Feltmaking With Norwegian Wool
Norwegian Wool C1 and C1/Pels blends are ideal for wet and dry felting and delicate pieces of artwork, pictures, bags, shoes, vessels and other moulded shapes can be created using one or other of the techniques. The different colours can be used as they are and will stay bright, sharp and "unmuddied" or they can be combined to create new and subtle, or not so subtle shades. We supply Norwegian Wool as batts (carded fleece).
For wet felting there are different ways of ‘laying out’:
- by pulling small tufts of the carded fleece and laying it down in rows.
- by holding the fleece in one hand close to the table and, using the thumb of the other hand, holding small bits of the fleece firmly on the table and pulling the fleece away leaving a small pinch on the table.
- laying the batt out as it is.
It is quite a “lofty” wool and I have found that it requires quite a lot of soapy water during the ‘wetting’ process. ‘Setting’ is straightforward but, as it can tend to “spread” it’s a good idea to rub in a circular motion from the outside in to the centre to minimise this. Norwegian wool half-felts very quickly. It can be rolled, kneaded etc to ‘harden’ as much as needed.
Dry ‘needle’ felting Norwegian wool means the wool is pierced frequently with felting needles and the tiny notches of the needle move the wool fibres inwards and together. This process is repeated until the wool is felted firmly, beginning with a large needle for the coarse felting and progressing to a medium needle. A fine needle is for the surface and finishing off. To reduce the size of the wool or to mould shapes use the needle repeatedly in the same spot. To remove any irregularities and to finish off the surface use a fine needle and insert it at an angle in the outermost layer.
Making Basic Felt
There are many ways of making felt. This is one method that is generally successful but try experimenting with different techniques.
Equipment
- Norwegian wool
- Towel
- Bubblewrap/drawer liner – twice the size of the felt you want to make. I use drawer liner as it can be reused many more times than bubblewrap.
- Net curtain/thin plastic
- Warm soapy water (olive oil soap or wool wash)
Procedure
Lay towel out and place piece of bubblewrap(bubble-side up )/drawer liner on top.
Laying out
Pull off strands of fleece and lay in slightly overlapping rows to create a rectangular base layer. Make sure you only cover half the bubblewrap/drawer liner.
Repeat and lay second layer at 90degrees. For a thicker fabric lay out a third layer.
Tuck ends of rectangle under to neaten.
Wetting
EITHER Place layer of net curtain over the fleece. Sprinkle warm soapy water to wet all fleece and press net down – make sure all the fleece is wet including the edges. Gently remove the net.
OR Sprinkle warm soapy water to wet all fleece then cover with the thin plastic sheet and press down to ensure even wetting.
Setting
Fold bubblewrap/drawer liner over top and start to rub gently over surface. Use a circular motion starting at the edges and working in towards the centre. Rub gently for a few minutes, taking it in turns. Check that it is beginning to felt by lifting the top layer of bubblewrap/drawer liner.
Continue rubbing gently, turning the whole package over and rubbing on the other side, until the fleece is holding together. Very little shrinkage will have taken place.
Decoration can be added at both the laying out stage before wetting and/or after wetting the background. Remember to wet the added detail before setting.
Felting process
To start shrinking and hardening the fabric, repeat the rubbing process on both sides using more pressure. Remember to use a circular motion from the outside in towards the centre. If necessary add more warm soapy water.
When the fabric is starting to hardening and starting to shrink put the fabric in a bowl of hot soapy water and take it in turns to knead it gently. Open out the fabric, smooth it out and repeat kneading in hot water until felted.
Rinse and dry.