A little project using differential shrinkage (and upcoming workshops)

A little project using differential shrinkage (and upcoming workshops)

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Imbolc heralds the start of spring in the Celtic calendar.  In recent years, a bank holiday has been established in Ireland to celebrate it.  It is known as St Bridget’s Day and it is celebrated around 1st February.  Before Christianity hit Ireland St. Bridget was the Celtic Goddess Brigid and like most females she was a real multi-tasker when it came to her role in mythology.  If you would like to find out more about Imbolc here is a link to a good read on Wikipedia.

Seeing as how spring has supposedly sprung here (although personally I would question that given the amount of rainfall we are experiencing), the daffodils are making an appearance so I am writing this with a sense of renewed energy for the longer days ahead.  I thought it might be nice to share my process from a recent little project I did.  It was more out of curiousity than need that I did this.  The focus is on differential shrinkage.  You will not need a lot of fibre for this – you should have plenty left over if you set aside 15g.  I used merino.  I also used some felt ‘ribbon’ that I bought before Christmas from DHG Italy  But you don’t actually need to buy this.  You could as an alternative make up a rectangle of prefelt – lay down 4 layers for this as I have doubled up on the ribbon (each layer of the industrial prefelt ribbon is equivalent to 2 layers of fibre) then you could cut the prefelt into strips arouond 1cm wide.

You will also need your usual felting equipment and a few extra bits.  I used decorator’s plastic (the really light plastic to protect the ribbons as I was felting them down.  I also used underfloor laminate for my resist but you can use whatever you normally use for this.  I am fortunate that I have some lovely wooden tools to help me with shaping but these are not essential as working the piece with your hands will also do.  So now, I am going to take you through the making process:

First of all, I prepared my resist, this is oval shaped and measure 38cm at the longest part by approximately 24cm on the fattest.  This was covered with 2 layers of fibre on each side – each layer will be perependicular to the other. 

  • I have laid out two layers of fibre here – this is the first side
  • Both sides have been wet down

After this, I spiralled the ribbon prefelt around the oval. I tried to keep the blue spaces between as even as possible but it was not something I fretted about. Because the ribbon was only 2 layers I repeated the process. So I ended up with 2 layers of the blue on the main body of the resist and 6 layers of the blue/red on the parts that I wanted to highlight. I added my net, a little more soapy water and after a little gentle rubbing I covered the surface in the light decorator’s plastic. I made sure that this was air tight as then there would be less likelihood of the added layers moving as I felted it. I added extra soapy water to the top of the plastic so that my hands would slide easily over the surface. A little extra attention was paid when rubbing; to the sides so that the fibres stayed snug with the side of the resist and to the added layers. Then I started some light rolling. I did 100 rolls along the north/east/south and west of the piece, flipped it over and did the same on the other side. (800 in total) I kept at this until it was well prefelted and had started to shrink:

  • Here I have spiraled ribbon prefelt around the resist. I did this twice
  • Both sides have been wet down and covered in decorators plastic

At this point, I cut a small hole in the piece. I immediately set about sealing the hole by rubbing the edge so that the fibres would not contract and make the hole bigger. This was important as I wanted to sew the hole up again after I took out the resist. Once this was done, I used nylon thread to sew up the gash. Nylon thread will not felt in to the work so the stitches can be removed afterwards.

  • I cut a hole in the prefelt
  • pulling out the resist
  • sewing the hole with nylon thread

I want to show you all the bits and pieces at this point. You can see how much the felt has shrunk already when compared to the resist. You can also see three felting tools which I am using to work the piece and direct the shrinkage. The ball like one I found on a wood turners stall at a show. I wanted to buy it from him but he could not sell it to me so he generously donated it to the cause! The unusually multiangular shaped tool is most cherished as it was a gift from a friend who had travelled to Japan. ‘The third, more pointed one I purchased from a friend who is based in Germany.

all the equipment. the shrinkage so far!

