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More Natural Wools and Fibres

More Natural Wools and Fibres

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I was looking through my flickr account recently for some photos to use on a flyer for the well being centre, and I came across some felt pieces I made with natural fibres and natural wool combinations. I haven’t done a post about ‘naturals’ for a while so I thought you might enjoy this old post from 2012:

Another couple of natural wool and natural fibre combinations I’ve used recently are Oatmeal Bluefaced Leicester with Ingeo top, and Humbug Jacob Tops with black and white Bamboo tops.

Humbug Jacob tops are a stripey blend of black and white Jacob wool tops. Just on its own it produces a nice result, but I thought I’d try using strips of black and white bamboo tops for effect. Both bamboos are really soft, white bamboo looks silky, but black bamboo is fluffy and more like fluffy cat fur. They felt quite differently too, the white keeps its silkiness and shines really nicely, and the black almost fades into the background, staying very matt.

Ingeo is made from corn, it is soft and shiny and smells faintly of caramel 🙂 I decided to cover the whole piece with Ingeo as it has such a lovely sheen. This was another fibre which shone even in dim light. The effect after drying is gorgeous, Ingeo is such a nice silky fibre and went really well with the Oatmeal Bluefaced Leicester. I think this combination would make a lovely soft and shiny scarf.

*The previous post I’d made was also about natural wools and fibres, if you’re interested, you can find it here

Mostly Naturals

Mostly Naturals

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I’d planned to finish off a couple of projects yesterday – a bird pod, probably from last year, and a vessel I started at the well being centre on Monday – but thought that since I was getting all my felting stuff out, I’d do a ‘quick’ sampler piece with lots of different wools to take to the centre because a few members want to order some wools for felting at home. Well, it took a little bit longer than I’d planned, and I only used 15 different wools! This is it with the rows laid out:

I think this photo shows the colours a bit more accurately:

I used a few embellishments, but didn’t pile them on, like I usually do 🙂 I loosely twisted a silk hankie:

Added some teased apart silk noil:

A little bit of Bamboo staple fibre:

I took a quick photo after felting, before I hung it on the washing line to dry:

I can’t remeber if I ever showed this bird pod, but this is the one I’d planned to finish:

This is the vessel I started on Monday, still damp:

And the other side:

I really intended finishing them later on, but actually got around to felting those pieces of scrim with transfers on, so at least I’ll have those to show next time!.

Naturals and Needlefelting

Naturals and Needlefelting

Comments 12 comments

I mentioned that we have tried out lots of different fibres at the well being centre lately, and the other week we tried out lots of different wool breeds too. We’ve used naturals before, but mostly for pods/vessels and lots together for hangings etc, but we made samples to get a better idea of what we could use each type for. Since I have more experience, I thought I’d use Herdwick and Lincoln tops. I used some flax and help tops with the Herdwick sample:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWith the Lincoln I used Soy tops and Black viscose tops:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is a close up of the Soy:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd a close up of the Viscose:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd this is what the back looked like:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASome of the others tried Texel, and had a hard time getting it felted. After the Botany laps unfeltable tops I had, I was a bit concerned. I’ve taken some wools from ‘Goody Bags’ and Botany lap waste in before now, so worried there might have been other unfeltables that got mixed up. My sample turned out alright though. I used some Viscose and Bamboo staple fibre on it:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt did get me wondering how much we automatically alter our techniques when using different wool breeds or mixes etc. I always think I felt the same no matter what I use or make, but maybe there’s a slight difference in pressure, or maybe it’s a matter of just felting longer, I honestly don’t know, but I’m going to be more conscious of what I do from now on!
We thought we’d have a go at needle felting before the holidays, so I made a little sample while testing out some fibres:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI didn’t get a photo of anyone else’s, and I don’t often do ‘figurative’ needle felting, it’s usually very abstract, which is why my sheep needs a bit more work! The body is alright though, I used some locks Zara sent me 🙂

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd that light green bit is a bush, not a weird tail!

Using Black and White Viscose together

Using Black and White Viscose together

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I think most of the natural wool and fibre panels I’ve posted about have used one breed of wool and one fibre. I did post about Humbug (black and white striped) Jacob about a month ago, and I’d used both black and white viscose top with that. This first piece is light grey Swaledale, it’s mostly a creamy white with light and dark grey flecks which give it the light grey appearance. I blended some black and viscose tops by hand and laid them on top of the Swaledale:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe overall appearance of the blend is a dark grey, with white streaks:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe separate colours are a bit more obvious close up, I like the way the fibres appear to sit just on the surface, lightly tangled with the Swaledale fibre.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is a bit closer and slightly at an angle, showing where the fibre is a little bit thicker, I like the twists and waves.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis next piece is one of my favourites, it’s English 56s with Angora locks. I don’t know if there’s a proper name for older goat locks, I’ve heard ‘yearling’ used, but I don’t know how old the goat was these are from. They are a lot thicker and generally less soft and more wavy than curly kid mohair. I loosely combed the locks through a handcarder with either black or white viscose, to blend with the locks. I laid them out loosely alternating each row: black, white; white, black etc.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAn angled shot:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA close up where the locks were felted in more:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd a supermacro of course:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADo you prefer combinations of wool and fibres which have lots of character and texture or do your prefer the more softer effects of fibres closely felted to the surface of a smoother wool?

Cat Cave

Cat Cave

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I should be making more scarves but I wasn’t in the mood so I decide to do a cat cave.  I wanted to make one that looked like a pebble. I used some gray I had on hand. I have no idea what it is but it felt like a medium wool.  I put a paw print on before covering the bottom with the resist,

paw print

I add a spot on the top so I know where to cut the whole later. I rubbed it and rolled it and then into the dryer for a tumble.

wool coming through the cover You can see how the wool migrates through the cover when it comes out of the dryer.  I cut the hole and rolled it up the other way and back in to the dryer. Next I rolled it on a car floor mat. It has nice ridges but they are flexible. I roll it back and forth on the mat. I do not rub it on the ridges. It would got to hard on the surface.

 

 

shrinkage paw print finished

I am not sure its hard enough now that it’s dry. I my wet it down and give it a trip through the front load washer. If it works out I will see if I can pass the jury to get into the Shelter Exhibition. http://tangledfiberartscollective.wordpress.com/calls-for-entries/

 

 

 

 

More Natural Wools and Fibres

More Natural Wools and Fibres

Comments 10 comments

Another couple of natural wool and natural fibre combinations I’ve used recently are Oatmeal Bluefaced Leicester with Ingeo top, and Humbug Jacob Tops with black and white Bamboo tops.

Humbug Jacob tops are a stripey blend of black and white Jacob wool tops. Just on its own it produces a nice result, but I thought I’d try using strips of black and white bamboo tops for effect. Both bamboos are really soft, white bamboo looks silky, but black bamboo is fluffy and more like fluffy cat fur. They felt quite differently too, the white keeps its silkiness and shines really nicely, and the black almost fades into the background, staying very matt.

Ingeo is made from corn, it is soft and shiny and smells faintly of caramel 🙂 I decided to cover the whole piece with Ingeo as it has such a lovely sheen. This was another fibre which shone even in dim light. The effect after drying is gorgeous, Ingeo is such a nice silky fibre and went really well with the Oatmeal Bluefaced Leicester. I think this combination would make a lovely soft and shiny scarf.

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