Felt Rainbow and Yak Sample

In my last post, I had a photo of a  rainbow piece I'd laid out for felting, I reworked the green and yellow part a little bit then felted it.

I'd used a top layer of drum carded batts I'd made from texturey wool, so the surface has an interesting texture:

Supermacro showing one of the wool locks:

I got a World of Wool order last week. One of the things I ordered was de-haired Yak fibre. A while ago, Marilyn sent me some Yak fibre to try and I loved it before I even felted it, it was so soft! After felting it, I knew I had to get enough to make a scarf, so ordered some. That was before I spent three hours on my knees making a scarf and vowing never again! :)  I realised a few days ago though, I have an old door I can put over my table, which should do for scarf making until I find something better. So, I thought I should make a sample to work out shrinkage and see if my Yak feels as good as Marilyns. I laid out two fine layers, which is not as easy as laying out Merino. I added some of Marilyn's fibre as surface decoration:

Sorry the pictures aren't great again, but this is it after felting. I haven't worked out the shrinkage rate yet (I had accounts to do this week and have had enough of maths!) but there wasn't much, it started out 20cm x 66cm and ended up 18.5 x 61.5cm. This is after felting:

And this is a slightly better photo of it close up.

My girlfriend (who has never felted in her life, but has no idea how much useless felting info she has absorbed) said the way it felted in soft ripples reminded her of Karakul. (just the felt, not the slaughtered/skinned lambskin hats/coats) In case you've missed it, The Felting and Fiber Studio site is having 3rd birthday celebration posts all week, with all 4 of us hosting giveaways.

Ruth's post was 1st, you have until the 24th if you'd like to win a copy of her book 'The Complete Photo Guide to Felting' . Just leave a comment on her post via this link: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/11/17/happy-birthday-give-away-1/

Ann is giving away one of her Workshops in a bag - full instructions and everything you need to make a nuno felt bracelet. You have until the 25th to enter by leaving a comment on the post: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/11/19/happy-birthday-giveaway-2/

I'll be doing my giveaway tomorrow, and Marilyn will be doing hers two days later :)