Then I got down to the job of some serious fulling and shaping. Lots of rolling and rubbing with the well soaped tools happened at this stage. It would also be possible to do this stage with your fingers but it might be fun to see what you have around the kitchen that could also work. Here are a few photos of the work in progress:

  • focussing on in between the red sections using tools
  • another view with the tools to hand

Of the many joys felting brings into my life, I simply love the stage in the process where the wool begins to act like clay and starts moulds to my will and desires. These are always happy moments and they make what can often be lots of hard work seem very much worthwhile. Once I removed the nylon thread, I continued on to the final shaping and drying. And here is the final result from a variety of angles:

  • Spiral and its reflection
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished)
  • photos of the final piece (shaped but not completely finished) (I like this angle!)

I may continue to play with the shape a bit more when I have time. I have since made a bigger version where I doubled the size of the original oval and used a different breed of fibre. This piece was made with a natural cream coloured fibre and I have to say I prefer the two colours as it highlights the spiral shape better. That said, I enjoyed my explorations into differential shrinkage.

I hope that this post will tempt you to try some differential shrinking. If you decide that this project is for you, please let me know. Better still, show me your results and let me know what tools (if any) that you have discovered around the house to help you with shaping.

Happy felting to all!

Helene x

Upcoming workshops:

I currently have two on-line workshops on offer through the Felting and Fibre Studio College of Fiber and Arts. The 3D felted pod is available all year round so you can apply to join it anytime. The workshop is recorded in real time so you can work alongside the videos. There are also PDFs that fully follow the video recordings. I am also available in the virtual classroom should students want to ask any questions or share their beautiful creations. Here is a link to further information on the course: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/online-course-wet-felting-a-vessel-using-a-simple-resist/

  • Wet Felting a Pod!
  • Laying out your fibre
  • Checking for ridges
  • The finished pod
  • Different shapes …

Registration opens on 13th March for my Wet Felted Hanging Spiral course. The course will start on 27th March and will run until 24th April. If you would like to find out more about this course, please head over to the page at https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/hanging-felted-spiral/.

Here are some photos of students’ beautiful work from past courses:

  • Els’ spiral is a lovely shade with beautiful surface decoration
  • Elizabeth used a variety of autumnal colours on her lovely piece. Her decorative leaves are die cut. Inspiring!
  • Debbie’s beauty!
  • Margarethe P (Northern Italy) Isn’t it stunning!
  • Marie’s second beautiful spiral, spinning in the spring sunshine

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Stitching and trimming completed around edge to hold everything in place.
Watercolors in Nuno Felt

Watercolors in Nuno Felt

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I have been continuing with my experiments with trying to create a “watercolor” effect in nuno felt. I decided to take a few of the pieces that were the least successful with the dye/paint application and add more. The first addition of “more” is with sheer fabrics.

Nuno felt landscape created with silk dyed flat on paper and then batched (fiber reactive dye).

This is the piece I decided to start with. It had lost a lot of its color and still looked like a landscape but I felt it could do with “more”.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees.

I started with adding in some torn tulle trees on the right hand side.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees and sheer green "hills".

Then I took some sheer green fabric and added it on the left to give a feel of hills in the background. Some of these steps might be hard to see as the fabric is very sheer but it’s the layering that achieves the final effect.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees and sheer green "hills" with additional green layer.

I then cut off the left edge of the green sheer and added it back into the “hill” area. This gives a bit of value change as you add further layers of sheer.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills" and tulle trees switched to sheer purple/maroon trees.

After looking at the tulle trees as compared to the green sheer on the left, I decided to change the trees. Since the background was mainly yellow, I thought the addition of purple/maroon trees would give a neutralized tree color but still feel there was additional color added. That seemed better so I added in the shadows too. I added a bit of the purple/maroon on the left for a bit of foreground in front of the green hills.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky.

Next up was to try and change the “straight line” over the trees on the right. It felt too abrupt a change in color. So I added a couple of layers of light blue sheer over the trees and then a full piece of blue sheer over the entire piece.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky with added stitching in foreground.

