Wet Felting Tutorial!

I promised to deliver a picture tutorial of how I did my wet felting piece (see this post). Well, life keeps getting in the way, so I am forcing myself to finally sit down to write and post the tutorial today!

So first of all, I went to Suzanne Morgan's site and purchased her Everything Kit in the Glow colorway.  I was so happy when it arrived that I danced through the post office and out to my car.  As I sat in the car I opened my new treasure and was just taken with Suzanne's ability to put just the right items together to make this kit.  You would think that as soon as I got home I went into the kitchen and prepared my work area for some wet felting.  But, NO-O-O-O-O!  The package sat on the side table next to my bed for almost 2 weeks.  Every day I opened the package and fingered the silks and wool, wondering if I could actually do this without making a mess.  Part of me was not ready to undertake this new art form yet, afraid that I was going to mess it up.  But the artist part of me finally took over and I decided that there is really no way to screw this up.  So I took out my  supplies and started "the process".

OK, to do wet felting you need minimal supplies.  My list includes a large tray that will hold the project while it is being worked, a towel, organdy, bubble wrap, a little soapy water and the fibers that you will be wet fellting (the kit from Suzanne plus a some roving and hand-dyed locks from my own collection.

First, the tray was lined with an old towel that would be used to abosrb any water that escaped from the project.  For the tray, I used the boot tray from The Container Store (the only thing better than shopping there is working there and using your employee discount for your art projects!) On top of the towel  I layered a piece of the mini bubble wrap with the bubble side up, then a piece of organdy, and finally the fibers from the kit (prefelt first then cover that with the torn pieces of silk and the roving.)  I added some hand dyed purple roving and orange locks from my own collection - just because!

The next step was to add some fibers and glitz. I had no idea how this was all going to look when it was finished felting, so I just sort of went with my gut feeling.  When I finally figured out that this looked "pretty", everything was covered with another piece of organdy.  The purpose of the organdy is to hold everything together and keep it from all moving around during the felting process. Kinda  like the way bread in a sandwich holds all the pieces of your tuna salad together.

Finally, I got to add the soapy water - this told me I was finally going to be doing a piece of wet felting, baby!  Now, it only takes a little water, enough to get your prefelt, silk and fibers moist.  The last thing you need is a soggy mess, so remember, just use a little soapy water. It is easier to add more water than it is to take excess water out. Then  cover the whole thing with another piece of mini bubble wrap (this time the bubbles are facing down to agitate your fibers) and get ready to work!

Felting occurs when the cuticle of your wool roving opens up and catches other materials (such as the silk and other pieces of roving).  If you have ever accidentally (or not) thrown a wool sweater into a washing machine with some soap and hot water, you have seen the end result of felting.  Most people believe that it is the hot water that makes the felting process happen, but it is actually the agitation of the fibers that makes felt.  That is why the wet felting process here can be done with only warm or tepid water.  Here the felting occurs when you spend time agitating the fibers between the bubble wrap.  I found the easiest way to provide agitation was to wad up a plastic shopping bag and rub it vigorously over the top layer of bubble wrap. The soap in the water helps to make the fibers "slippery" and the whole process is much easier then.  Even so, it takes awhile to complete the whole process.

Every 10 minutes or so, I stopped agitating and carefully peeled off the top layer of  bubble wrap and organdy. This was to make sure that the organdy was not being caught by the fibers and becoming part of my felted fabric. Then everything was put back in place and the whole piece was flipped over so that I could check that the organdy on the bottom of my fabric was remaining separate, too. Wrap the whole thing back up, flip over again and start agitating again. This is what the "right side" of the piece looked like after 30 minutes of agitation.  I know it looks like you are looking through the bubble wrap on top, but it is gone.  The felted piece is retaining the indentations of the bubble wrap at this point.

So, finally, after a full hour of agitating and checking, my piece was finished!  How did  I know that it was completely felted and would not fall apart?  Simple - it is called the pinch test.  Each time  the top layer of bubble wrap and organza were removed, I would lightly pinch the top layer of fibers between my thumb and forefinger.  If the fibers separated, I knew the felting process was not complete.  Once I was unable to lift the fibers and all were bound together, I knew it was finished. The picture to the right shows my felt after a full hour of agitation,  It has shrunk by about 1/3 from it's original size.  So it was gently taken to the sink and run under clear running water until the water ran clear and all of the soap was out.  the my felt was laid out an a clean, dry towel to dry.  What amazes me the most is that the piece is so strong but so light in weight.


Well, that is all there is to the wet felting process.  My piece is not yet completed, because it still needs to be embellished with tons of stitches and beads.  Maybe even some of the glass beads I made last year in my lampwork bead class.  I will update you all as I work on the piece and you will definitely get to see it when it is finished!