Wet Felting Question

[zoebird]

Might belong in crafts, but. . .

i was wondering what the wet felting process is if you do not use bubble wrap?

every tutorial that i can find online says you have to do it on bubble wrap. we are low plastics here, and are moving toward plastic-free, and i do not want to introduce bubble wrap into the home. besides which, the baby (ok, 2 yr old) will want to pop the bubbles.

so far, i have some simple cloth ties and sushi mats for the fulling, and i have wool roving (and needles coming too for the needle felting) on the way. a friend of mine is giving me some netting/toile, but i do not want to use bubble wrap.

alternatives?

[mamaUK]

An old fashioned wash board would work really well.
♥

[mamaUK]

If you scroll down here you can see one in Frontier Dreams beautiful tutorial:
http://rhythmofthehome.com/archives/...root-children/

I have actually been wet felting this afternoon. I am in the process of making a green egg, but i found it quite difficult!

[zoebird]

she used bubble wrap too! LOL

i found a kit that has a wooden board (but that board is expensive), and i have seen where people just use toile and cookie sheets/baking dishes, so i think that i can just use toile on both sides to create the agitation, and just do it on the counter top.

those eggs look cool.

[zoebird]

ok, ok ok ok.

i'm so excited, as my materials should arrive on Monday, and so i can start felting then. I thought i would teach hawk, so that he can felt up some rocks while i make seasonal banners.

i ordered some natural fibers (no dye), and also a bunch of colors that they divide out by season, plus *fiesta* which is just a vibrant mix of colors.

i would like to make seasonal banners for our house, and also as a gift for the woman at our playgroup. then, i'll start on some christmas gifts.

i want to make hats, and let me show you this delightful girl, Oli (ohh-lee), who is just a joy to watch felt. http://www.bigredhat.com/index-art.html

seriously, just about as delightful as can be.

[Carhootel]

I love to wet felt and have never used bubble wrap - I usually just use my hands or I use a sushi roller

[zoebird]

cool. it just seemed ubiquitous. i was like "felting existed before bubble wrap!"

[mamaUK]

Originally Posted by zoebird

she used bubble wrap too! LOL


.

If you scroll down the link you can see that as well as the bubble wrap she pictures a cute little wash board too!

[mamaUK]

Originally Posted by zoebird

ok, ok ok ok.

i'm so excited, as my materials should arrive on Monday, and so i can start felting then. I thought i would teach hawk, so that he can felt up some rocks while i make seasonal banners.

i ordered some natural fibers (no dye), and also a bunch of colors that they divide out by season, plus *fiesta* which is just a vibrant mix of colors.

i would like to make seasonal banners for our house, and also as a gift for the woman at our playgroup. then, i'll start on some christmas gifts.

i want to make hats, and let me show you this delightful girl, Oli (ohh-lee), who is just a joy to watch felt. http://www.bigredhat.com/index-art.html

seriously, just about as delightful as can be.

OK , are you going to tease me or are you going to show me photos of what you felt? I can't wait to see how you get on! My felt egg is drying right now, I can't wait until it is dry so I can sew details onto it. I ended up doing what Nicole suggested, and finishing off the felting process by putting in the the foot of a stocking tied up and washing it on a 40 degree wash. 40 degrees is hand hot, do you think that was hot enough?

[zoebird]

no clue if it was or not.

i did see the wash board, too, but i was like 'darn that bubble wrap!!!!'

anyway, i will take pictures. right now, i'm making loose sketches of what i want to do (for the banners), for myself and for the playgroup lady. the play group one is easy.

essentially, one for each season, centered around a tree. we sing songs around a tree, and the name of the group is plum tree. so, the tree in four seasons: spring--pink flowers over the plum tree; summer--green leaves and heart shaped plums; autumn--orange and yellow leaves falling; winter--no leaves. i thought i would do an image of her (simple shapes) and some children "around" the tree, since we sing a song about "here we go round the magnolia tree" which is in the garden, and we do go around it.

anyway, i have some sketches, i figure i will wet felt the backgrounds: spring--bright green grass, blue sky, and some white-silver clouds; summer, bright blue sky, sun, no clouds, darker green grasses; autumn--soft brown earth with some golds, softer blue sky and clouds; winter-- grey sky and brown earth. then needle felt everything else onto those backgrounds. might just end up being the tree, though.

i'm thinking that i will depict the wind in winter with either some hand stitching or needle felting of long swirls in the sky.

so, that's the idea for the play group.

for my sister's baby (due end of Nov), they are doing a purple/cream colored room, and since he is to be born in winter, i was thinking of doing a night time scene. purple for the background, white and lavender 'snow' and a silver-white and lavender "tree" (artistic tree). not sure what the next element will be, but there will be some third element beyond the background and the tree.

and i want to do the banners for myself, but haven't decided on a design yet. i'm thinking birds and trees/flowers of NZ, but we shall see.

[honeybunmom]

You can also use wooden blinds . . . or the wooden placemat-type-thingy used to roll sushi.

[RollerCoasterMama]

What they all said...plus...I've never used anything but hands, a little soap and hot water. Start very gently. VERY gently. Press the wool and just vibrate your hands gently. When it starts to stick together you can start wiggling your hands a bit more. It takes a while to get to the rubbing stage.

Check your local library. There are a number of nice books about felting!

Oh! Another way to make just a flat sheet of felt is to do it in a bar pan.

It's really not too hard. I've made several pairs of slippers over the years. 3-D stuff is definitely harder because you're working with a seam that needs to be strong and invisible. But wool is nice and forgiving! And you can combine wet and needle-felted! So if you find yourself with an oops, it's not too hard to needle-felt it later.

Start small to practice! Have fun! And experiment!!!

Oh! And wool shrinks in the direction you rub it. Up and down and it gets shorter. Side-to-side and it gets narrower.

[zoebird]

cool.

i actually was thinking of doing a wool felted "rug" for our living room. I know that sounds huge BUT, i'm using an old army surplus blanket. i found one that is navy at the surplus store, and it's all wool. i thought i would shrink it down, and then needle felt my pattern into it. i was also thinking about grabbing the other colors that they had (grey, olive, and sand) and doing a rug for each season.

look, i'm always ambitious. i don' tknow if that's a flaw.

[reducereuserecycle]

i use my hands only. i bought a washboard and have never noticed it working any better than my hands...a waste of money.