I have been enjoying wet felting and experimenting.
Yesterday I made this piece and love the colours.
This was made using 3 layers of Merino Fleece then adding some curly pieces of fleece.
I used 4 different shades and was pleased with the effect. I love the fact that this can never be reproduced, it is totally original and unique!
I might make a Kindle cover with it but haven't decided yet.
Today I started the day space dyeing as I wanted some more green/ blue fabric. I used 2 shades of blue Procion dye and a small amount of yellow. Layered my fabrics in folds in the tray then spooned on the dye. As soon as I added the yellow to the blue the green emerged.
I left this for about an hour while I went to the supermarket!!
I rinsed the fabrics until the water was clear and this is the result. The colours make me think of the sea.
I used magenta dye next. The first glass was full strength, the second half strength and the third a quarter strength. I thought these shades might look good in a layered flower but am not sure yet.
I used linen and cotton fabrics.
I then tried wet felting using a large piece of 'half felt' as a base and adding 2 layers of merino fleece.
The purple half felt was placed on a layer of bubble wrap as rubbing the fleece on this surface causes friction which aids the felting process.
The weather was so lovely I did this felting outside!
This first layer was laid out from left to right using merino and silk fleece.
The second layer was laid from top to bottom in a different shade.
The fleece is 'teased' before layering.
When the layering is completed a piece of net is placed over the fleece and water and liquid soap are sprayed over the surface and rubbed with a piece of screwed up bubble wrap for about 15 minutes!!
The next step is to roll the 'fabric' in a bamboo mat.
This then has boiling water poured over followed by cold.
This really helps the felting.
The mat rolling and rinsing in hot/cold water is repeated until all the soap has been removed.
The felt is left to dry.
I had to cut the fabric in half when I began the rolling process so I learnt that I will have to have a much bigger mat if I want to create a large piece of felt!
I will also but 3 layers of fibres on the base half felt for a thicker piece.
I have enjoyed experimenting and learned a lot!
Watch this space to see what I do with my felt...
This is fascinating - I know wet felting can be hard work but the results are so worth it! Thanks for sharing the process
ReplyDelete