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Wet felting
Wet Felting
This is a really fun craft to do and not as messy as you think it might be. This is where the felt is created from scratch. It is the traditional way of felting. You use individual fibres of wool which is called wool roving. Roving is where the wool has been combed into long fibres and therefore removing all the short fibres that are not wanted. This leaves them smooth and lying parallel.
This roving is gently pulled to get wispy sections of about there inches long which are laid down as a flat sheet all facing the same way. This is then repeated laying the sections of roving on top of the previous ones but laying them in the opposite direction, at a right angle. Several of these layers are added, each one lying in the opposite direction.
Warm soapy water is then added to the fibres. It needs to be soapy because the soap acts as a lubricant and helps the water to be taken into the surface of the wool. It being warm soap also helps the fibres to swell up. The way the surface of the wool fibres is constructed allows it to stick together. The more friction you add the stronger that bond. To get the friction you can either use a bamboo mat or bubble wrap, something that isn’t going to stick to your piece of felt. This is laid underneath and on top of your fibre sandwich. You then need to rub over this and roll it causing the necessary friction.
It is important to remember that the fibres shrink as they bond together so the final piece of felt you get is considerably smaller than the area you laid the fibres out on.
Once your piece is totally felted you need to run it under cold water to remove all of the soap. Then roll it in a dry towel and leave to air dry.
There are lots if different types of wool fibres that you can use for wet felting. It is readily available from numerous sources. These come in different colours and textures allowing you to build up your felt as a piece of artwork in itself.
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