Nuno and Stone Sheep
I can’t remember the last time I got a chance to do some felting, but I got chance again the Sunday before last, and I’d had the pieces laid out for at least a week and half. Two of the pieces were nuno samples. I’d bought some scarves and wanted to see how the fabric felted. For both samples, I laid out two layers of Merino tops and laid the fabric on top. The first scarf I tried didn’t have a label on it, it felt like a synthetic chiffon, slightly ‘rough’. It felted quite nicely, though there were a couple of places along the edges where it didn’t attach securely.
The nuno texture was really nice:
The next piece I tried was viscose, it was really soft. It looked like crepe after felting:
A close up:
A supermacro close up, I think I got the colours matched pretty well 🙂
Another piece I made was with Stone Sheep wool. I first tried this last month, probably the previous time I did some felting. I liked the way it felted and how fast it felted so thought it’d be really good for something I wanted to try out. I laid out a couple of layers of some carded Stone sheep wool, then added a big pile of fake Angora fibre in the centre. I covered it with a circular resist, covered the resist with some ‘Silk Schappe’ that I got from wollknoll (it seems like carded silk noil), then added another couple of layers of Stone sheep wool. I finished it off with some kapok fibre. When it was felted, I snipped a little hole to take the resist out and worked it until I got it how I wanted.
I thought the fake Angora might be a bit fluffier and looser than this, I mustn’t have piled quite enough in!
You can see the Silk schappe from this angle:
27 thoughts on “Nuno and Stone Sheep”
love the crepey texture! love the stone sheep and angora piece too! what will you do with it?
Thanks, Nikki 🙂
I don’t have plans for them yet, but I think the blue fabric might get used on some scarves later in the year.
Thanks for showing us your experiments. Same as you, I noticed that synthetic chifon needs anchoring at the edges, otherwise the texture is very interesting. Viscose, on the other hand felts in very nicely. Silk schappe is interesting, if you spread it thinly on wool it gives an interesting effect.
Thanks, Nada 🙂
I used the silk schappe on something else recently, but can’t remember what!
Beautiful samples Zed – I like the circular 3-D effect you got on the last sample, it’s fun.
Thanks, Ruth 🙂
I can’t believe how neat I got it!
These are terrific samples of nuno-felting. I particularly like the sunflower–the colors, and the texture. Would love to have a peek inside your sample box!
Thanks, Cathy 🙂
Now that’s a good idea, put all my fabrics in a box instead of on the backs of chairs and hung from bookcases! 😉
Great samples Zed! They all have such wonderful texture. Any idea of what you’ll do with them?
Thanks, Marilyn 🙂
I’ll probably tidy them away, then be happy when I rediscover them in a few months when I’m looking for something to make a purse out of!
You chose the wool colours well for the fabric – perfect in fact because they both look great.
Interesting result with the stone sheep wool – the piece as shown in the first photo reminds me of a stone hot water bottle I had when I was a girl.
Thanks, Lyn 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a stone hot water bottle, I’ve heard of those stones they used to put in the fire, is it like that?
Oh dear – I forget about age gaps – here’s a link with a photo of 3 stone hot water bottles Zed.
http://www.uk-salvage.co.uk/products/stone-hot-water-bottles/
Oh, I have seen those! I always thought they were something they dug up from around here that the Romans used!!
Nah Zed – wealthy Romans had hot air central heating. But 2,000 years later most of us still had freezing cold houses in the winter – what went wrong?
Probably the fact it stayed the same, the wealthy never went cold in Winter!
Interesting experiments, Zed. Did you add the felt to the back of the second piece? Sorry, I’m unused to nuno and such 🙂
I really like the last piece, that hole makes me want to add a warm mug of tea on it!
Thanks, Leonor 🙂
For both of the nuno pieces, I laid out two layers of merino tops, then just put the fabric on the top, then felted. So, yeah, there is felt behind both the pieces of fabric.
These are great, I particularly like the orange one. Sharon x
Thanks, Sharon 🙂
Great pieces Zed. The stone one does look like you should put something in the hole. A nice mug of tea sounds good. Lyn don’t let Zed tease you like that, the Romans in deed. When I was little my grandfather still used hot coals in a pan to warm the bed.
Things have moved very quickly in the last half century Ann, so to anyone who still has youth on their side, stone hot water bottles and other things common in my childhood must look like archaeological finds!
I think it’s just because Manchester is full of Roman stuff and I live so close to a Roman area (Castlefield) you get used to seeing old things and make lazy assumptions 🙂
Love the blue piece –
Thanks, Frances 🙂
These are all lovely but I particularly like the Stone Sheep Wool piece. What a fabulous effect you’ve achieved with the different fibres, the circular cut-out is terrific.
Thanks, Karen 🙂
I was impressed with myself for getting it neat!