A Bit of Wet Felting

Today was an extremely wet and gloomy day, but I had a project in mind

to lift the gloom! My friend Andrea has been working on some beautiful

wet felting experiments and has inspired me to do the same.

I have a large stash of wool roving in many colors, but have so far

used it only for needle felting. Today I wanted to try wet felting.

I decided to do a small piece, and I started with a shallow tray, lined 

with bubble wrap. I pulled out strands of the roving and arranged and

layered them on the bubble wrap. It felt like I was making lasagna!

I kept my design simple and used only three colors, 

criss-crossing some colors over the others.

I then covered the roving with some lightweight screening material.

Next time I do this I'll use tulle or nylon curtain fabric.

I sprinkled a little soapy water over the screening.

I used a couple of DIY tools to bond the layers. One was a wood 

foot massager I had on hand, the other a disc of wood from the craft

store, with flat-backed glass marbles hot-glued on.

The second tool worked best, and I rubbed it over the surface for about 

ten minutes, checking once in a while to see whether the wool was felting.

Finally, I removed the screening and the bubble wrap, 

rinsed it and laid it out on a towel.

I then made a second, smaller landscape background in the same way

My next felted pieces will probably be thicker, but for now I'm happy.

I'd like to add beading and embroidery to these. We'll see what develops!!

I'll end by saying, to my American friends, 

Happy Independence Day!!

And to all readers who have stopped by today,

Thank You for Visiting!!