The next step was looking over the piece to see anything else that stood out. I noticed that the green sheer I had on the left needed a little work. It felt too straight along the bottom and there was a weird kind of ‘flag’ in the middle of the hills. So I changed those and then began stitching. It’s hard to see but there is light yellow stitching in the foreground. That wasn’t meant to add a hard line, just to hold the blue fabric down and keep the smaller sheer pieces underneath in place. I did add a broken darker brown horizon line which you can see I have started on the left.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Adding stitching in sky.

I continued adding stitch to the horizon line as well as the sky. Again, in the sky, I didn’t want a hard line so I used a very light gray thread, not pure white that might “stick” out too much.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Stitching and trimming completed around edge to hold everything in place.

The final step was to make very small stitches all around the edges of the piece to hold everything in place. I am happy with the result, a bit more color but still an abstract, dreamy effect.

Photo shows a close up of a wet felted Wallhanging.
The Passage of Time

The Passage of Time

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I thought I’d show a few things I’ve been up to since my last post in December, starting with some pendants.
A while ago I did an online workshop with feltmaker Aniko Boros to make her beautiful wet felted Fuchsia pendant.  It wasn’t my intention to carry in making more fuchsias but rather to learn Anikos technique for making complex pendants so I could apply it to my own designs. And so the fuchsia led to this yellow/grey pendant which in turn has led to a recent request from Region 8 of the International Feltmakers Association to teach how to make it.

Yellow/grey necklace

I was concerned that some in the group I will be teaching may not be used to working with Superfine fibre on such a fiddly scale, so over the Christmas/New Year period I created three more sample pendants. Two of these involve some different techniques to Aniko’s, making them easier and quicker to create than my grey one, but they will produce a similar look. The third sample is made without resists and aimed more for absolute beginners, just in case we have any attend. The other obvious difference with these new samples is the addition of beading which can be optional. I’m looking forward to teaching this class on the 8th March.

Another project I’ve been working on recently is a planned IFA exhibition of Feltmaking titled Felt Connected: Bringing People and Fibre Together. It came about after we surveyed Region 8 members as to what they wanted from their Regional Coordinators and one of our members, Jo Cook, suggested we organise an exhibition of members work. Since then Jo and I have been working together to organise the event which will take place next month in Harding House Gallery in Lincoln. We have a total of 17 IFA members taking part with the aim of not only showcasing their talent but demonstrating the versatility of fibre and what can be done with it while at the same time promoting the IFA and hopefully attracting more members. If you are in the area we will be holding a Meet the Artists session from 1pm – 3pm on Saturday 14th March and it would be great to see you there.

Examples of our members work

Earlier this month I started work on The Passage of Time, my submission for the IFA 2026 online exhibition “Time” that launches during our AGM on March 28th. When I first read the theme title I have to admit that for a day or two I struggled to see anything other than clocks! Then I had a lightbulb moment, I’d make an Ouroboros, the mythical serpent that is often represented in Alchemy art depicted eating its own tail. It’s a symbol of the cyclical nature of time, the universe, and self-renewal and represents the concept of eternity and endless return. Image source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20171204-the-ancient-symbol-that-spanned-millennia

I created my 3D mobius wet felted version using Merino fibre but when it came to photographing it, no matter what angle I took it from, it looked really dull and boring. So I abandoned that idea and instead I’ve taken inspiration from the beautiful sandstone slabs on Seahouses beach in Northumberland. Coastal erosion and fossils are both dramatic indicators of the passage of time so seemed a fitting replacement for the failed Ouroboros!

My inspiration for The Passage of Time
Experimental piece depicting fossils
Another fossil experiment
Work in progress
Adding free motion stitch

The base is a mix of Carded Corriedale and Bergschaf fibre with silk fabrics, wallpaper, Tyvek, free motion stitch and hand embroidery. I’ve included a piece of felt I made a few years ago which mimics fossils, it’s one of two experimental samples I made and didn’t get around to using until now. After auditioning both of them in the pre-made hole I went with the darker option, which doesn’t look as dark in the flesh as it does in the photo. I’ve submitted this piece for the online exhibition but I’ve since felted another slab to add to the first one. It will be embellished in a similar way, to create a larger piece of work for another exhibition that Jo and I are hoping to launch in July.  

