Creative Publishing International sent me a copy of a new book from its Complete Photo Guide series. This one is all about felting; The Complete Photo Guide to Felting is written by Ruth Lane, and like the other books in this series is a techniques-based versus a project-based book. It retails for $24.99 US/$27.00 CAN/$16.99 UK and comes as a soft paperback with 264 pages and 500 full-color photographs.

As the title suggests, it is all about felt and not just making it. This text is a comprehensive guide to the story of felt including the history of wool and felt; the process of cleaning raw fleece to be used to make felt; and then lots of different techniques for creating and working with felt such as wet felting (which most people are probably a little familiar with), needle felting, and Nuno or laminate felting. Since it really focuses on the methods of felting, don’t expect a how to make x, y, z project in this book. While there are lots of project ideas throughout, the basis of this book is designed to help someone who wants to learn methodology over just how to make a felt bear, for example.

If you are okay within reading in-depth information and like the combination of using visuals (as in lots and lots of photographs) to learn all there is to know about working with and making felt, then this technical book is a wonderful resource. Like much of crafting, felting is not an exact science, but the information in this book would be really useful for someone who wants to dig in and experiment with the possibilities that wool can provide when it comes to felting.