Naturals For A Nature Lover

Naturals For A Nature Lover

I wanted to make a piece of felt for one of my friends as a thank you for helping us out recently, he’s into the environment and nature, so I thought a piece using all natural wools and undyed fibres would be something he’d like. I really enjoyed not having to put too much thought into it apart from trying to use as many different fibres as possible. I can’t remember all the wools and fibres, but I definitely used: English 56s; Gotland tops, scoured fleece and raw locks (from Zara-thank you, again!); Brown Finnish, Grey, Brown and White Merino; scoured Shetland; Bluefaced Leicester locks; hemp; flax; soy tops; cotton nepps; silk noil; silk coccon strippings; Tencel; viscose fibre; bamboo fibre and ramie. Here’s the finished piece:

Close up of the top:

Close up of the bottom:

It’s not as textured as some pieces I make, but you can see how it is looking at it from an angle:

This is a close up of some of the flax:

A really nice, shiny Gotland lock with a gingery tip:

Another Gotland lock with some Soy top above and BFL locks at the bottom.

This is the BFL, I bought a bag of washed locks ages ago and forgot all about them until I went looking for something else!

The Tencel looked really shiny against the darker wools:

This is one of my favourite parts, because it has lots of texture, there are Gotland and Bluefaced Leicester locks, flax and hemp, Tencel, and cotton nepps:

Do you  have a favourite combination of wools and fibres? I didn’t get a photo from this piece, but I really like the silk noils and cocoon stripings on the dark brown wools, you often get little holes which look like a tiny bug made them, and the brown shows through the thin parts giving a ‘rusty’ look to it!

14 thoughts on “Naturals For A Nature Lover

  1. This looks really lovely. I love the natural colours of sheep fleece. Now can I just ask whether your process means using raw locks and then washing the rug/hanging afterwards?

    1. Thanks, Carol 🙂
      I mostly used the raw locks ‘singly’, not grouped together, or a lot in any one place, so the soap I used to felt the piece was enough to remove the lanolin and allow them to felt in. The raw locks don’t attach as firmly as scoured/washed ones, as you can tell from the photos of the Gotland vs the BFL, which is why I use the raw ones. If I was making something which was going to be handled, like a bookcover, I’d wash the locks first so they’d felt in more firmly.

  2. What a brave mix of fibres, but it turned out beautifully! And certain fibres and locks definitely need something else behind them to show off properly. Well done! 😊

    1. Thanks, Zara 🙂
      Yeah, I do tend to be a bit too ‘neat’ sometimes, adding the fibres less cautiously this time gave some nice features, I’ll be using cotton nepps more from now on.

  3. It’s a beautiful piece and it’s great that you’ve tailored it to your friend’s interests. It’s always a surprise to see how colourful natural colours can be!

    1. Thanks, Lyn 🙂
      I know, even as often as I use them, I look forward to seeing the results because the colours can look different depending what they’re next to and the fibres on them.

    1. Thanks, Ruth 🙂
      I probably wouldn’t have used the nepps if I’d made it at home, sometimes having fewer choices works out better, I think.

  4. What a lovely lively piece both in terms of the colour and textures and all natural. I’m sure it will be much appreciated.

    1. Thanks, Amanda 🙂
      yeah, it’s very tactile, especially the locks, so shiny and silky.

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