I’ll leave you with a piece of work that was created by a lovely lady called Avie, also known as The Curly Sheep. Avie came to spend a day with me last month to learn how to wet felt a picture and how to do free motion stitch. Turns out she’s a natural at both as I’m sure you will agree!

 

3D Multi Part Resist Workshop Opens for Registration

3D Multi Part Resist Workshop Opens for Registration

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Where did time go? It is almost spring. The 3D musti-part resist (book resist) workshop opens for registration today. A Masterclass on Book Resists. You can sign up using this form on the workshops page: 3d-multi-part-resist

The class runs from March 1st to March 29 2026. The instructor is available multiple times a day to answer any questions and give advice, so you can take the workshop from anywhere in the world.

This class is for people who have done some basic felting and used a simple resist and want to try something more challenging, learn some new skills and have some fun with them.

Here are some pictures from the last class.

Renee 3D with balloon
Fay, red star 1
Fay Starfish
Fay, Red six leaved book resist vessel

There is a full class description and registration form here: 3d multi part resist

 

Metal bead shaft for decorated key ring, with a small ring on one end and a small globe screwed onto the other
A Few Oddments

A Few Oddments

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On looking through my file of possible posts I have found that there are several subjects on the list about which I don’t have a lot to say, so I thought I’d put them all together.

First, my work basket.  You may recall that I told you about the craft basket makeovers that I had done some years ago https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2023/06/12/craft-basket-makeovers-part-1/  After we moved to Dorset I acquired a marketing basket, can’t remember where from now but at the time it was “in” to be seen wandering around the shops with a basket on your arm.  I didn’t use it for that for long though as I was worried about my purse sitting on top of shopping and being a bit of a temptation.  So I decided that I’d turn the shopping basket into a work basket.  At that time I hadn’t been introduced to felt, I was still spinning, crocheting, tatting, sewing and embroidering so a market basket would be ideal for that.

I used some more of the fabric remnants which I had bought from the same shop in Maidstone where I’d got those which I’d used for the spinning baskets.  I lined the basket, having attached some internal pockets to the lining and made a padded/quilted lid.  That was fixed at one end of the lining and a covered button and loop held it closed at the other end.  I had found a miniature washing basket at a charity shop and I turned that into a pin cushion and I made a small pouch to hold small accessories like cotton reels.  That was fixed to the side of the basket lining with a snap fastener.

The basket got quite a bit of use, as you can probably see from the state of the lining.  One drawback I’ve found to sewing the lining to the basket is that it makes laundering it a bit difficult!

One of the first projects I undertook once I had learned to needle felt was a challenge from a company which used to supply packs of mixed yarns – at least I think it was from them though it might have been a Guild challenge.  It was back in 2002 and as I did not make any notes that I can find, I’m not entirely sure.  I seem to have taken some progress images as I have found lots of these though unfortunately they are not of particularly good quality.

What I do remember is that I had decided that I would make a miniature of a herb knot garden but |’m afraid that my memory of how I found/chose the design is now so hazy that I can’t be precise. I do remember that when I learned to needle felt our teacher gave us pieces of old woollen blanket on which to draw a design that we could fill in with needle felted fibres.  The idea was that we could then wash the work and it would become permanent.  I have amongst the progress pictures images of the design as drawn on a piece of blanket and of the lines becoming “box hedges” and the spaces being filled with “flowers”.  I can also see from the last couple of pictures that I added a “topiary tree” in each corner.

