Wool Comes from Sheep and I’m Cheap: Why I Craft with Acrylic
Oh yeah, I know that wool felt is da’ bomb. It’s thicker, feels better on the skin, holds its shape better, flies around on little wings and gives you kisses when you’re feeling sad. Wool felt rocks, seriously. I admit it. Know what else I admit?
I craft with acrylic felt.
That’s right–acryclic. Made of PLASTIC! Plastic comes from the devil, you know, and yet I put it on my daughters’ felt board, I make their birthday crowns out of it, I applique it onto my holiday buntings:
My name is Julie, and I’m an acrylic felt user.
- » See also: A Review of the Green Guide for Artists
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My use of acrylic felt for my work may result in a slight loss of quality over the admittedly superior quality wool felt, but I firmly believe that it is the more eco-friendly choice.
Wool, my friends, comes from sheep. As my manifesto dictates, I craft without exploitation of the world’s creatures. Unless I am confident that the sheep was humanely treated, which I am not with most commercially available wool felt, I will not use it, no matter that it might make my daughter’s felt birthday crown look slightly swankier.
Of course, organic and/or locally-produced wool felt are two viable options. If you have a local producer of wool products, perhaps one who leaves her happy farm full of sheep to come sell at your farmer’s market, or if you’re so monetarily successful that you can afford beautiful organic wool felt from online stores such as La Lana Wools, and still feed and clothe your children, you’re awesomely lucky and I totally want to be you–both those options are out of my league.
Instead, I craft with a material that is both cruelty-free and has a positive effect on our environment: I use acrylic felt made entirely from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. It’s priced competitively, locally available at my regular craft store, and I’m happy with its quality. Ecospun is the brand I use, but perhaps there are others?
For projects in which acrylic felt really doesn’t hold up well, such as sewing stuffies, I use felted wool from thrifted sweaters–by the time they reach the second-hand stores, they’ve likely been partially felted in the washing machine anyway, and a second life as a child’s beloved stuffed animal is, I consider, a respectful retirement for a material that an animal had to sacrifice to produce.
For me, materials matter. What’s your take on the issue?
Just returning to this article as I’ve recently bought some eco-fi felt and lots of bloggers have asked me about it. I’m going to do a brief post on it and direct people over here to your wonderful site.
I think your article (and the comments!!) show what a divisive topic felt can be, but I’m with you Julie on the idea that saving plastic from landfil is the greener option in most cases (and yes, shipping the ultra-organic stuff around the world is not exactly moral high-ground when it comes to green crafting)!!
Thanks…
[...] It can be hard to be an indie crafter these days. Perhaps Oilily will steal your designs and resell them as cheap knock-offs, perhaps somebody will smear your name all over the Internet because you disagree about the usage of the word craftivism, perhaps someone else will comment on one of your blog posts and call you retarded because you object to wool felt. [...]
[...] gets called “retarded” (definitely poor word choice) in the comments in reply to her post about using acrylic felt. As an acrylic felt (and yarn) user myself, I thought the response was in remarkably poor taste, [...]
Julie, thank you for speaking up about use of the word “retarded” as an insult. I understand Itzel’s point about political correctness. Indeed, words do not have innate meaning; they must be given meaning by people.
I have to point out, however, that the meaning you intend to convey by using a particular word does not and cannot change the way it is perceived by others. My youngest brother is Deaf and my daughter has always been fascinated by sign language. When she was very young, she would insist on making up her own signs and became very frustrated with me for not understanding what she was trying to tell me. It took quite a while for her to grasp the concept that communication depends on the shared understanding of the meanings of symbols. Just because she meant “bath” doesn’t mean she was communicating that concept to me.
Similarly, the assertion that an individual doesn’t intend to refer to people with intellectual disabilities when using the word “retarded” does not negate the fact that the commonly understood meaning of the word DOES refer to those with intellectual disabilities.
Political correctness can be arbitrary and tedious, but it is only kind to be mindful of how your words may affect others and to choose words that will accurately communicate your message.