Still not finished. I'm knackered. After rolling till my arms nearly dropped off and my forearms were red raw yesterday I had to give up but went back to it this morning. The first photos show the wool and silk all laid out and wet down before the felting began. The next photo shows the hat pretty well shrunk with the template held up behind to show how much. I'm guessing it has shrunk by 40 to 50%. I think I had about 9 or 10 layers in this hat. I wanted it to have more integral strength than the last big hat I did which relies on stiffening product to keep it's shape.
The fibre I used for most of the layers is a mystery roving someone gave me in a clean out. It was not too coarse but had alot of loft so I thought it may be good for something sculptural. I used merino for the final 3 layers with silk top and fine spun wool.
Next step is to shape and dry it. I will still have to stiffen it but I hope it will mostly hold it's own shape. I will be putting more loose silk around the cocoon after it is dry.
Then onto the moth!
WHat a beautiful color. THat was a lot of shrinking. don't you think sometimes...aaaah.. a rolling machine! ahahaha or a few extra arms to take turns with!
ReplyDeleteI so love seeing the process Pam! This looks like its going to be an awesomely funkytastic art/hat!
ReplyDeleteHi Florcita and Vicky. A felting machine would be great but no good for this three d stuff. I do like the idea of a team though.
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful color&a funky form!
ReplyDelete:-) I´m so often thinking about teamwork for this last step-milling/fulling?-(don´t know the word in english)when the arms nearly fall off..
Yes, it's amazing how much wool can be shrunk with fulling - and also how much (hand)energy it takes!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the finished piece. A felting circle sounds nice so everyone could take turns resting their arms.
ReplyDelete