British Wool for Feltmaking (eBook)

International Feltmakers Association (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
128 Seiten
The Crowood Press (Verlag)
978-1-78500-990-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Britain has more native breeds of sheep than anywhere else in the world, providing a valuable source of wool for feltmakers. The characteristics of these breeds vary widely, making some more suitable for felting than others. Aimed at all levels of feltmakers, this helpful guide explores a selection of native breeds, and explains how their wool can be used successfully to create a variety of types and weights of felt. The book gives detailed information on each breed of sheep and then advises on their suitability for individual projects. It covers combining different wools, and blending colours to create colour and texture and includes how to work with raw fleece, and how to dye wool and felt. There are over 250 photos which illustrate a wide variety of felted projects.

The International Feltmakers Association promotes felt in all its forms and emphasizes the importance of felt education. This book is a collaboration of experienced feltmakers, all members of the IFA.

Textauszug

CHAPTER TWO

UNDERSTANDING THE FELTMAKING PROCESS

WET FELTING

The choice of wool directly affects the properties of the final felt, so it is important to understand the individual characteristics of different wools and also the process of turning wool fibres into felt.

Cotswold sheep from Alderbrook Farm, Bath.

There are several factors which contribute to the felting of wool:

• When wool fibres are wet, they swell and the surface scales open up.

• Adding soap to the water to make it slightly alkaline helps break down the surface tension of the water and aids the absorption of water.

• Agitation encourages the fibres to move towards the root end, pulling adjacent fibres with them and causing the scales to interlock.

• The crimp or wave in the fibre aids the interlocking.

Most feltmakers will use commercially processed wool for their first experiments. Processed wool, which can be used for feltmaking, is available in two different forms known as carded batt and combed tops. In commercial preparation, wool is first scoured to remove the dirt and vegetation, dried, carded on a carding machine, which opens up the fleece by separating the fibres with wire tines and turns the fibres into a continuous sheet of loose fibres, known as a batt. In this stage, the fibres lie in all different directions. To turn a batt into combed tops, it is first divided into long thin strips that are put through a combing machine to stretch the fibre batt and align the fibres in one direction, turning out a long smooth rope of fibres.

A selection of white and naturally coloured wool tops – an example of the lovely natural shades available in British fleece. Left to right: Teeswater, Cheviot, Swaledale, Bluefaced Leicester (oatmeal), Manx Loaghtan, Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain.

Natural carded batts.

Dyed carded batts.

MAKING FELT

The process of making hand-rolled wet felt is divided into different stages.

Step One: Laying out the dry fibres in even layers

Fibres are laid out in layers of overlapping fibres. Each layer is usually laid at right angles to the previous layer. The number of layers required will be dependent on the end use of the felt and the type of wool being used. Wool fibres shrink back along their own length, so it is important to lay out an even number of layers so that the wool felts uniformly. The finer the wool, the thinner the layers should be. Even when working with medium to heavier wools it is best to aim for more thin layers rather than fewer thicker layers; thin layers always felt more evenly than thicker ones as the air trapped between the layers allows the fibres to move more freely during the early felting process.

Step Two: Wetting out the fibres with soapy water

Dry wool has an acidic pH of 4.9 but felts best in a slightly alkaline state. Most feltmakers make hand-rolled felt by adding a little gentle soap to the water to make it alkaline and help with the felting. The fibres should be gently sprinkled with lukewarm soapy water over the surface so as not to disturb the layers of fibre. Then the water should be gently pressed into the fibres using the flat of the hand and working from the centre outwards until the fibres are wet through and lying flat without any bounce. Adding moisture to the wool causes the fibres to swell and opens up the scales on the outside of each fibre. The scales on coarser wools are larger and firmer, so it takes longer to wet out this type of wool than fine wools with many much smaller scales. It is important to add the water carefully and work it through gently, and only adding extra water as necessary. Extra soap can be helpful when wetting out batts and coarser wools.

Step Three: Setting the fibres

Gently rubbing and massaging the fibres encourages the scales to catch on to adjacent fibres and begin to intermesh. The wet fibres are now quite elastic, and rough handling at this point will push the fibres out of position.

