Monday, October 26, 2015

Felting

I promised to show the craft group I belong to how to make felt. It's years since I made felt so I had to give myself a refresher course. The wool I've been spinning for socks has been treated so that it doesn't felt, but I have some wool that hasn't been treated and felts easily.

I layered the wool on top of bubblewrap and sheeting, four layers, this way and that:
Sprayed it with warm, soapy water:

Covered it with another piece of sheeting to make a sandwich:
Then for five minutes I patted it with my hands, a hairbrush and a rolling pin to get the felting process started:
I rolled the sandwich up tightly, with the bubblewrap included. I found that the tighter it is rolled the better, otherwise the felt finishes up very wrinkly:
For another five minutes, I rolled the parcel back and forth on my draining board:
Peeled the layers apart:
To reveal the felt:
After rinsing the soap out,  I dyed it:
Rinsed it, and hung it up to dry:
I plan for the craft group to make felt, but it won't be ready to use for a while, so I have dyed felt in an array of colours:
My plan is to use it to make flowers like these:

9 comments:

  1. Oh my Jane you really do it all. I've never felted anything on purpose. Well Done.

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  2. I do not have the courage to try this. Very beautiful!

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  3. Oh neat!!!! :) You are so very creative and talented!!!! :)

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  4. Such a Renaissance woman... : )

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  5. I've felted knit purses, but I've never created felt fabric. That's awesome!

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  6. Your felting is very easy to do. Having dyed it makes it perfect for making beautiful flowers.

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  7. Felting is something I have not done, very interesting post thank you
    Margaret

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  8. I have only made paper felting looks like fun!

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