BynBeary's journey into working with FELT was unexpected.

It was a material that went unnoticed and ignored until recently in 2024. I enjoyed the occasional "Felt experience" through window shopping at the craft store. My eyes relished slowly scanning the Felt aisle and admiring all the colors. I enjoyed picking up a piece and brushing the palm of my hands through the soft texture as it tickled my senses. Like any creative, I also daydreamed of all the wonderful and magical things I could make with this remarkable material if only...if only...I could figure out how to make something with it.

I always walked out of the store "Felt-less" mainly because I never could figure out how to use the raw material.

Then, one day, I unexpectedly received a bag of felt balls in the mail from a dear friend. I felt a rush of joy burn through my hands. I immediately "felt" inspired (pun intended) like I used to at the craft store, inspired to do something, anything!

"Oh, but the dilemma of "How in the world do I use this raw material" followed me once more.

I never considered it a raw material I was clever enough to work with. If I'm being honest, it was an intimidating material. It's floppy and it usually needs to be combined or layered to bring out its colorful and textured beauty.

What To Do When You're Intimidated by A New Medium or Topic:

Start small.

Very small.

Tiny even.

Over the decades as a creative person, I've worked with countless mediums. One thing they all have in common is how intimidating getting started truly is. It doesn't matter how skilled we become in a particular area. The minute we're thrown into a new arena it's like we're ten years old again, standing in a crowded room not knowing how to make a friend. It's scary.

So I've learned to just start with one small action. Some small actions can include:

• Reading a book about the topic or material.
• Watching tutorials on how others have learned to work with it.
• Taking a class or workshop about the topic.
• Buying examples of things made with that material, or finished products made about that topic.
• And most importantly of all! Getting your hands dirty and making a lot of unusable ideas, simply to get comfortable and gain momentum.

My mantra is Practice Builds Confidence.

Keep practicing and you'll become skilled in that area.