some great tutorials on the internet that helped me learn new techniques. But I often found they didn’t quite work for me, or I wanted the final product to appear more realistic or organic. Felt is actually a very thick, chunky material, so it can be difficult to create fine detail. Or you end up with a really distinct lines that aren’t natural.
With some trial and error, I’ve found ways to manipulate the felt by stretching, trimming and ‘re-felting’ certain sections to get the look I want. It’s one of the reasons I also choose to use pure wool. Blended felts don’t seem to react to being manipulated the way I want it to.
Where does all the felt flower making happen?
In my dining room! I have a making space set up in the main area of our house. It means that I can work in dribs and drabs whenever I can snatch a few minutes away from the kids, but still be available if they need me.
New visitors often wonder about the kids getting into all of my equipment (they are three, five and seven), but I think they are used to it now and know it’s my special area. It’s really important that I get the work/family balance right since my kids are still young and, so far, having a workspace integrated into our family space has worked really well!
Mungindi, Australia
