Felting: appearance history, types and selection of materials

Homemade needlework is quite common today, and each person can choose his own variety to his liking. In the case when you want to master some universal technique that allows you to create beautiful things from clothes to paintings, you should pay attention to felting.

Felting is felting made of wool, which is currently very popular. This technique allows you to make not only unusual interior elements or toys, but even shoes, jewelry and clothes. The essence of felting is that bulk wool is transformed into a very dense felt. This applies only in the case of natural wool, the fibers of which are able to connect with each other.

Despite the popularity among modern needlewomen, felting appeared many years ago. Nomadic peoples actively used this technique for making shoes, carpets, and even parts of portable houses from felt. Some time later, wool appeared in their everyday life, from which items of clothing and everyday use began to knit. Felting began to be used as needlework in the 16th century. In the XIX century, the first machine for felting wool was designed, which greatly facilitated the process of manufacturing household items.

Specialists distinguish two basic types of felting - wet and dry. The implementation of the first option is impossible without the use of soapy water, due to which the friction of individual fibers is stimulated. This type is used to create flat objects, for example, paintings, towels, clothes or decorative wraps. Dry felting is carried out when the wool is pierced with the help of special tools. This technique is indispensable for creating volumetric objects, for example, toys or jewelry.

Quite often, both types of felting are combined in one product. For example, if a toy animal is made, the body itself is created using dry felting, and the ears, paws and clothes are already made using wet.

If we are talking about dry felting, then the set of necessary tools and materials will always be the same, regardless of what thing is planned. The wool itself should be coarse or semi-thin and necessarily dyed. Another important condition is that the material should be chosen not spun - yarn for this technique is not suitable at all. Too thin threads may suffer from the used needle, which in turn will lead to a pass. The material is presented in stores either in the form of a tape or in the form of a carding.

Some craftswomen decide to use cheaper unpainted wool, called “sliver” for the base, and then cover it with high-quality material. This option is not too successful, since the sleever is not respected enough, the interiors of the toy are soft, and therefore it does not hold its shape. In general, experts recommend choosing coarse and thick fibers, since they have the ability to fall off faster.

Coarse valenky sheep wool is used to embody ideas in boho or ethnic style. The tow, representing small hairs of sheep, is mainly used for stuffing or as a substrate for creating wraps and rugs. Camel hair allows you to create toys without any foundation. Semi-thin sheep wool is suitable for decoration of finished objects. The silk of Angora goat with silk effect is also suitable for decorating already formed objects.

Needles for creating felt should be special: have small notches in their lower part. If you stick such an instrument into the wool, then the fibers will begin to cling to the notches and thereby intertwine. Needles will need different thicknesses. As a rule, felting begins with the use of thick tools, and after that is replaced by thinner ones. In fact, thick needles are necessary for felting, which involves the processing of wool, medium need to give shape, and thin are responsible for small details and adjusting the remaining marks.

Needles can also have different sections, which differ in the number of rays - three or four. Triangular tools are used to get started, and star-shaped ones are used for final decoration. Choosing products is better than overseas production. The brush for felting will ensure the safety of both the hands of the craftswoman and the working surface.

During needlework, a piece of wool will be placed just on this surface, after which it will be actively pierced with needles. Additionally, it is worthwhile to put a piece of viscose, which prevents spoilage of the finished product on the bristles. To protect your fingers, you can also use special thimbles made of leather or rubber. We must not forget about a variety of decorative elements: buttons, beads, beads, ribbons, lace.

For wet felting, in addition to the same materials, you will need a rigid net, for example, a veil or mosquito net. For convenience, a special felting mat and air bubble film come in handy. Both with dry and with wet felting, in principle, synthetic winterizer is used, but not all craftswomen have a positive attitude towards this. This material serves to create volume and is coated on top of a spun wool.

To understand exactly how to make a product using the felting technique, it is better to find some simple master class on the Internet and implement it. For example, it may be a flower brooch, executed on the frame. To create it, you will need basic materials and tools: wool, fine needles and wire, the thickness of which is 0.4 millimeters. In addition, a brush used for the base, PVA glue, acrylic varnish, scissors, beads with a diameter of 7 to 10 millimeters, soapy water and a brooch clasp are useful.

• First of all, a frame for a leaf-shaped brooch is formed from wire. Then a strand of green is punctured with needles, being on the base and under the frame. The size of the piece should slightly exceed the size of the leaf. Turning the wool over, piercing must be repeated, as the processing procedure is done on both sides. The ends of the leaves are folded.
• The wire frame is again placed on the workpiece, and the edges are formed with needles, and the color is made more natural with the help of dark green wool. So that the borders between the individual colors do not stand out too much, it makes sense to iron the sheet with an iron.
• The petiole is formed by gluing a portion of the twisted wool directly onto the wire. Then there is the formation of twigs from a piece of white wool, in the middle of which a bead is placed. The ball is lowered into soapy liquid and rolled in hands. Protruding strings should be cut with manicure scissors. Cutting off the top from the resulting ball, removing the bead and creating 8 cuts, you can make a flower of a lily of the valley. Ready-made buds are dipped in a mixture of water and acrylic varnish.
• To make lilies of the valley, it remains to string the blanks on the wire, if necessary, twisting the wool and forming a core. For reliable fixing, glue is additionally used. At the very end, a finished twig, leaf and brooch clasp are fastened together.

When choosing the technique of wet felting, you will need a soapy liquid into which wool pieces will fall. Therefore, this solution is prepared first of all: a piece of soap is rubbed on a grater with large holes and poured with a couple of liters of freshly boiled water. After mixing the substance, it must be allowed to infuse for about 2 hours. In principle, the use of liquid soap is not prohibited.

The work itself will be carried out on a bubble film located with the bubbles up. The first layer on it is the base layer, on top of it is the background layer, and then the layer with the pattern. All of them should be non-thick, placed perpendicularly and overlapping. The workpiece is treated with water using a spray bottle, after which it is covered with a net and soaked in a soap solution. The uniformity of the impregnation will provide a conventional rolling pin. Finally, everything is rubbed by hand.

The basics of felting for beginners see below.