Second Quarter Challenge with Differential Shrinkage

Second Quarter Challenge with Differential Shrinkage

I needed to figure out something for the second quarter challenge and I wanted to continue my experiments with differential shrinkage. So I decided to combine the two projects. I had also read somewhere online to check out Soosie Jobson’s Youtube channel as she had some good videos about differential shrinkage. I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about working inside out with this technique but it really helped.

I started with the resists made from floor underlay foam on the left. I wanted a spring/summer sunny look for the second quarter challenge so I chose yellow to red and a bright yellow green. I used hand dyed mixed 56’s wool. The photo on the right shows the diamond shaped resist covered with 8 layers of green wool.

After laying out the 8 layers of wool, I wet it down and then flipped it over so I could cut the diamond shape out of the green wool. I created four of the green shapes and place them at even intervals over the large round resist. The photo on the right shows the bottom with the solid circle in the center.

These two photos show the top with the ring in the center. You can see how the points of the diamonds overlapped the ring slightly so I trimmed those ends off so there wasn’t extra bulkiness around the ring.

Next I laid out the top wool, 2 layers, all laid in a concentric manner around the circle. I wanted a gradation of color from yellow to red, so the yellow to orange is on the top side. The photo on the right is wet down and you can see the thickness of the pie shapes and ring showing through.

Then I flipped it over and smoothed the edges over the circle. I did end up removing a bit of the extra orange wool in places.

I then laid out 2 layers of red orange to red wool in the same manner as I did the top side. It’s hard to tell in the photo but there is a gradation of color. Now on to wetting down and felting.

Here are the two sides after felting. I felt by rubbing and don’t do any rolling. I like to be able to feel how the wool is reacting under my hands and also to make sure that the edges around the resist are not forming a ridge.

I then cut out a small disk of yellow felt from the center top. I healed the cut edges by rubbing with soapy fingers and then removed the resist. I then turned the entire piece inside out so that the green was on the outside. This took a bit of patience and maneuvering. Then came the fulling and shaping.

And here’s the result. I did shave the entire vase to get rid of the fuzzies.

I decided to call it a Poppy Vase so I thought poppy seed heads fit perfectly. So hopefully, this will count as a personal item that I can use in the summer time!

 

 

10 thoughts on “Second Quarter Challenge with Differential Shrinkage

  1. What a great result and perfect for the challenge. Soosie also has a Facebook page with lots of tips and links to her videos and she encourages followers to post their work on there.

  2. It’s beautiful, with perfect colours and shape for the sunny days challenge. It looks fab with the poppy heads because they add to, rather than detract from, the beauty of the vase.

    Your process photos are great. You must have a lot of dexterity and patience to turn the whole thing through that tiny hole.

  3. Thanks Lyn, it does look very sunny. I didn’t think it was going to all fit through but a little patience and wiggling did the job.

  4. Lovely colours & the gradation has worked very well, With strong summer colours so fitting for the poppy seeds.
    Good use of differential shrinkage that has produced a very moulded 3D ‘sculpture’. How you managed, with that thickness of wool, to turn it through the hole deserves kudos.
    Inside-out method….interesting. Definitely requires a leap of faith….’gud on ya, kid’.

We'd love to hear your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d