Luckily, Karen Storkamp discovered needle felting ten years ago and fell in love with it. She now teaches needle felting and hopes that others will follow her passion.
She discovered needle felting by accident and in a very unique way. When Stockamp and her husband were making soap, they were experimenting with adding felt. The process involves wrapping a bar of soap in wool, and as the soap is used, the wool thickens and the fibers shrink, enveloping the soap.
“It’s actually really hard to do and it’s really time consuming,” Stockamp told Regional Voice. “So I decided I didn’t really like it, but I still had a lot of wool that needed to be used… so I decided I needed to figure out a way.”
At that time, she had a lot of decorative fabrics and sewed felt pillows from them. Since then, she has been involved in two-dimensional and three-dimensional art.
Wool has scales, and a felting needle has lots of little burrs. If you poke the needle through the wool too many times, these burrs will catch the scales and cause the fibers to tangle.
Stockamp believes that needle felting is not only fun, but also therapeutic. Needle felting is a repetitive, rhythmic movement done before your eyes.
“It’s like my Zen place,” Stockamp said. Listening to the conversation above, you can tell she’s working as she talks.
Each project is unique. It can take Storkamp five hours to make a single bear. A single pillow can take her 30 to 50 hours.
“There is no set time. But I tell people: whatever you do, you have to keep doing it until you really love it.”
When creating a new piece, Stockamp looks at hundreds of images of the subject to form a general idea of ​​the shapes that will make up the piece. It takes trial and error, but she says wool is the easiest material to work with. She can reduce or increase the amount of wool as needed.
Stockamp has some advice for those who want to try felting. First, get some high-quality wool and needles. Second, you should understand that felting is not an art that can be mastered quickly, so don’t give up too early. Third, if you have the opportunity to take classes with great teachers, you should do so. Learning from each other in a class can provide valuable information.
On Saturday, Sept. 7, Stockamp will teach a felt sheep class in Brainerd with The Crossing Arts Alliance. For Stockamp, ​​who considers himself an introvert, the job was a pleasant surprise.
“I’m passionate about it… When I see what people are doing, I get really excited because there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in the classroom.”
For this class, Stockamp created a kit for students that included the wool and needles needed to make a sheep. Stockamp has made lamb pancakes herself about 40 times and is confident that even beginners can teach them how to make their own.
You can register for her course, Cross-Border Art Alliance, on her website. The course includes course materials. You can also follow Storkamp on her Facebook page, I Felt It.
“I feel so happy every day because I found what makes me happy. I think we all need that happiness… so my happiness is with me every day and I’m very, very grateful for that.”
The Area Voices project was created by the Minnesota Arts and Heritage Foundation and Minnesota citizens.