Fox Sheep Wool
I ordered a lot of ‘new to me’ wool from wollknoll recently. I still haven’t had chance to open all the bags and look at them, but I did get a chance to look at a few the other day and make some batts. One of them was listed as ‘Fox Sheep wool‘. I’m guessing it is ‘Coburg Fox Sheep‘. I ordered this as ‘fleece’, which comes as pieces of a carded batt. This what mine looked like:
This is a close up:
And this is what it looked like after I made a batt:
I made a sample about 10 x 10″ and added some black viscope tops:
On the top half I added fluffed/mussed up viscose in various thicknesses and also laid it criss-cross in a couple of places:
On the bottom half, I fanned out the viscose tops:
This is a close up of the middle on the bottom:
And this is the middle of the top:
Whenever I’ve used black viscose it reminds me of ‘bubble painting’ – mixing washing up liquid with kids’ ready mix paint and bubbling it up with straws- but these middle parts remind me of seaweed 🙂 This is a close up of a part where I lay the viscose criss cross:
This is what the whole piece looks like on the back:
I suppose a good description of it would be spongey, but it really looks ‘frothy’ to me!
The staple length was really short and being so springy, it wasn’t easy to get a nice even felt with just a couple of layers as you can see when I hold it up to the window:
19 thoughts on “Fox Sheep Wool”
When I looked at the fourth photo down from the top, I was reminded of Andrea Hunter’s work. Why not have a go? Perhaps a city scape?
Are you saying it’s all smoggy with pollution up here? 😉
Oh, if only I was even a 10th capable 🙂
A beautiful mix. I love the textural look of it.
Thanks, Judy 🙂
I liked the texture too.
Frothy is an interesting term for wool, but I know what you mean. It reminds me of the unknown wool I made the box from recently. What do you think would be a good use for this Fox Sheep Wool? I can’t wait to see what else you got in your order.
Hmmm, obviously something textural, it’d be good in natural pieces, or landscapes, it’d certainly make a good representation of sandstone or millstone grit. I think I’d have to try a few layers and get it nice and even to see how well it felted/fulled to recommend it for certain things.
Yes, definitely something textured. Cant wait to see how you use it.
How exciting to see the first of your Woolknoll purchases! Your fox sheep wool has a similar spongy look to some Hebridean fiber I purchased on the Isle of Lewis.
Zed, I wondered why you would put the carded batt through your carder? I have purchased similar looking carded batts and used them AS IS, thinking they are already prepped for felting.
It doesn’t look like a ready-to-use batt, Cathy. See how the top looks a bit thicker? It can be folded back to reveal another flat part, it’s like it has 3 sides, Maybe it’s the way it was pulled off a larger batt, I don’t know, but it was far too thick anyway, and most of the layers looked like they ran mostly one direction, so it’d be like 6 layers all one way, if that makes sense?
I have never heard of that breed. Always fun to try a new one though. Another notch in your bucket wool list 🙂
Ha ha, I like ‘Bucket wool list’ 🙂
Yep, always fun to try something new, it’s hard deciding which fibre to try with them though.
Zed, I hope you know I’m blaming you for actually knowing what mean when you mention the “Fox Sheep Wool” – I’ve been perusing the Wollknoll website, and it’s all your fault 🙂
Very interesting end result, the wool looks indeed frothy and springy! What will you do with it? And… is it a fibre you’d recommend for needle felting?
Ha ha, sorry 🙂
I don’t have a plan really, sometimes it just hits me that some wool would be perfect for whatever I’m thinking about. I think it would be good for needlefelting, I got Karakul, it looks like cairn terrier 🙂
I might have to message you with questions about what you bought and how happy you are with the items 😉
Thanks, Zed! You enabler, you…
Yeah, cool. I plan on getting it all out, doing photos and samples 🙂
Zed, I do see what you mean on the large batt, taking another look. It does look uneven. So you are “scientific” with your sampling, I see…;–}}
Ha, I don’t know about scientific, I just wanted it easier! I do find it easier to see the characteristics though if it’s laid out as smooth and even as possible 🙂
I’m sure you’ll be doing lots of experiments now you have your WoW order 🙂
Another great sample. I really appreciate you dong all the work for us. 🙂 Saves me a lot of wondering and work. I bet it would look nice with some thread painting on it, very quilted I bet.
Ha, you’re welcome, Ann 🙂
I think this piece is a bit thin, but a thicker piece would, it’d certainly make a great base for a textural piece.