Felting

Felting is an ancient technique in which wool fibres are matted together to create an unwoven fabric. I create my felt by layering fine fibres of ethically-sourced Merino wool. The last layer is my favourite as I use a layer of coloured wool which has been drum carded.

Drum carder

Drum carding

This is the tool I use for carding the Merino wool. I love the vibrant colours!

The finished picture is then soaked with soapy water, rolled by hand – many hundreds of times – then agitated and subjected to some throwing against a hard surface – this is called fulling.

It is then rinsed and dried, leaving me a base on which to hand embroider.

Wet felting

Soapy water then rinse

Drying felt

Drying

On my washing line…

Nuno Felting

Nuno is the Japanese word for cloth, and my chosen cloth is silk.  Nuno felting uses fewer layers and is only very gently rolled and agitated.

I use fine fibres of wool to ‘glue’ the silk to my picture. It creates a very different texture than wool when dry and adds another dimension to my work.

Sari silk

Recycling silk from saris

Needle Felting

The art of ‘stabbing ‘wool fibres together using a barbed needle.
I sometimes use this method of felting on my finished pictures to add more depth to my work.

Original wet felted and hand embroidered creations using pure Merino wool and silk.

Colourful wools

I love new wool day! So many colours, so many possibilities and time for me to put inspiration to work.