I will be adding How Tos here. The first installment is how to start wet felting.
Beginning Wet Felting -
"Snakes"
For some reason, I dislike felting balls with the wet felting method. Most people like it, but I don't. I needle-felt them. But I do wet felt "snakes" that I use for various purposes including handles for my felted bags. It's a great beginner project since you can feel the skin develop on the wool. It's a great one to do with kids as well.
Supplies:
You'll need some hot water. Doesn't have to be so hot it burns, but very
warm.
Some soap. I use glycerin hand soap that I make. I don't find that dish soap is
very effective.
Some wool roving. Pull off a piece to length and a little bigger than the
finished piece. You'll get a feel for it with practice.
A towel.
Lay out your towel. You'll use it to roll the roving.
Dip the roving in the hot water, squeeze out the excess and rub just a bit of
the soap on it. You don't want it too soapy but a little helps the water to
penetrate the wool.
Lay the roving on the towel. You can twist it to make it a little easier to
work. Gently start to roll it. Barely touch it at first, just enough to get it
to roll. You will start to feel a skin develop as the wool felts. You can use
more pressure as it hardens. Once it feels really hard, you can wad it up and
roll it like a ball in your hand. This is the FULLING process. If it's really
felted, it won't try to stick together much at all. Rinse with cool water with a
splash of vinegar to remove the soap. Continue fulling until it feels about as
hard as it's going to get. Pull it gently to straighten it and hang to dry.
If you want to make a circle, or to join pieces to make a longer one, leave tufts on the ends dry. After felting the snake, join the dry tufted ends together and gently felt that section.
Have fun and go ahead, try to felt those darn balls....
Better pictures will be forthcoming....
© Lana Pettey 2009