A FELT SENSE

Felt just warms my heart!



A felted figure I created in 2009

My interest in three dimensional work stemmed from my Masters Thesis which explored felt and trauma.  I consider felt a three dimensional medium.  Wool can hold form and even flat pieces of felt have a textured surface that makes them different to paper. 

The process of felting engages the senses.  It encourages tactile exploration of natural materials.  It takes individual fibres and transforms them into a fabric.  It involves laying out wool fibres in three layers which requires some patience and attention to detail.  The wool is then saturated with warm water and soap.  The fibres are then massaged until they join together.  This is a very sensual process that is warm and soapy and can sometimes involve squirting the therapist!  As a final part of the process I get the children to 'full' or lock the fibres together by wildly throwing their piece of felt against a wall or on the ground.  I encourage the expression of anger and deliberately stimulate the children and then request them to STOP.  This teaches them that it is possible to control themselves even when they are in highly aroused states.  This is a valuable lesson for the children I work with who have witnessed family violence. 

Wool tops or roving - wool fibres dyed and carded

Over time I have documented the effect the felting process has had on my clients.  Here are some example of the power of felt to express emotion and to self soothe.

Individually with children who have experienced trauma as a result of family violence

After I graduated from my art therapy course, I started work with an organisation as a children's therapist. To my absolute delight I was able to utilize art therapy. They were encouraging and bold in the way they accepted the use of art in a therapeutic context. I was working alongside another creative arts therapist who was insightful and intuitive.  This created a space to utilize my passion for felt and three dimensional art with a peer who intuitively understood my work and saw the benefits and magic of felt as a therapeutic medium.

Laying out wool fibres in preparation for making felt

Massaging the wool tops

 

I began to use felt in individual sessions. My young clients found some of the process challenging but by the end they were at the very least proud of their creation and at the most transformed. Two brothers made a separate piece of felt and were thrilled at the way they could use it to express anger. (As part of the ‘fulling’ process we would take the felt outside and throw it against a wall to express anger.) As little boys of three and seven years of age, they had witnessed years of family violence. Within their home, their father had repeatedly physically assaulted their mother as they looked on.  They had witnessed anger and pain as uncontrollable urges that were inflicted on other people.  They had only seen strength as something that was forceful and violent. Love was a struggle between a man and woman where the man always maintained power and control through inflicting brute strength and inciting fear.

Expressing anger towards fabric was a completely new experience. Learning to express anger without hurting someone was a revelation. Being capable of stopping in the middle of expressing anger was a novel concept.  After completing this part of the felting process, the boys were visibly excited.  Previously they had been pale, listless and disinterested.  At one stage the four year old had tried to strangle his mother to get her attention.  By the end of the felting session, they were flushed, laughing and engaged little boys wanting to proudly share their experience with their mother.  They were somewhat confused by these new concepts but markedly alive and expressive boys. These children came alive through an art process that involved body and mind.

Using the felting process to release anger

 

The following week, their mother told me that they were much calmer and more able to talk about issues rather than expressing concerns through violence or destruction. They were also pleased to see me.  I had been able to make a connection with them and they were appreciative.  They ran up to me and the youngest lept into my arms. I was aware that they were grateful but I felt a little perplexed by the significant change in their behavior towards me and at home.

 

A therapeutic creative arts group with children who had experienced trauma as a result of witnessing family violence

The next time I used felt was in a therapeutic creative arts group with children aged nine to twelve years of age who had witnessed or experienced family violence. One ten year old was very withdrawn and appeared anxious. It was as if he was worried that he may reveal his family secrets if he relaxed and enjoyed himself.  When he began the group his mother had separated from his father.  However in the course of this group they reunited.  Given that the other children were talking about the experiences of witnessing their father’s violence towards their mother,  it was extremely difficult for this child to reveal his experience when his father was still part of his everyday life. This child continued attending but was resistant and negative.  In his body outline he drew a face that was frowning and on discussing this with him he said he was stuck in the anger.  The following week we utilized clay. He stroked and massaged the clay and as he did this he said, ‘I love it! I love it!’  The following week we completed a piece of felt.  At the end of the session he expressed his pride in his artwork and wanted to take his felt home.  This was breaching one of the group rules and so we asked that he leave it with us for the final week when we were holding an art exhibition for their mothers.  Unfortunately my client was unable to attend this final session and we arranged to meet him at another time. As we prepared for this appointment we were very upset that we could not find his felt piece – especially as he had not wanted to leave it with us.  After a great deal of searching and self berating we went to the meeting ready to confess our failings as therapists.  When we described what had happened, his mother asked if it was yellow and black.  It was!  Relieved we asked about this tiny piece of wool fabric.  Our client had been so enamoured with the felt that he could not leave it with us.  He was unable to separate from it.  Instead he had taken the risk to ‘steal’ it.  His piece of felt had become his security blanket that he took to bed every night.  He would rub it against his check to self soothe.  I imagined that he may do this when his father was violent towards his mother and he would have to listen to her screams and cries. 

Making a group felt

The case of the missing felt

 

Emotional wellbeing group for mothers

In  2010 I established an art therapy group for mothers of young babies who were emotionally fragile.  The group was exploring the changing nature of relationships after childbirth.  The group involved a variety of artmaking including collage, masks, clay and felting.  After I left this workplace the group continued and was run by a maternal and child health nurse and a children’s worker.  I was invited back to help develop the group with some new therapeutic art activities.  The workers have kept records of the work of the group.  But the most compelling information was that the felting was the favourite activity.  “Everyone really enjoys the felting.” 

A great way to help new mothers relax, learn new
 skills and create a great baby toy or fabric

If you want to make felt with your children this website is a great starting point. http://www.waldorfmoms.com/2013/06/how-to-make-wool-felt-with-children.html