Felting Cormo Wool

All Hail Cormo Wool!
Felt Stones, a Felted Vessel, and a Neck Warmer

A friend introduced me to Cormo, by sending me a bag of it.

I wrote her, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love wool and had no idea there could be such a wool as this!”

Soon as I touched the amazingly soft fibers, I had to felt some around a stone. Sure enough, Cormo’s texture is perfect for felted stones—I’d decided to make one stone for my friend and one for me, but we ended up with three each because I had to indulge us.

The above photo shows the stones I made for her. There’s an actual rock in the middle of felt. The luxurious white Cormo wool is accented with a bit of lovely green or extra soft pink merino top.

When I first heard about felted stones, I thought, “This is stupid. It’s the sorriest excuse for creativity I’ve ever seen. Why would anyone felt a stone?”

Then one morning I woke up and thought, “I want to felt a stone.”

I cannot stop making them.

I love looking at them.

They give me peace.

They embody serenity and simplicity.

And they’re a fabulous tactile experience when forming them and after they’re formed. Cormo brings the tactile experience yet an incredible new level. Heavenly to hold: imagine the softest possible wool cushioning juxtaposed with a stone’s weight and heft and hardness.

Two of my stones are the same wools as my friend’s. The third is Cormo accented with curly white locks. Here’s their photo:

Hand felting is labor-intensive, providing lots of time for joy and, as I said, felting a stone is a physical delight. Add Cormo to the mix: on and on, handling the Cormo as I needle felted it, then wet it, then handled it … and handled it … and slid it around in my hands … and tossed it back and forth between my palms, all the while the touch of it … then the touch of it … then the touch of it filling me with more … and more … and more delight.

(Um, that above paragraph came out way sexier than I meant it. I was honestly describing making a felted rock.)

I used lilfishstudios felted rock tutorial, which is very inexpensive and made things easy: http://lilfishstudios.blogspot.com

Lisa Jordan created the tutorial and is queen of felted rocks. Had hers been the first I’d ever seen, I never would’ve scoffed at felted rocks as an artform. Check out her over-the-top beautiful work. She embroiders her stones! Mine are a pale shadow of hers.

No, I’m not displaying low self-esteem. There are things at which I excel and can do better than almost anyone. And acknowledging her artistry does not lessen the immense enjoyment I get making felt stones.

Another thing I love about felting stones is it’s a nice lil retreat from the big bad world. It even serves as a meditation sometimes.

If you know me, I turn everything into talismans. So it didn’t take long for me to start brainstorming about how to turn felted rocks into amulets. Wool is wonderful for blessing, being a lovely part of nature. And hand-felting being labor-intensive means plenty of hands-on time to bless a piece. That brings us to something I do excel at: applying shamanism to all parts of life, so that shamanism isn’t separate and holier-than-thou but living, breathing mysticism.

After making the pieces in this blog, I really got into felted stones as talismans. I’ll blog about my process making them, so stay up-to-date on my blog by subscribing to my free email newsletters: https://www.outlawbunny.com/newsletter/

Cormo sent me on a felting binge. I want a house made of Cormo. Here is the small Cormo bowl I made. I used a large yogurt container with the lid on as my mold:

I added a bit of Border Leicester white natural locks for visual texture. While being felted, they looked like they might felt into the Cormo so much they’d be indistinguishable. So I added some white Mohair locks. They’re bright and shiny—a good contrast. Plus, since I added them at a later stage, they didn’t sink into the Cormo as much, so stood out. Though adding them so late meant I needed to needle felt them in a bit.

The Mohair made all the difference. I think, if the vessel had been plain white with no textural differentiation, it would’ve looked blobby but came out lovely instead.

I think the Leicester added a bit of subtle visual texture, though what I’m thinking is Leicester might be some Mohair deeply felted in.

Next I wanted something that’d let me feel Cormo against my skin, I love Cormo so much. I debated between a neck warmer or a little tiny sheet of felt to put under my head at night. (There was no point making a Cormo pillow case, because I don’t sleep with a pillow under my head.)

I made a neck warmer, which came out smaller than planned. While I’m trying to figure out how to enlarge it enough for a neck warmer, I’m using it as the aforementioned headrest. Yum. Had I made the neck warmer big enough to wrap round my neck, here’s kind of how it’d be folded:

I’ll definitely buy more Cormo. It immediately became my favorite wool. It is perfect for us sensory epicures.