Yesterday’s blog post told you about my wool felted flower class with Vickie Clontz. My flower was dry last night so I was able to finish it up. I’m much happier with it, but it’s way too large to wear!!! MY BAD!! Vickie gave us a pattern to follow, but mine just kept getting bigger and bigger, way outside the suggested lines Vickie gave me! I think I’ll use put a long stem on it and put it in my studio. I may even make a few more and make a bouquet (idea from Judy Whitehead – thanks, Judy!).
While the flower is pretty, and I’m glad I made it, my main purpose for taking the class was to learn how to wet-felt wool fibers.
I have a project in mind using this technique. Before I start wet- felting a couple of pounds of wool fibers, I wanted to make a maquette. Basically, a maquette is a rough draft. I used a couple ounces of wool this morning to practice the technique and make a sample piece of wool felt. I actually stopped before the wool was felted. I made what is referred to as “pre-felt” (I learned SO MUCH from Vickie Clontz on Saturday!)
I won’t share the step-by-step process here because teaching the process is something Vickie does for a living and she really is quite good at it.
These are the bunches of roving I had stashed away
And here is how I separate the fibers
And here is the nest of fibers I made. The shiny stuff is angelina.
Here is the nest after I’ve started the wet felting process.
And here it is, rinsed and ready to dry flat. At this point, I can either continue the felting process or I could try shaping this (I think it shapes better if it’s fully felted). I’m choosing to dry it flat because of the next step in the process of making my maquette.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
