Which wool for felting

It typically has an odor not pleasant , contains bits of debris, and is greasy. Fleece needs to be processed, a lengthy task, before using.

Locks is the term for wool that has been washed, cleaned of debris, and perhaps dyed but not carded or further processed. Any curls in the wool remain and can be used for fun, creative decorations, like hair, in a felting project. Wool that has been washed, carded, and perhaps dyed is sold as batts or sliver. Batts are like thick, fluffy sheets of crisscrossing fibers. Small bits can be easily pulled off, and the wool typically felts faster because the fibers are already somewhat jumbled.

Sliver is similar to batts in that the fibers do not all run in one direction, but sliver comes in one long, continuous rope instead of a sheet.

Roving is wool that has been thoroughly cleaned, carded, and combed so that curls are removed and all the fibers flow in the same direction. Like sliver, roving comes in a long rope. As an Amazon Associate, TactileHobby. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. Skip to content. By Rich in Felting. Wool is wool, right? Well, not exactly. Wools for Wet Felting It would take a long, long time to test out all of the assorted wools available today.

Merino Wool Merino wool is a very soft, fine wool that is a favorite of wet felters. Shetland Shetland wool is naturally produced in various shades of white, brown, gray, and black and has more crimp than merino wool does. Lambswool Lambswool comes from the first shearing of a young sheep. Romney Wool from Romney sheep has a medium luster, a staple length of 5 to 8 inches, and is coarser than other wools.

Blue Faced Leicester Leicester is a longer, lustrous wool with a staple length between 3 and 6 inches. Other Natural Fibers for Wet Felting You may not be aware that any mammal fiber can be used for felting. The following fibers all wet felt really nicely: Alpaca. Angora rabbit. Experience is the best teacher, right?

Wool Stages of Processing Raw Fleece Freshly shorn, unprocessed wool straight off of the sheep is called fleece. Locks or Cleaned Fleece Locks is the term for wool that has been washed, cleaned of debris, and perhaps dyed but not carded or further processed.

As touched on above, the process es used to produce a felting fibre can give v e ry different forms , which will perform differently and have a greater influence on their ease of use. Therefore it is worth looking at some of the various fibre terminology and processes used to create them. These refer to wool that has been washed, carded and combed into a long length of fibre which have all of the fibres aligned into the same direction. The resulting fibre can be used for spinning into yarns, but is also often used for needle felting too.

Technically, roving is pulled through a diz and this creates a slight but noticable twist to the fibre. The long straight fibre properties are better suited to felting longer fur , and less easy to felt down to a smooth neat finish. As merino is often sold in this form, it sometimes unfairly gets a reputation for being difficult to felt, especially for beginners. We have a variety of tops and roving in a wide spectrum of colours from natural animal colours to bright and pastel shades, so you can be sure to find the ideal material for your project.

Batts — The typical properties of batts include a shorter fibre length, with densely populated fibres crossing over in different directions. The y often come in a rolled up sheet from which you can tease off smaller pieces with ease. The properties of wool batts lend themselves to felting together much more quickly and easily, and they make an ideal option for beginner felters.

The Hamanaka Watawata core wool batts we stock are among our very best sellers and are loved by felting artists around the world for how quickly they felt, how easy they are to create detailed 3D shapes, and how well they receive the surface coat of fibre you felt onto them. Sliver - Think of slivers like a long and thin version of batts. They have been carded and have crimped fibres in different directions , which again makes them ideal to work with and a great option for beginner felters.

Our popular HandCrafter wool range brings together the best of two worlds — the fine and soft nature of merino , with the ease of use of a sliver. Perfect to create that beautiful neat finish without stray fibres! What about non-wool alternatives? Plant based fibres , such as Soybean, Cotton and Bamboo can be found in the form of tops which ca n be used for needle felting. It can be difficult finding the array of colours in some of these options, but perhaps you could consider dyeing your own!

Equally, synthetic fibres such as Nylon and Acrylic among others, have also been utilised to create felting fibres. One of the characteristic s relevant to many synthetic fibres on the market is the fact that the fibre length is often quite long , which whilst great for certain projects, can have certain limitations in the finished appearance felters are able to create. One very unique acrylic fibre , again from Japanese company Hamanaka, seeks to solve this problem. The fibers get all tangled up, and more scales grab tight, until you have felt.

So if you know more than I do, please chime in here! Some wools have smaller scales, some have larger scales. All of those little details will affect the degree to which the wool felts.

Also: The way in which a particular fiber is processed and dyed affects felting. Did you know that a white yarn may felt differently than a colored yarn of the same type and brand? This is because the dyes can smooth down, or raise up, the little scales on the colored yarns. White yarns may be bleached, which affects the yarn differently. Naturally colored yarns may not be dyed or bleached at all. Some yarns are specially treated with a substance that smooths down the scales.

However, over time, with wear and a lot of machine agitation, the special fiber treatment may rub off, and your socks may start felting. So: No scales, no felt. Alpaca will felt. Llama will felt. Silk comes from silkworms, and I would argue that worms are not animals, they are worms, thus: bugs. Silk is not worm hair. Silk is extruded from the worm; silk starts out as a liquid. Hardened Bug Extrusion. Very pretty and wonderful hardened bug extrusion, it is, too.