Step Four: Hardening the fibres

This is usually done by rolling the felt from each side, turning the felt regularly so that it receives equal treatment all round. This process should be continued until the fibres are adhering to each other and have formed a cohesive sheet but with little or no sign of shrinkage. The rolling and light pressure encourage the individual fibres to move and interlock with each other. The time taken at this stage can vary depending on the type of wool. Fine fibres with many small scales will mesh more quickly than heavier fibres with fewer and firmer scales.

Step Five: Fulling

This is the final process in creating felt. It turns the sheet of fibres produced in the hardening process into felt. It is usual to add some extra heat and pressure at this stage. The purpose of fulling is to thoroughly integrate the layers of fibres so that there is no movement between the layers. During the fulling process the felt shrinks as the fibres mesh more firmly together. Finer wools shrink more during fulling as they have more scales to mesh. Time taken to full a piece of felt varies according to the quality of the fibre. Heavier wools take longer to full, but with perseverance it is possible to create a well-made and functional felt.

The short staple of Manx Loaghtan makes it an easy fibre to lay out.

The second layer placed at right angles to the first. As the Manx Loaghtan is a lofty wool, two layers make a firm felt with some drape – a finished scarf from this layout can be seen in Chapter 4.

Words used to describe the qualities of felt

There is a distinct vocabulary attached to the preparation and use of wool, originally applicable to spinners and weavers and now with additional descriptions for feltmakers. Learning these terms will help you understand the nature of wool and choose the correct fibre for your project.

Spongy: feels soft and springy when compressed but will bounce back when pressure is released

Hairy: the surface is not smooth and hairs or kemp fibres can be seen on the surface

Lustre: gentle gloss and smooth surface

Demi lustre: a slight gloss on the surface but less than the lustre

Matt: fibres lie flat with no gloss

Hard: solid, firm and not very pliable

Kempy: wiry hairs among the wool fibres found in mountain breeds

Smooth: surface of the felt is flat with well-integrated fibres

Firm: little or no movement among the fibres without being hard

The quantity of wool used can dramatically change the shrinkage factor and this varies from breed to breed.

PLANNING A PROJECT

Before embarking on a project, it is important to consider the end result that you would like to achieve.

• Should the felt be thick, strong and hard wearing or soft and comfortable to wear or purely decorative?

• Will you be wet felting or needle felting?

• What type of wool will be suitable?

It is important to make a sample of the wool you plan to use. This will enable you to decide on thickness and number of layers and to calculate the shrinkage so that you know what size to lay out the fibres. It is much better to spend time on making a few samples than to waste time making a project which turns out not to be suitable for your planned end use.

NEEDLE FELTING

This is a different method of felting wool using dry fibres. It is based on a commercial process which compresses fibres into sheets by passing them through a machine with a needle bed holding thousands of felting needles. These needles have small barbs on the pointed end and are set close together in rows across the needle bed. Layers of fibres pass slowly through the machine as the needles move quickly up and down compressing the fibres with the barbs and causing the fibres to interlock. At the end of this needling process the fibres emerge as a batt or sheet of fibres often referred to as commercial pre-felt or needlepunch felt.

The same principle is used at a smaller scale with a domestic ‘embellishing machine’. These look similar to a normal sewing machine but without thread and in place of the usual needle there is a group of barbed needles. A layout of dry fibres may be moved around under these as they go up and down using the foot pedal to produce a sheet of matted fibres.

Hand needle felting uses exactly the same needles as those used commercially. The needles have barbs along each edge of the blades. The shaft of the needle bends over in a right angle at the top.

Needles are available in different sizes and shapes. Some of the most useful types are listed below. The number indicates the thickness of the needle, the higher the number the finer the needle will be.

32 gauge triangle: very large needle rather like a cocktail stick in size

36 gauge triangle: suitable for working large areas of coarser wool

38 gauge star: multi-purpose needle

40 gauge triangle: fine needle for detailed work

40 gauge triangle reverse: used to fluff up the surface of a sculpted...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.1.2022
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Handarbeit / Textiles
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Heimwerken / Do it yourself
• Schlagworte: Artist • batts • bluefaced leicester • British • craft • Felt • feltmaker • Feltmaking • Fleece • fulling • half-felt • Ideas • laminated felt • needle felt • nuno felt • pre-felt • Project • Romney • Roving • Sheep • sheep breeds • Shetland • Wensleydale • wet felt making • Wool
• ISBN-10: 1-78500-990-7 / 1785009907
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78500-990-7 / 9781785009907