The magic of felting is back. I've had some projects in the pipeline for a while, but I think I might have been putting off the actual felting part - it's time-consuming and seemed like so much work. It always takes two sessions (over several hours) to get it done. I do several pieces at once though.
This time I tried an amendment to my hand-felting technique. Basically it's a bucket of very hot water with lots of sudsy woolwash, and lots of agitation, assisted by a ridged wooden soapdish (imagine a mini washboard) and rubber gloves. I used to stop every now and then to rinse the piece under cold tap water, as I suspected the shocks of hot then cold temperatures would help the felting along. The difference this time is I have gotten serious about the cold rinses, using a second bucket with cold water and ICE CUBES, and switching much more often. It really seems to have speeded up the process considerably.
And oh, the resulting felted fabric is soooo lovely and squishy I just wanted to keep making more of it. More projects than I can keep up with are now popping into my head.
There was a slight setback when I realised, after ignoring many hints of the ugly truth, and unfortunately way too much stockpiling, that the new Lincraft 'Cosy Wool' really does not felt. The old version was marvellous. I was kidding myself that it was just some colours that didn't work...but Taph, you were right.
Luckily, the new Big W in Civic, while it stocks hardly any wool at the moment, does have many colours of Panda Carnival, which felts like a dream. Seems like every other day I pop in for another colour. I am loving those self-service checkouts.
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4 comments:
I hope I get to see what you've been creating. And Big W! - well that's good news about their wool. I'd never explored it before and it is a bit of a treasure trove. A friend has just reminded me to check out the buttons there.....
So sorry I was right about the Cozy. What a bummer. Glad you're getting good results out of some other fibre, though.
I love felting. I've hardly done any, but what I've done gave some mixed results that mean I will certainly be trying it again. Pity about the Lincraft stockpile....
Ah, I'm already coming up with vague throw rug / blanket plans for the dud Lincraft cosy wool - it's actually probably nicer in its unfelted state than the old version was - a bit smoother. Still wouldn't make a garment with it!
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