
Felted Wool Kebabs
There weren’t very many of us at the Well Being centre last week, but the idea of ‘wool kebabs’ went down so well, I think it could become an art form in itself! We’re carrying on this week, so I took the opportunity to make a few wool kebabs and a few felted examples to take in. I mostly made lots of black/white/grey combinations for the kebabs. For the first sample I used black Merino and blend I got from a Botany Lap waste bag. The shiny fibre looks like bamboo or viscose. I just used 5 pieces on this:
From this angle you can just about tell, that they aren’t exactly flush with the surface:
For this sample, I covered the whole pices with wool kebabs, these were mostly quite ‘hairy’ rather than smooth because I used some coraser blends. The neat rectangle really changed shape with the areas of different shrinkage according to how thick/thin it was in places:
I thought I’d used all the ‘same’ type of kebabs, but I think I picked up a couple of different ones next to each other, which made a nice patch of dark/shine contrast:
I think the blend I used for these had a few brownish shades of wool in. These were quite texturey too. I don’t know which wool I used for a base. I think that was from a Botany Lap bag too. I think this is my favourite:
I think another ‘rogue’ kebab got in with these too, one of them has a bit more grey and a definite sheen:
I bought some stripey wool from wollknoll a couple of years ago, and thought this would make some nice wool kebabs. I used them on Black Merino, and they turned out really nice too:
You can see more texture on these, I think:
I got quite addicted to making the wool kebabs, something very soothing about the process: blending, laying out the wisps, rolling, sliding the tube off, repeating, and watching the little pile of similar tubes grow 🙂
19 thoughts on “Felted Wool Kebabs”
I can see the attraction – they’re lovely and make great inclusions!
Thanks, Lyn 🙂
Loving the grey ones (I’m obsessed with grey)! Now tell me you’re placing them in skewers 😀
Thanks, Leonor 🙂
I used some of the grey/white/brown wool you sent me 🙂 Yeah, I was using my drum-carder skewers on my hand carders, and realised the wool came out cleaner if I rolled the stick over the tines, then when I pushed it off the skewer, I had a wool kebab! I posted a picture of a pile last week: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2017/08/06/bits-and-bobs/ most were ‘accidental’ so I made some specifically for felting!
Ah, got it! What you call kebabs I guess other fibre people call rolags? I must say I prefer your designation! 😁
I don’t understand what the kebabs are, but I like the results.
Thanks, Kathryn 🙂
I mentioned them in a post last week: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2017/08/06/bits-and-bobs/ basically just wool wrapped around a bamboo skewer, and pushed off to form a soft, hollow tube.
Like your invention on making kebabs. They look great on your samples. I think I’m going to borrow this idea if I may. But need to try first, of course.
Thanks, Nada 🙂
It’d be great to see what you do with the idea! I laid out about 3-3 inches of wisps, put the skewer on the thinner end, help the wisps over the stick, then just roll. You can turn it in your hand and few times, just to secure and tidy up. You can add embellsihments too.
Great idea the gray reminded me of fossils bletharites or squid
Thanks, Pippa 🙂
What are bletharites? I don’t get any search results? I thought some of them looked like those tubular worm casings you see on the beach!
Reblogged this on Yarnsage.
Love the neutral grey ones! They do remind me of fossils especially the one that is completely covered with the one shiny kebab for contrast. Neat idea for sure!
Thanks, Ruth 🙂
Yeah, I was looking at photos of slate cliffs the other day thinking they’d be freat for that, I forgot how often fossils are found in slate.
Great idea Zed! Now what will you do with all these kebabs? The rainbow ones remind me glow sticks, the grey/brown silk cocoons.
Thanks, Marilyn 🙂
well the idea was to get people to develop their own ideas, mostly how to use them in landscape pictures (or seascape as they immediately thought last week!). I took some in and we played around yesterday, so, like with these ones, they’ll give different people different ideas, and then when they’re dry, more ideas again!
they look great. I like the second light gray one best and the rainbow ones next. How big are they? What will you do with them?
Thanks, Ann 🙂
The ‘kebabs’ are about 3-5 inches, they’re for playing and experimenting as we try out ideas and techniques for picture making. If you meant the samples, they’re all about 6 x 4 inches, and they’ll probably stay samples/examples.