Texture

A while ago Marilyn, from the Felting and Fibre Studio sent me some fibres, one of them being some Domestic 56s wool tops, I tried them out on a texturey piece I made, mostly for the base, but also to add some texture between the base and top layer of 18.5 mic Merino. I liked the way it felted, similar to our English 56s.

I also used some Bluefaced Leicester Noil between the 2 layers. This is lower across the surface:

Some of the embellishment fibres I used were soy staple fibre, viscose and flax:

I also used milk and bamboo.

This photo taken from above looks strange, whichever way I rotate it, it always looks upside down!

Don't forget if you're around Manchester next Sunday, Victoria Baths on Hathersage road has a craft fair, with 50 stalls. I'll be there as long as a wheel doesn't fall off my trolley between now and then :)

I'm Doing a Craft Fair

I've only done one little fair before, but I did enjoy it, so I'm really looking forward to doing this one. It is in Sunday 6th July 2014 at Victoria Baths on Hathersage Road, Manchester. Not far from Manchester Royal Infirmary. Doors Open at 12 noon until 4pm, and it costs £2.50 or £3 with Gift Aid. There are 50 stalls, so there's sure to be something for everyone. If I haven't got there first ;)

Here's the back of the flyer

I'll see you there :)

Corriedale and Ingeo

I like Ingeo, it's different to many of the other embellishment fibres, it isn't particularly shiny, but does have a sheen. There's a nice soft, almost 'fluffy' look and feel to it too, but it isn't fluffy or hairy, if that makes sense? :)

 Here's a closer view:

This is a supermacro:

And this is a supermacro of an area where the fibres were laid out more thickly:

I liked the way it worked with the dark brown Corriedale tops.

Natural Wools and Embellishment Fibre Panels 2

A couple more natural wool felt and embellishment fibre panels. This first one is Brown Finnish again, this time with a band of hemp fibre:

A close up:

This next felt panel is made from Humbug (stripes of black and white) Jacob top and white and black viscose tops:

Straight on shot:

Close up:

Do you like to try different breeds of wool for felting? Do you have a favourite or ones you think are better suited to particular projects? How about embellishment fibres, do you have any favourites?

Natural Wools and Embellishment Fibre Panels

I think I might have to change my plans a little bit, and make some different sized templates for my panels. Quite a few of the wools I've got have a very long staple length, much bigger than my current template. And the varying shrinkage rates make the panels similar but not quite the same, so I think a variety of squares and rectangles might work out better to piece together in the end. This is Black Jacob wool tops and Soy bean staple fibre.

This is a close up of the soy fibre:

The colours of Brown Finnish wool tops and flax work together nicely:

A close up showing more detail of the flax:

Natural Wools and Fibres

You might have seen my post on the Felting and Fiber Forum last week about a wall hanging I made using natural coloured wool tops from many different wool breeds and some different embellishment fibres. Someone usually asks, so this time I've measured :) It's 30 inches long and 10 inches wide.

This is the bottom end, some of the wools and fibres are: Bluefaced Leicester tops and noil, Humbug Jacob, Black Jacob tops and noil, Lincoln, Gotland, flax, hemp, soy top, milk top and viscose.

This is a close up of the Soy top and Lincoln tops.

And this is Viscose tops on Zwartble with some Ingeo to the side.

As much as I love colours of dyed Merino or the textures of a nuno felted silk or shiny organza, I really love the variation of colours and textures you get with different combinations of natural wools and embellishment fibres. For as long as I've had natural wool tops and embellishment fibres I've been making various experimental pieces of felt with them, some just flat wet-felted, some combined with other techniques for a variety of surface designs or sculptural effects. When I got my recent World of Wool order and a few more breeds to try, I thought I'd also start to make a variety of small panels with the intention of maybe combining them into one large wall hanging some day. This is a panel I made using Manx Loaghtan wool tops and Bamboo staple fibre:

This is an angled photo of the panel I made with Grey Herdick wool tops and Hemp fibre:

I'll post more photos of other panels that I make with different wools and fibres. This last piece is something I made alongside the top stripey piece:

The Winner of the Heidi Feathers giveaway has been announced on the Felting and Fiber Studio site today, so if you entered, go and check if you won!

Trying Out Commercial Prefelt

A couple of weeks ago, Zoe from Heidi Feathers kindly sent me some prefelt samples to try out. I don't have a massive amount of experience with prefelt, I've made my own a few times for specific projects, and have tried a couple of thicknesses of plain white Merino prefelt as a base for a few things. We've talked about commercial prefelt on the forum a few times, wondering things like whether it keeps its shape well, is it thick enough to use for surface design, etc. I had no idea so I was looking forward to trying it out.
For the first piece I made, I used a couple of layers of Merino tops, then did a very basic 'weave' using strips of prefelt, silk  and cotton gauze:

I didn't do anything to the prefelt pieces, just laid them out. As you can see, the silk didn't attach to the prefelt in a couple of places because it is quite firm and there aren't any visible loose fibres.

In my opinion this is definitely a good thing, I'd much prefer a prefelt to be firm with definition, and for using with fabrics which might not attach easily, you can rough up the prefelt where you need it, using an old toothbrush or wire dog brush. For the next piece I tried out, I used the same 'mirror' idea from the Felting and Fiber Studio Challenge and repeated patterns either side of an imaginary line across the centre of the piece. I started with two layers of Merino for this too, then just cut a variety of oblongs, triangles and squares in matching pairs and added them to the top in a random reflective design.

I really liked the way this turned out. It gave me confidence that a more complicated pattern would work well, keep the defined edges and shapes without distorting.

The last piece I tried was just a little test using some scrap pieces. Left to right: Some geometric shapes; a piece that I rolled between wet hands; a piece I dampened slightly and coiled; a piece I twisted with some Merino top; a piece I twisted on its own; some very thin off cuts I laid out or twisted and another prefelt/Merino top twist.

I took this on an angle so you can see  there is some thickness to the shapes while still firmly attached.

Thanks a lot to Heidi Feathers for the prefelt! Heidi Feathers are today's Meet The Supplier guests on The Felting and Fiber Studio, and have a generous giveaway of a Complete Wet Felting Kit!

To enter, just leave a comment on the post there, then check back on the 5th June to see if you've won. Recipients of the prize must be in the UK because it is such a big prize and postage costs will be very high, but you can enter from anywhere in the world :)