Sampling
On my last post I showed a nuno felt piece I’d made using various wool tops I got in a recent bag of Botany Lap Waste from World of Wool. It became obvious that not all were Merino or even 100% wool, so I thought I’d try some samples. The first one is the kind of Royal Blue from the back of the nuno piece. I’d had a feeling at the time it might not be Merino, but it’s surprising how different various tops can feel and even look when you use lots of different ones together, even when they’re all 23 mic Merino. I know sometimes it’s because they’re old and a bit dry, but I think it has something to do with the dyes too:
The staple length was really long, and it wasn’t exactly coarse, but wasn’t as soft as Merino, so I’m guessing it’s Corriedale. This is on an angle:
Some other tops I got were obviously not Merino or Corriedale. I’m going to guess at Shetland, because WoW don’t do many different breeds of dyed tops, and because it looks similar to some green Shetland I got:
It looks different on a different background:
You can see on the close up it’s coarser and hairier than the previous one:
I don’t think I used this next one on my nuno piece either, but it was very similar to the turquoise I used on the back (I only got as far as wetting down that sample). It was obvious straight away that this was never going to felt:
It’s just two very loosely holding together layers, holding together more by tangling of a few fibres rather than felting, I think:
It’s not even pretending to hold together at one end, where it started to ‘drip’ when I held it up wet:
And this is what it looks like at the window:
I don’t know what it could be, the only similar experience I’ve had to this is trying to felt Suri Alpaca locks. I know Superwash has been suggested, but I don’t think they do dyed Superwash or put it in the Botany Waste.
And inspired by Ruth, a nice Autumnal photo:
9 thoughts on “Sampling”
I wouldn’t have a clue what they are but the colors are nice. However, if the last one won’t felt that’s a shame. They shouldn’t include stuff like that when they advertise its for felting. At least that was my understanding. I learned my lesson when I first started felting and bought some unidentifed batts. I’ve used some, but I think they were waste made into batts. Certainly not merino or Corriedale.
I suppose it is suitable for felting, or as suitable as any of the embellishment fibres, if you think of it that way. It’s just baffling what it is because it burns like wool (or doesn’t burn!), and feels like wool, and I don’t think they do coloured Superwash. I remembered that I had some tops which looked like they’d had dye spilt on them, I think they were purple, I wonder if it was just a processing mistake. I think I’ll be more likely to sample in the future now though!
I think your guesses of Corriedale and Shetland are probably correct. No clue on the last one though but I got some Superwash one time and it acted like that. Or one of the fake fibers would act like that too but it doesn’t look shiny enough for one of those.
Beautiful autumn photo 🙂
Thanks, Ruth 🙂
Yeah, the lack of shine is what baffled me, the tops don’t look like they have a fibre blended so it’s 100% something, I wouldn’t have minded something like a fake fibre that I don’t have.
Perhaps the fibres that didn’t wet-felt might be suitable for needle felting?
Love the photo. After you put your camera in your pocket, did you run along the path scuffing up the leaves?
Thanks, Lyn 🙂
That is a good point about needle felting, we’re going to do that so I’ll save any unfeltable stuff for that. Nah, I didn’t scuff the leaves up, it was a bit slippy for that, I did have a go on the swings though 🙂
🙂
I am of no help. I am terrible at identifying fibres form pictures. The treed path looks lovely. Go back when its dry ( is it ever dry there?) and have some fun kicking them. It lifts the spirit.
Ha, it’s not usually dry very often, though this year has been unusually dry, but the rain just came all at once, just less often. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go back 🙂