Features of wet felting from wool

Today, a very popular and demanded type of needlework is wet felting of wool. Without high artistic skills and dexterity, anyone can master this craft and easily create a variety of things, accessories and even paintings.

Felting from wool is considered an ancient technique for creating products. Her age, according to scientists, is more than 8000 years.

It is believed that the first product from felted wool was a carpet in Noah's Ark. It was not created by human hands: in a limited space, the animals of the ark were rubbed against each other, the wool fell on the floor, was moistened and hoofed together in a single cloth.

Felting from wool is considered the traditional crafts of the peoples of the East and Asia. Products from felted wool to this day are used daily in household goods. The basics of felting, a variety of ornaments and techniques for creating products, each nation has its own. The main bearers of the traditions are Turkmen craftswomen. Stylization of images and ornaments in the form of a ram's horn are popular in creating products to this day.

Archaeologists in the burials of the Altai Mountains discovered wool products from the 4th-5th centuries BC: animal wraps and clothing. Now these finds are exhibits of the Hermitage. In Mongolia and Buryatia, products were created in the same color and decorated with threads in a small stitch.

The Slavs mainly created woven cloth from the wool of natural colors. Felt appeared in Russia during the conquest of land by the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The most common and still favorite felted product is felt boots.

In European countries, felt was produced by the method of rolling wool with rollers and in containers with water under the influence of a vortex flow. Even then, methods of wet felting of wool products were used. In the twentieth century, the creation of felt gained industrial proportions.

The process of wet felting is the weaving and adhesion of the villi. This is due to its structure. Sheep's wool has a very loose structure of scales, which allows creating clothes, toys and accessories due to the dodging. You can use not only the wool of a sheep, but also a camel, yak or llama. Due to the compaction of the fibers of the wool, a dense fabric is obtained - felt.

The interweaving of fibers also occurs due to the laying of layers of material or skeins at a certain angle, warm water, soap solution and, of course, the hands of the master. Vegetable, synthetic or damaged fibers of improperly dyed wool are not suitable for filting.

The basic materials and tools for wet felting will not need so much.

• Wool. Today, needlework stores offer a wide range of different types of wool and a variety of its colors.
• Water. The use of warm water allows the flakes of woolen fibers to unfold more strongly, the drowning process becomes faster and easier.
• Soap solution. It is better to choose a liquid soap or dishwashing detergent.
• Hands of the master. The process of wet felting is done directly by hand.

Modern craftswomen have learned to facilitate their work with the help of special devices. Therefore, to all of the above, to simplify the work, additional tools will be needed.

• A rug on which felting of wool will be made. Typically, a bubble wrap is used. Perfectly any other covering materials that have a rough surface and do not allow moisture to cope with this task.

• A piece of thin polystyrene. It can be found in any hardware store. This is a laminate backing. It is used to pattern a future product. Due to the plasticity of such a material, the pattern can be easily removed from the wool during the creation of the product.

• For applying a soap solution, it is useful to get a spray bottle or a special watering can with a nozzle (outwardly it resembles a syringe). In the absence of these tools, you can use a regular dishwashing sponge.

• Mesh, a piece of tulle, thick gauze. The spread out wool is covered with a net after wetting and the process of dipping begins. The mesh prevents the skein of wool from moving.

• Rolling pin or round stick. Thanks to the rolling pin, the product can be dumped faster, especially if it is large.

• Vibro-grinding machine. Experienced craftsmen often use this tool. Emery paper on the working surface of the machine is replaced by a film. Thanks to the vibrations of the skein of wool, the wool falls off faster and fastens together.

• Cloth or towel. Conveniently absorbs excess moisture and soap solution.

• Gloves. Sometimes, with long work, the skin of the hands may suffer. Gloves are used to protect her.

• Additional fittings to give exclusivity to the product: pieces of silk, fabric, yarn, nylon fibers.

With the above materials, felting will become much more pleasant and faster.

Felting wool, as a rule, is used of several types: thin, semi-thin and combed. The thinnest, fluffy and softest are merino wool. It is better for beginners to start work with thin wool, since it does not require very long knurling and fits perfectly into the product.It makes scarves, hats, boas, mittens, booties for babies that are pleasant to the body.

Semi-fine wool is suitable for felting bags, insoles in shoes, slippers. And the coarsest wool is suitable for the manufacture of dense products. It falls down hard and for a long time.

The work of the master’s hands is the main and main tool in creating products using the technique of wet felting.

The technology consists of the main stages.

1. Creating a pattern for the future product. It is important to remember the basic rule: wool in the finished product will shrink 1.5-2 times. Based on this, all measurements of the future product must be increased by 1.5-2 times.
2. Layout of wool. Depending on which product is performed, the types of layout differ. The wool, laid out in skeins at 90 degrees, will not stretch in the process of steaming. To create flounces, bends and bulges, the layers of wool should be laid parallel to each other, changing the location of the skein base and their ends.
3. The formation of the fabric from pre-moistened wool, sitting with an increase in the strength of the material.
4. Rinse the product to remove soapy water.

There are many methods of wet felting. A master class of one of the options for creating clothes will allow you to understand the intricacies of work to the smallest detail.

1. First you need to create a pattern of the future product, which will subsequently be laid out woolen fibers. Prepare the workplace: spread out a bubble wrap or other moisture-resistant rough cloth.
2. On the pattern are laid skeins of wool in a checkerboard pattern, parallel or pigtail (weaving method). They are neatly pulled out with a fist grip of woolen tape. The number of layers and the thickness of the layout is desirable to control. Sometimes needlewomen specifically on the scales measure the amount of material that will be used for laying each layer.
3. The prepared wool is moistened with water and a soap solution and carefully covered with a net. Lightly pressing movements should be saturated with soapy water. Skeins should “stick” to the pattern. If the product requires a layout on both sides, then the pattern carefully turns over, skeins are laid out on the reverse side in the same order and moistened with soapy water.
4. Gloves are put on to protect the hands and the flicking process begins with gently stroking, rubbing movements. At this stage, you need to check that the wool does not roll onto the net.
5. It is important to check the initial rolling of the coat. To do this, gently pull the villi of the canvas. If they are not stretched and tightly coupled, then you can make cuts (if necessary) and remove the pattern.
6. After the initial rolling, felting begins with your hands, a rolling pin or using a bamboo mat. You can roll and throw the product, like dough. From this, the shrinkage process will occur faster. At the end of felting, the product’s canvas is rinsed from a soap solution and dried naturally.

Filing is a very exciting process. Clothing made by wet felting is very warm, pleasant to the body, comfortable to wear and care. It is easy to clean and wash in cool water.

There are certain nuances and secrets that each master accumulates by personal experience.

1. If the wool “froze” and does not fall off, then the canvas of the future product can be rinsed in hot water and the soap solution updated.
2. When felting slippers, boots or booties, it is convenient to use shoe pads. So creating a form will be much easier.
3. Chess layout when stretching is not stretched, when laying out in parallel it will turn out to make shuttlecocks and stretching the canvas.To make the edges of the canvas smooth, when wet, it is important to carefully bend the hairs of the wool and align them.
4. It is not possible to wallow a product at one time. To do this, it is necessary to maintain the moisture of the fabric, but to avoid “souring" of the coat.

You can watch the wet felting workshop in the video below.