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How To Make Felt How to make felt - it's very easy! Felt is matted wool - it's as simple as that. If sheep weren't shorn regularly, then their fleeces would turn to felt once wet. Hot soapy water makes the wool slippery and causes its tiny scales to open up. The scales prevent the fibres from backing up again, after they slide across each other. With some agitation and rubbing, the fibres get tangled together. When it cools down and dries, the scales close back again and lock the wool into a tough fabric we all know as felt - and it's ready to use. If you have 30 minutes to spare then why not try to make your own? How to make felt: You will need a 9" cake pan, liquid detergent, a sink, rubber gloves and hot and cold water. 1. Lay out your washed and combed wool - about half an ounce will do. Now divide it into three equal portions and work with one at a time. Spread out the first portion so it evenly covers the bottom of the cake tin - with all the fibres running in the same direction. Place the second layer on top of the first, with the fibres at right angles to the layer beneath. Then put on the third layer, and lay that at right angles to the second layer. 2. Squirt a small amount of liquid detergent over the top layer of the wool and then gently pour on about a half a cup of hot water. 3. Wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands from the heat press straight onto the wool pile so that the wool compresses into a mass at the bottom of the pan. Use your palm to agitate the centre and slowly rotate the pan as you work. Keep rolling the edge of the wool inwards to give it a smooth, finished shape. The soap will squish up between your fingers and the wool will mat together. After about 5 minutes, It will begin to firm up. Once this happens, you can begin to work with a more vigorous circular motion. 4. After about 10 min, the fibres will hold together well enough to turn it over. Tip up the pan and gently take the wool out onto your hand and then place it upside down in the pan. Use more soap and hot water if necessary, and continue working the wool as you did before. 5. Run warm water into the pan and pour off the soapy water and rinse over the sink. Then run cold water over the wool and press all the water out. You should be left with a round, thin piece of wool, which is a little smaller than the pan. Oh, and it should look like felt by now! 6. If you want the felt to be strong, continue working it, running more hot water over it - rolling and squeezing it in your hands. The more you do this, the thicker and stronger the felt becomes. 7. When you're finished felting you may want to use an iron, at the 'wool' setting of course, to speed up the drying process and flattening it out nicely. 8. Congratulations - you've just made your first piece of home-made felt! You see - how to make felt is easy peasy when you know how! |
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