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Using My Prefelt

Using My Prefelt

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Having made the prefelt without needles or water it was time to try using it. here’s the post about doing that: trying-out-a-new-way-of-making-prefelt/ I cut a small square ( 2.25 by 3.75 inches)  and added some cut bits to the top.

Even though as a whole piece, it had been very sturdy, The cut pieces seemed fragile. I wondered if it was because they were small. I decided to try a bigger piece( 3.5 x4 inches). I folded a smaller piece to cut a flower shape and popped it onto the prefelt square

I thought I should try it on a loose wool layout.  I laid out 2 good layers of wool and added some prefelt to the top (4.5×7.5 inches).

I put them on some plastic on a rubbery rolling mat. I did some rubbing but not a lot as I prefer rolling. I had started to wet it when I remembered to take a picture.

This is after one set of rolls, you can see they already look integrated. the small piece looks like the shapes have really blurred.

 

I rolled it twice more, no more than 50 rolled back and forth each time.

I don’t think it looks very different. The prefelt defiantly incorporated into the prefelt backing and loose wool backing.

Here are the prefelt on prefelt samples after drying

 

the small pieces lost all semblance of shape. I think they were just too small. the bigger piece faired much better. There was almost no visible migration of fibres on these, even on the back.

The loos wool worked well the shapes stayed better even the smaller ones. They are visibly thicker, a little puffy. I don’t see any migration of the background up through prefelt.

On the back, you can see the outlines of the shapes. the shorter cut fibres of the edge migrating. I have noticed this with regular needled or wet felted prefelt too.

None of these pieces were properly fulled. They have just begun to shrink. The migration may have been more on both sides and with both backgrounds if they were properly fulled but I ran out of time to do that if they were going to be dry for final pictures.

All in all, I would say it’s a faster and easier way to make prefelt than needling or wet felting. I don’t think it would work for cutting intricate designs but they just maybe my bad cutting. I don’t think the commercial stuff works well for intricate things either.

I did try peeling the layers like you can with the thicker prefelt.  It worked ok in the thicker parts but wouldn’t come apart at the thinner edge. A more consistent layout might solve that problem.

Dimensional Felting with Prefelt

Dimensional Felting with Prefelt

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I tried another experiment with dimensional felting with prefelt. You can see my other experiments here and here. This one I decided to use an already made prefelt and then just cut it to fit the shape.

I started with the resist shape shown above. I covered the resist with a thin layer of red wool. I laid the wool so that it wrapped around the long edge of the resist.

I then cut out the prefelt to fit the resist shape. I think I would have preferred making the prefelt over the same shaped resist as the edges and curves had to be cut more than I wanted and there were more edges to deal with when felting. Next time, I also would make the center prefelt shape a bit shorter and the end pieces longer.

I then rubbed and rubbed to get the red and the brown wool to felt together and to felt the edges down carefully. I then cut out the resist along the red edge and finished felting and fulling.

And here’s he final shape that I ended up with. The colors in the above photos are more true than the in process photos. It is definitely red as opposed to orange. These experiments have been a fun learning process. I have found the most important thing to remember is to make the prefelt thick, perhaps 3-4 times thicker than the underlying support wool layer. Now to figure out some more shapes that will be interesting to try.

Influencing Shape with Fiber Layout and Prefelt

Influencing Shape with Fiber Layout and Prefelt

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I am continuing with my experiments with how fiber layout and prefelt effect the shape of three dimensional wet felt. I decided to combine two of the things that I had tried before.

The first was the circular layout that I showed you in this post. The cone above was made with the same circular layout. I used orange wool and laid it in a circular pattern to make a small circle. Then I used an idea from Kim Winter of Flextiles which she showed in this post. I cut up some old felt into pieces and made sure the back fibers were roughed up.

Here’s the layout. There is a resist under the circle but I didn’t use it. It was just to get the circular shape easily. I removed it before felting. I then got so involved in working on the piece that I forgot to take any photos until I was finished. But I wet this down, turned it upside down and worked from the back side for quite a while rubbing and making sure that the yellow felt pieces were attaching. It actually worked better than I thought it would and the old felt attached right down to the orange wool. Thanks for the tip Kim!

Here is the result. When I was felting and fulling this piece, I kept working around in a circle so that the orange wool would shrink into a cone shape. With the addition of the yellow felt, the shape was definitely effected by the radiating felt shapes. It turned into a squash blossom all by itself! The formation of the 3D shape developed with minimal effort and shaping on my part.

Since it looked so much like a squash blossom, I added it to my squash pod from last week. They went together like I had planned it from the beginning. Of course if I had planned it, I don’t think they would have worked so well, but cheers for happy accidents.

2nd quarter challenge started

2nd quarter challenge started

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I finally pieced a picture for my second quarter challenge piece. If you remember is it seascape this quarter. this is the picture I chose.

I found it on the internet, where you find everything. It should be ok as I aske for free to use pictures.

I started with a piece of prefelt a little bigger than a piece of paper, with the idea it would shrink to an to be the size of a piece of paper. And for a change I have a piece the right size.  It is a mazing what some planning can do for you. You would think I would learn.

Next I layered some more prefelt to make the basic shapes  in the picture. the mottled piece at the front was dyed by a friend.

That is v

That looks very boring and flat so now it has to be brought to life. I added some silk hanky scraps to the water to give it some depth and movement.

Then I added the surf using throwsters waste.

And lastly I added some foliage and flowers

Now it is all ready for wetting down, I plan to add the wooden path to the beach later. I am not sure I have the right colour for the wool. what colour is that anyway?

That is as far I am now. more next time.

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