A couple of years later, I acquired a quantity of (I think) Jacob fleece which had been carded all together so that what I had was a sort of grey mixture.  I didn’t really want to spin it as I think I had been duped into buying a bag of really rough fibres.  At about that time I had become interested in stone carvings – gargoyles (water spouts), grotesques, and  heraldic beasts – particularly the Queen’s Beasts which are statues on display at Kew Gardens.  Anyway, I decided that I’d have a go at needle felting some gargoyles using the grotty grey Jacob.  No progress pictures I’m afraid, just finished pieces mounted on fabric covered card or canvas blocks.

Finally  you may remember that Ann M told us about some sheepy key rings that she had made.  https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/06/13/sheep-key-chain/ These looked so good that I’m afraid I stole her idea.  I told you back in December 2024 about the Norwegian Gnomes that I made at our local Museum Shop, for sale there. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/?s=The+Museum+at+Christmas

Ann’s idea made me think that some miniature gnomes impaled on the metal “spike” could look good as bag charm gnomes to sell in the Museum shop.  I had to change the description from key chains to bag charms because the gnomes were a bit too fragile to sit inside someone’s bag/purse, but should look good dangling on the outside.  Here are photos of the “shaft” on which the gnomes are made, and a few of the gnomes.

 

Revisiting knitting

Revisiting knitting

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Hello everyone,

My post this month is about knitting. My mum taught my sisters and me how to knit when we were growing up and at school – not my brothers though…… I remember knitting jumpers (Aran patterns), socks and mittens. I have a vague memory of knitting gloves, and one sister remembers knitting gloves too.

That sister has continued to knit throughout the years, and she makes some wonderful items. I have not knitted since then; I also used to crochet at that time and enjoyed it very much. I think crochet is much easier to learn and remember, it seems much less complicated than knitting does these days, and I taught (assisted by YouTube!) oldest grand daughter how to crochet some time ago.

So when Christmas was over, and all the decorations put away, I decided that I would reacquaint myself with knitting and it’s language again. There had been a knitting show on TV before Christmas, and that also encouraged me ‘to have a go’. My sister gave me some of her needles – mostly circular ones, and some double pointed needles. I had used the DPNs with my mum to make socks, so they were familiar, but the circular variety were alien to me, and would have been to my mother also. My sister said I would get used to them ‘ in no time’, but with dire warnings about not twisting the cast on stitches when joining the circle. This was a struggle, and there was a lot of muttering, and some (in)appropriate words used during this battle.

Another dilemma was what yarn/wool to use. I had known 4ply and double knit when younger, but now there is fingering weight, spindthrift, lace and many other types. Totally confusing, plus pattern instructions are different – no longer many rambling lines of letters and numbers to lose your place on, and there are graphs showing the patterns. I don’t know if this is good wool or not – but it felt nice to touch.

What to make.

I decided on a hat, and it looked achievable and after a bit of reading I borrowed a couple of books from the library, and registered on Ravelry. There is a small local yarn shop in my town, and I paid a visit there.

I found one mistake when I was knitting, (too many stitches) but I left it in, and then corrected the stitch count – I did not want to undo it. There was  another mistake with the design graph – I corrected that with a pencil on the chart, I will erase it before I return the book to the library. Both photos above illustrate the errors.

 

I am pleased with the hat and how it looks when finished, and really happy that I did not give up. I found the pattern a challenge for the first half, but it became easier as I progressed. I don’t like pompoms, so I crocheted a flower shape and secured it with a button. I had 2 buttons to choose from and decided to use a red one.

         

I enjoyed my own challenge.

I cannot get my pictures any smaller, it is so frustrating! I use a MacBook Air, and it’s tools to ‘edit’ the photos. I use my phone to take photos, and make them about half a Mb to upload. Apologies.

Closeup of the hap on the blocking mat, showing the wire stretching the lace section.
The magic of blocking lace

The magic of blocking lace

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Ah, lace.
Occasionally I crave a knitting challenge, so lace patterns (preferably with a chart) grab my attention and I just need to finish that thing and see it in all its glory.

Unlike a run-of-the-mill stocking stitch jumper/sweater however, lace looks absolutely dreadful and underwhelming before it’s blocked. If I were to show my finished lace project to a non-knitter and ask for their opinion, I’m sure they’d wonder why I wasted so much time hand making something so wrinkly and ungainly.

