blooming felt!
Good grief, I have been having a nightmare with making new felt for corsages. I have had a couple of requests, all for the pink ones I made a while ago. Now at that point I was using a different wool roving, not sure where from, but it felted really nicely, with no bother!
Well a while ago I went to Fibrecrafts and bought a kilo of fibre, and well, so far, everytime I have used fibre from it to make nice felt for the corsages it has been a nightmare.
Basically I don’t know if it is me, or if it is the rovings. It won’t felt, or should I say I think I have felted it, then it comes apart when I cut it. Now normally when I make an art piece it is not so important, but it has to do it properly because I have to be able to cut it. Now has anyone else had this problem?
Please let me know! I think maybe I’m making the layers too thick, but if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
17th December 2006 @ 3:04 am
sounds like an issue I had with some icelandic wool. It was very coarse and difficult. Somewhere I read it had something to do with it having an additional coating or something like that. I really think it comes down to genetics assuming nothing changed in the actual processing.
17th December 2006 @ 7:51 pm
have you tried sticking it in the washing machine on 40′ with the jeans? put it in a pillow case if you’re worried about it falling apart – this works for me
19th December 2006 @ 12:06 am
The fleece can vary even from sheep to sheep in the same breed, like human hair does. Some of the dying process also ‘damages’ the fleece, stripping the hair scales off that normally help the fulling process. The dying process can overheat the fleece, taking off the scales. Also I generally find various colour dyes play up more than others, especially pink or yellow.
The chuck it in the washing machine tip is a good one, I sometimes put a ‘failed’ piece into a stocking and something interesting comes out the other end!