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Handmade felt is very
simple and "magic". Feltmaking is a very
ancient craft, and very versatile too.
Feltmaking is based on basic simple principles: wool is
in fact hair covered in small "scales". When soaked
in warm water, the hairs swell and the scales open.
In the preparation stage of feltmaking, the wool is layered
in different directions, and once the scales are open, the
fibers can interlock with each other with friction. During
the felting process, the more friction, the tighter the
felt, hence the shrinkage. ( about 1/3 but it could surprise
you and shrink even more).
The wool used nowadays is cleaned, dyed and carded into
rovings ( long ribbon of wool, soft and light) but
the same process applies with raw wool- although it still
needs cleaning as it is very oily.
For making simple items such
as felt mats, felt pictures or a felt panel, just follow
these simple steps:
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Tools
Here are the tools you will
need for making felt:
An old towel to protect your table,
A bamboo mat, the sort you put on a window is fine,
A piece of bubble wrap to increase the friction,
A piece of curtain netting, nylon, not cotton
Warm water, soap, a rolling pin or piece of tube,
Wool
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To
start, take your wool rover and hold it firmly at one end.
Hold the top fibres and pull gently- a tuft (layer) of the
natural lenght of the hair will come apart. |
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On
your bubble wrap, lay down your wool, in a row, making sure
all the hair are going in the same direction - here,
vertically.
Continue until you have
the desired size, bearing in mind that the finished piece
will have shrunk by about 1/3. |
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Once
the first layer finished, carry on with another layer, this
time with the fibres running horizontally.
Cover the entire area
again. If you want a thin piece, this is where you stop, otherwise
you can carry on adding layers of wool, always at a 90 degree
angle from the previous layer, so that the scales on the hairs
may interlock. |
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On the final layer you can
add decoration.
To protect the decoration
and avoid the wool from moving, cover it with the net.
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Wet
thoroughly with soapy warm water, making sure you start in
the middle and push the water through all the layers up to
the sides. You can use ordinary soap, kind on your hands-
not a ph neutral soap though as you need the
acidity to react with the wool for the felting process to
occur. |
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Once
the wool is wet, you can start rolling, wrapping the wool
and the bubble wrap on the rolling pin, and roll it up and
down around 50 times, so that the friction of the wool against
the bubble wrap produces felt. |
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After
rolling 50 times, unroll the felt, pick it up and give it
a quarter turn to your right, and start rolling again, as
in step 7.
Unroll and the felt should be able to separate from the net
and hold together like a loose fabric. This is called a pre-felt
or the soft felt stage. |
**You can stop at this stage if
you want, and rinse your pre-felt in warm and cold water alternately,
squeeze the water out and let it to dry flat, so that you can
use it later for another project. For example to cut out shapes
and decorate your next project, as in step 5. Using prefelts will
allow you to cut sharper shapes, and get more intricate designs,
and they will keep together better.
Otherwise, to finish the felting process, just carry on.**
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To finish your
felt, you will need to keep your fibres wet ans soapy and
roll the pre-felt for another 5 to 10 minutes, but it could
be for much much longer for thicker layers.
Remember to roll all the
sides, and to turn the pre-felt on the other side as well,
as you do want an even felting shrinkage. Warm water works
best at this stage, and if you want to speed the process,
use hot water.
The final stage is called fulling the felt, and it
means to shock it in some way by either throwing it -yes,
on the floor or the bath tub- or pounding it with a wooden
mallet.
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You will notice
a change of appearance and size in your felt, and it will
feel thicker as well as it shrinks. Once shrunk, felt is very
strong.
You will have to finish
by rinsing in hot and cold water alternatively - et voilà!
Let it dry naturally. You can even iron it whilst damp to
smooth the fibres together. |
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