Craft kit reviews
The Felt Bird kit
I randomly received the hobbycraft felted blue tit kit in my family’s ‘lucky dip’ gift tradition. I’ve never felted anything before. Well, not on purpose.
The kit has everything you need- roving fibre in bright colours, barbed felting needles and a polystyrene bird form, ready for stabbing. There are instructions, but the gist is ‘place the wool, then stab.’
So, I place the wool, then stab. Am I angling the needle right? Am I using too much force? Are there supposed to be flecks of polystyrene coming out? Still, the wool does stick and starts to form. And with it, my ambition. I save photos of blue tits so I can reference the plumage. The unfelted tufts inspires a quetzal-like flowing tail and a mohawk. Needle felting is a little bit boring. I should've put on a podcast, or at least sat in a comfortable chair.
Brownies friendly? Nope. It’s time consuming, requires special equipment, and perhaps most importantly it involves repeatedly stabbing a needle very close to your fingers. That seems like a fast way to use up all the plasters.
It took me an hour to felt the back of the bird and one wing, and that’s without turning the lights all the way up to see the patchy parts. I will report back when I’ve completed the bird.
The Macrame Feathers Kit
I couldn’t resist a lidl brand macrame feather kit for the low, low price of £2.99. Yes, the kit is a bit of string and a dowel, but I’m pleasantly surprised by just how much rope is included, even though it is not clear how the full 32.5m divides up into four, wall hanging sized feathers.
The kit requires you to provide scissors, a ruler and a comb. I’d recommend the sharpest scissors you have, and either a cheap comb you don’t mind bending, or a sturdy one that you already own.
The instructions are minimal, and confusingly printed on the reverse side of the photos that they are referring to, but I find it easy enough to get into the rhythm of knotting. There is a photo showing how many rows I should knot for the smallest feather size, but it is small and I’m still confused. The process is much quicker once I decide to give up on the recommended dimensions and just do what looks right.
The final stage is to shape the feather, in which I discover I do not have a natural talent for hairdressing. The soft rope brushes out with some patience. I found it easiest to trim the feather over the edge of the table, even thought I had to get the hoover out afterwards. There is a temptation to keep trimming, but you have to call it somewhere as the recommended rope length is fairly narrow. The instructions for the remaining feathers are a brief “repeat steps 1.–3.”
Overall, it’s so cheap I cannot really complain. The cord is thick and there’s plenty of it. And I have made a feather! I’m pleased with that.
Brownies friendly? Yes! The materials needed are cheap to buy in bulk. The rope is forgiving and mistakes can be corrected easily. The feather knot is simple enough, but there is enough challenge in flipping the knot from left to right and back. 45 mins would not be enough time for them to achieve a 23cm feather, so I’d make a smaller one and allow time for each Brownie to cut their own thread pieces.
Will I do more?
Craft kits? Yes, definitely. I asked for a whole bunch of them at christmas, and then completely ignored them. Will I share them here? Not sure, but I've enjoyed this.