King Arthur Themed Wallhanging made by Students in a Special School

Finished wallhanging measured 95cm wide by 210cm deep 

As I’m planning ahead to another exciting felting day in a Special School next week I’ve been reminded that I never did write about any of the felted wall-hangings that were made by my students while I was the Textiles Teacher at Brantwood Specialist School in Sheffield. 

So better late than never …

The above Excalibur wallhanging was made in just half a day by four talented 6th form (SEN) students. 

Another thing that made this February morning so special was that OFSTED inspectors 'popped in' to observe while we were making it! 

Their report said...
"Progress in practical subjects including textiles, felt-making, and art based activities is at times exceptional. This is due to the high-quality teaching, the high expectations adults have of the pupils and the wide range of resources available so pupils can freely explore their ideas and interests."

The students had recently moved into a new building and were working on a King Arthur themed project so their class teacher suggested that the wall-hanging also had a King Arthur theme. The Medieval story of the young Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone was what we settled on. 

The students selected these two images to use as their initial inspiration.

Starting to build up the second layer. R is laying out the outline of the rock.

Here you can see that the design is coming together

J cutting the shape for Excalibur; we made some grey pre-felt first. The cut edges will stay nice and crisp rather than be fuzzy. 

J made an illuminated letter for the word Excalibur. R decorated the hilt of the sword with a gem ... but he whipped it off again before it was felted on! 

Leaves cut from pre-felt. 

We managed to make this wall hanging in just half a day because we had a great team. Here you can see students and staff working together. 

The wool fibres were throughly wetted and soaped with Olivia olive oil soap. But we had to work speedily.

J and J working together to roll the wallhanging.

A lovely close up of the leaves on this large wet-felted wall hanging.

 Quite an achievement; all made in just half a school day.

Easter Craft Projects Hand Felted Chicks & Eggs

It’s almost Easter and so with this extra long Easter Holiday there’s even more time for creative craft projects with your children.

Last weekend I was pretty busy with, not one, but two parties for Staffordshire’s Children’s Disability Service for their G8way Project.

G8way certainly know how to get a party atmosphere going with a disco, games, stories, food and of course face painting. But they realise that children love to be creative too so I was invited to lead the art activity. 

Although I love to work with all sorts of materials I really am passionate about the magic of felt making so I do try to make my sessions involve merino wool, soap and of course water. 

This can be a bit tricky when some children have only a few minutes to spare between party games! 

This is how I did it.

Starting by making a felted ball the children could then add wings to transform it into a really cute Easter Chick. 

Leo was really happy with his (and rightly so!) 

Here's a chick with wings and tail made from colourful feathers. 

This really proud Easter Chick Creator cut his wings from pre-felt. (I always take scraps of handmade pre-felt along. They come in so handy.) This did require a small amount of sewing. 

Some children just love to get a needle and thread in their hands!

Here’s Holly and her friend. They chose to make a felted Easter Egg. 

This was a great option for children who had a very short attention span as they were able to make hand felted Easter eggs in record time. 

To get the egg shape we felted over a polystyrene egg shape. If you are a traditional feltmaker you might see this as a slight cheat but if you are working with children with varying abilities and short attention spans then it is perfect.

Even though we were in a room full of partying children and chatting adults it was still possible to soak up the calming effect of rolling a felted ball. 

I really prefer not to use googly eyes but if manual dexterity and time just don’t allow for beads buttons and a needle and thread then googly eyes are perfect. 

At long last I have found a glue which is able to stick these on to a still damp felted ball. (A big thanks to Jo at Berkhamsted Arts and Crafts for this.)

Just a few of the cute little Easter Chicks and hand felted Easter Eggs that were made by children at the Staffordshire G8way Spring parties. 

I know that these are the sort of Easter decorations which will be treasured for years to come. 

Last year my Easter children's workshops were Hand Felted Easter Bunny Glove Puppets. 

And of course my Magic Ball Mini-Beasts are also popular at all times of the year.