Because I Felt Like It, part 1

Let’s start at the beginning. Felting, what’s that? Well, wet felting is a process in which loose fibers such as wool, alpaca, llama and silk are “tangled” into a cohesive product with the use of hot water, soap and elbow grease. Natural fibers have scales that open up when wet with hot soapy water, the elbow grease comes in the form of friction and pressure that tangle the fibers. As the fibers cool down, the scales close and the fibers lock together. There are more technical explanations, but this works for me.

Nuno felting is a wet felting process in which loose fibers are “laminated” onto a fabric such as silk gauze for beauty, wear ability and stability. Loose fibers can be felted into a fabric, in fact yurts are made from felt. I just don’t want to wear a yurt. So, wanting something pretty to wear I started using the various beautiful, commercially-available rovings as “paint” with a hand-dyed silk scarf blank as my canvas. In fact, it’s become a running joke that I’d rather felt my roving than spin it.

So what’s all involved? A lot—so much that this will be a multi-part posting. Where to begin? Well, get yourself some very sheer silk fabric. If you hold it up to your face and blow through it, you should readily be able to feel your breath coming through or clearly be able to read a newspaper through it. I have been fortunate enough to know people that have traveled to China and were able to bring yards and yards of it back for me. I have heard that you can purchase scarf blanks online but I haven’t had to do this as of yet.

After you have the silk and cut it to size you want, if it is white like mine was, you can dye it. I generally take stock of my rovings and try to custom dye the silk. I have used Jacquard, Mother MacKenzie’s Miracle Dyes, Ashford dyes, and even tea and coffee. Other materials you’ll need are some plastic sheeting (6+ mil or thicker but not so thick that it’s not pliable), bubble wrap-type pool or spa covering; a pool noodle, a cheap nylon sheer curtain, hot water, liquid dish soap, an old dish soap squirt bottle, a pair old knee high stockings or a pair of pantyhose, and towels. Yes, these are some unconventional materials, but they are what work for me and this is all about my method of felting.

So gather your materials and get ready to rock and roll (rolling is a big part of wet felting)! We’ll get to the actual process in part 2.