Give it a warm bath, a gentle squeeze and some vigorous stretching with wires however, and the thing blooms into beauty.

I recently decided to use some of my stashed lovely Mongolian cashmere yarn. As it happens, I saw a pattern in my LYS that I really enjoyed and cast on. A Hap for Harriet is a simple enough knit, with a lace border to keep you entertained.

Looks quite underwhelming, doesn’t it? The stitches have no particular definition or structure. There’s something missing. No wonder, it’s not blocked yet! Out come the foam mats, the pins and the blocking wires. Mine have memory, so they move as I want them and go back to their original structure, giving me more control than the wires I usually see for sale.

After a warm soak in wool wash, this hap was quite vigorously stretched. I showed it no mercy! It showed no mercy to me either, I was doing this on the floor on my knees. There’s other things I’d rather be doing in my mid-40s… my poor back. The sacrifices one makes for one’s craft.

My knitted hap on the blocking mat with wires and pins to keep it taut, with my black cat Kenya at a distance staring at the whole thing.

This was a big one. Kenya in the background for extra cuteness and (maybe) size reference. I wonder what was going on in my cat’s mind as she saw me on the floor practicing human shenanigans…

After a couple of days of drying under tension, my lovely hap is now looking amazing and cosy! I do have to say though, a while after I’d finished blocking it a friend told me cashmere should be rubbed when being washed, so the fibre can bloom and make it extra fuzzy. Lovely to know, thank you, but I’m definitely not soaking this thing again for a long time… blocking is magical but also a lot of hard work!

Do you love or hate blocking? Any tips to share? Tell me in the comments section. Thanks for reading!

Greetings from New Mexico

Greetings from New Mexico

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My name is Donna and this is my first blog post on the Felting and Fiber Studio Blog.  I read it regularly and recently responded to a post by Shepherdess Ann with the fact that I too am a shepherdess.  Ann invited me to post about my sheep and felting.  As the title indicates, I live in New Mexico, just east of Albuquerque, in the high desert, where it is not always warm as some might think of New Mexico.  At an altitude of 7200′, we get snow and cold in the winter and warm to hot in the summer, but not enough moisture because then it would not be desert.

My husband and I started a hobby farm late in life because of my love of fiber.  We presently have 18 sheep,  2 pigs,  14 chickens, 2 livestock guardian dogs and one Australian Shepherd.  I started this adventure with Angora goats.  Of course they have beautiful locks as you can see from this photograph of CeCe on the left but as you experienced felters know that fine fiber does not felt well without wool to hold it down.

 

I then acquired a pair of twin Leicester Long wools, Winken and Blinken, from a friend in Colorado.  They have nice long wool but I was not pleased with their fiber color which did not resond well to dyeing.  They are big boys, wethers.  The goats have since gone to live with a guild member who is a spinner and weaver.  I could still get fiber from them if I wish.

I decided that Wensleydale sheep were what I wanted.  Thanks to the North American Wensleydale Sheep Association, I found a breeder in Oklahoma and my husband and I drove over to Kerrville and picked up a ram and 3 unrelated ewes to start my flock.  There are not many Wensleydale sheep in New Mexico.  The girls had 6 uncomplicated births.  Then there was Maddie, my 7th, who was rejected by her mom and had to be bottle fed.

I brought her into the kitchen and luckily my experienced shearer came the next day and told me that was a mistake.  She needed to be out with the flock for her own protection.  If she wasn’t used to being with the flock and later kept separate from them she would be the first to be attacked by a predator.  I complained to him that I was too old to be night bottle feeding in the barn!  He set me straight with a morning, noon and evening schedule. Whew…  At first it was exciting but quickly got old. (I bet Ann, the experienced shepherdess, is smiling at this.)  I have not bred any more ewes since.

Here is Maddie when she was abandoned in the barn and here she is now.

