Wet Felting

Day 35 - Wet Felting

Every now and again there are things I see that I just fancy having a go at - wet felting was one of them.  All you need is bubble wrap, netting, bamboo mat, soap and roving.  Roving is unspun wool and I got mine from Hobbycraft and from a local fabric and craft shop called Abakhan. I suppose the outlay cost for the roving was about £1.50 per colour and I've used six.  Five of these came in a multipack so I picked a pack which I felt would lend itself best to an Easter daffodil theme.


To set up I've put a binbag under where I'll be working, placed the bamboo mat on top and then the bubble wrap on top of the mat. I've started by making the blue and green background.  To do this you tear off strips of roving and lie them on top of the bubble wrap.  When you've done one layer you go over with another layer in the other direction. You can build up three or four layers. To add more interest to the background I've then added in different shades of green and black. I found some shiny feathery blue wool which I've cut up and layered into the sky.  Some people use this technique to make unique sheets of felt which can then be made into other items.  I suppose you could add all sorts of bits to the roving. Another Easter idea has come to me using the colours I've got and feathers!

Once I was happy with the background I placed the netting over the top and used a weak soapy (washing up) solution to wet the roving underneath while flattening it down. 

I then removed the netting and started on the daffodils.  To make the stems and leaves I tore off some roving and twisted or shaped it a little before pressing them on top of the background.  The stems and leaves should soak up some of the excess water from making the background, if not you can add a little more to hold them in place.  To make the daffodils, I've used exactly the same idea, again using a little more soap solution to hold them in place. 











For the daffodil trumpet, I remembered the fluffy yellow wool I'd used to knit the Easter chick and mixed it into a ball of roving before putting it in place on the picture. Now, if I was making a piece of felt to be used for something else I'd have to make everything flat but for a picture I'd like a little bit more texture so I've only pressed the trumpet down in the middle so that the edges will hopefully stand out.

To complete the felting process I put the netting back over the whole picture and then gently rubbed a bar of soap in a circular motion all over for a few minutes. You have to lift the netting every now and again to stop the fibres from sticking to it. Once the felt seems to be really holding together you can lift it off the bubble wrap, put it back down on the bamboo mat and then roll the wet felting up in the mat.  Having placed elastic bands on the ends of the mats I've squeezed out any excess water before starting to roll the mat backwards and forwards for a minute. Once rolled in one direction you unroll the mat, turn the picture round and roll in the other direction. Ideally the picture should fit in your mat!

Here's the picture soaped and rolled

Now the part I was dreading.......Having rolled the felt in the mat and feeling confident that it's holding together, the felt needs to be rinsed in tepid water to remove the soap.  As I've made quite a large picture it was hard to hold and I was very nervous of the whole thing falling apart.  Rather than putting the whole picture in the water I decided to dip the felt bit by bit. Luckily it all held together - hurrah! I rolled it in a towel, again to squeeze out some water and it is now drying.  Later today I will embellish it somehow.  There are a few ways to display it either mounting on a canvas, hanging it straight on the wall or if I'm stitching on it I can use back it with canvas before hanging it.

Looking at the picture again I felt there were a few parts around the edges which weren't truly felted together, I think because they weren't in the mat. So I slightly re-soaped the picture and rolled it again.  This time the picture knitted together a little tighter and shrunk a little so it fit better in the mat.

Once it had dried off I decided to stitch the outline of the daffodil, stems and leaves using the machine and placing a large piece of calico behind it.  I also stitch some extra into the sky to hold it all together.  I still don't know how I'm going to display this! 

I'm pretty pleased with the finished piece 
Finished size is approx 38cmx27cm! 

Update: In fact I was so pleased with the result that I made a miniature version of this as a birthday card for my mum!