I have since acquired 6 Debouillet sheep from a friend of mine. The Debouillet is a cross between a Rambouillet and a Merino.  The breed was developed in Tatum, New Mexico, in the 1920s and they

have a nice wool fleece.  The total now is 18 sheep, 3 rams who live a boring life, 13 ewes, and 2 wethers who live in another pasture.  Winken since passed away and I sold one of my ewes.

Here is a picture of the ewes waiting for their breakfast. As you can see from the picture, the flock does not get to enjoy the green rolling hills like their relatives in the UK.

 

 

For those of you who purchase your wool, so do I.  As many of you know, the process of preparing fiber straight off the sheep is an onerous one.  It must be skirted (my least favorite job), scoured and then the locks must be picked. Last year, I had to take all my unskirted fleece to the dump because it had become infested with moths… Ugh!  The moths especially love the dirty stuff.  But surprise, surprise, there was much more after the shearer had come!

Here is a picture of the before and after the scour of some Wensleydale fiber.

 

I made cobweb felted scarf/shawl from some of the locks I hand dyed.  It was one of the items I sent to a Guild sale and was asked by some of the members working if I knew it had holes in it and did I want to take it home and fix it 😢😢  sigh…  There are not many felters in my guild.

 

Here is a picture of some scoured Debouillet fleece.  It is a shorter fiber, and I have not used it in any felting projects yet.  It still needs to be combe or carded to get more of the VM out, but it is not nearly as difficult to remove as it is from those tight Wensleydale curls.

I hope I haven’t bored you too much with the sheep stories.  The sun is coming up and it’s time to feed all the critters.  It may be in the barn today because the forecast is calling for snow.

Felted Lantern Cover Workshop.

Felted Lantern Cover Workshop.

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I got to teach a felted lantern cover class recently. It was mostly people who had never handled wool before. This class is fun, interesting and technical. This project requires a very thin layout, but if it develops holes, that’s ok because it lets the light out.  It’s a great one to use to practice thin layout.

I made a new sample with prefelt shapes on the inside and sari silk on the outside. I didn’t have a sample of either of those. It always amazes me how much the sill disappears when you wet it, even on contrasting colours

And the finished sample. The inside shapes worked really well. Some of the mwere swallowed by the scrunched-up part, but that’s ok.

I had eight students. I let them choose if they wanted to make it all enough to be able to make part of it scrunched, or just tall enough for it to fit the glass vase/lantern. I almost forgot to take pictures.  It was about an even split. Scrunching them makes a fairly simple design stand out.

I almost forgot to take pictures. Here they are laying out their wool, lots of different ideas.

Then, of course, there was all the rubbing and rolling

Here are some finished but still wet. I am not sure how I ended up with only 5 of them. I was sure I took a picture of each of them.

And here are some pictures my students sent me when they were all dry.

I think they look great. This is a great project if you don’t have a lot of time, but want the satisfaction of start to finish in one session.

Landscape painted on nuno felt with watercolor paint.
Experimenting with Watercolor Landscape Techniques on Silk and Wool

Experimenting with Watercolor Landscape Techniques on Silk and Wool

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I recently wrote about using watercolors to create abstract landscapes. My purpose was to try the technique on paper and then try to translate it to silk and nuno felt. I experimented with a variety of small samples, the largest being 10″ x 13″.

My first attempt, I soaked 3mm silk in soda ash solution and placed it on white paper. I then mixed up a paste of fiber reactive dye with a bit of water and used a palette knife to apply the dye paste to the wet silk. I used dye colors pewter and daffodil. I added water with a spray bottle and with a paint brush. The photo above on the left shows the silk drying on the paper backing. The photo on the right shows the paper underneath after drying.

The picture on the left shows the silk after rinsing and the silk after nuno felting with fine white merino. It still is a landscape but I lost so much of the lovely green color. I love the paper that was underneath but the end result is a bit disappointing. I will be still using all these samples and adding further dye, paint or stitch so don’t worry, they will be improved. And I will see what other surface design techniques will give the end result I want. But I forged on trying to get a better result from the beginning.

The next step was to try painting the dye with the silk laid out on plastic. I covered my print board with plastic and laid wet silk soaked in soda ash on top. I used the same application with a palette knife and adding water as needed to spread the dye. The photo on the left is after applying the dry. The center photo is after the dye has dryed in the silk and the right photo is after nuno felting. This was a bit better and I can see the landscape in this result. I kept track of my results by taking photos, pasting them in my sketchbook and writing out the process for each piece. I also kept a running list of “what ifs” and further ideas to try.

Experiment number three was to nuno felt the silk first. The left photo shows the white nuno felt (a bad photo), the middle is after applying the dye and the left is after rinsing. The dye does not move very easily on the felted silk compared to plain silk. Therefore, the dye doesn’t spread as much. This is still using fiber reactive dye, so I asked myself “What about acid dye since now I have added wool to the equation?”

I think you can tell from looking at the results from left to right, there is some improvement in keeping the color in the end result.

I got a little off track here as I next decided to try felting some paper and see how that worked. I used small pieces of Kitakata handmade paper that I already had on hand. The photo on the left shows the felted paper. I got in a hurry and the paper didn’t felt in as well as I would have liked. But I decided since these are mainly samples, it didn’t matter. Forge ahead! I soaked the nuno felted paper in soda ash and then added fiber reactive dye for the landscape. I continued to use the palette knife method of dye application. The photo on the right shows the piece after rinsing and drying. My next thought was “What if I used the nuno felted paper but painted it with watercolor and didn’t rinse it out?”

I nuno felted more paper on to the merino and added the watercolor paint with the palette knife. I forgot to get a photo with the paint still wet. The photo on the right shows the dried result. The interesting thing with this one was that the water I applied above the horizon line (and none below) caused the water to seep into the dry paper moving most of the paint below the horizon line. Interesting end result though. Work upside down the next time?

3mm silk gauze pre-dyed with light blue for sky color.

 

In the middle of these experiments, I helped a friend with how to dye cotton fabric. She had not dyed before so we had a fun afternoon playing with dye. I had my pieces of silk ready for nuno felting and I thought I would dye some a very light blue for sky colors.

Silk that was light blue, painted on acid dyes and then steamed. Colors ran while steaming.

This next piece has the blue silk,  nuno felted first and then soaked in a vinegar solution to get ready for acid dyes. I applied the dyes as usual, forgot to take a photo and then steamed the piece to set the acid dye. The dye shifted all over the place and the end result looked nothing like the original application of dye. It still looks like a landscape, kept the color better but I didn’t want this much shifting of the dye.

So I tried a second one with blue sky silk and acid dyes. It’s not a good photo because of the glare but you get the idea of what it looked like after painting with dye. I picked it up, did not think to put it on a tray or flat surface and the dye came pouring out and the landscape was lost. I just rinsed the piece and you see on the right, that a slight amount of dye took without steaming. That gave a nice misty background that I decided would work for depth.

Landscape painted on nuno felt with watercolor paint.

I then added watercolor of Payne’s Gray and Quinacridone Gold Deep in the usual manner. I let the watercolors dry and didn’t rinse as this will be a wall hanging and will not be washed. This is getting a little closer to the outcome I want.

Next up was to treat the silk as if it was a silk painting. I stretched the silk over a wooden frame and used tacks to attach it to the frame. I then applied the dye with a palette knife and added water. The edges were a bit tricky as I didn’t have any gutta resist to keep the dye from spreading but again, it’s just a sample. Then I decided I could dry/heat the silk without removing it from the frame with my heat gun. Oops, I burned a hole in it. Perhaps next time, I will let it dry and then iron it. Or I could use silk paints and the proper resists. The right photo is the piece after nuno felting. Still looks like a landscape and I don’t mind the edges.

I still have quite a few ideas to tweak the process and I want to try adding more on top of the results I have shown here. I am having fun experimenting and perhaps one of these days, I will decide to make a bigger piece once I have an end result that works for me.