Yesterday I dug out the bag of alpaca fleece, the hand carders, the bubble wrap, detergent and some silk and set to work...
I layed the fibres in a grid pattern onto a piece of tissue silk.
The results were small - I can't believe how much it has shrunk - but I was happy with how it had turned out. Next time I might not take the felting so far, to keep the fibres softer, but all in all a successful day...
...until...
I left my felted piece hanging on the line overnight. No problem there, except that I got up this morning and let "The Supervisor" out (AKA our dog Tyler). Turns out she wasn't so impressed with my efforts and tore a hole in the silk as she pulled it off the line with her teeth...
Maybe she smelt the alpaca and thought... well she is a hunting breed afterall...
It's my fault - I left it there and I know she's partial to the fluffly stuff because while I was working yesterday, she'd pick up bits of fleece and start eating them... it was the funniest sight to see her with a big white beard... I just wasn't thinking straight first thing this-morning.
I guess I should be glad that there's only a hole in one section and that after pulling it off the line that she didn't proceed to play with and chew it. Anyway, I now need to work out if this is "repairable" or make "good" of it, or if I throw it back into the cupboard and call it a sample...
5 comments:
It looks lovely :)
alpaca, I learnt is actually really stubborn to felt and does shrink heaps...something about the length or crimp of the fibres...but I think it looks beautiful on silk!
I'd heard that it was hard to felt as well and was expecting to have a really hard time.
Surprisingly it started to felt really quickly and to be honest i rolled it once (about 20 rolls) and then moved straight into throwing it - I don't have the patience to roll much - and half expected it not to work.
The fibres that I'm working with have a lot of crimp to them so I expect that is why it's shrinking so much. The scarf that I did last weekend is much softer but I also had a thinner layer of fibres - all part of the experimenting!!
Ohhhh... you have to use it... for anything!
Wow that is really lovely.
We do some embellishing and sell it in our blog shop. There is a Gift draw going on over there at the mo if you fancy popping over for a look. Good luck if you choose to join in.
http://sisterscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
A x
Hello Sophie. Incredibly, I have only just discovered you! Boy do I wish I'd found you sooner. Thank goodness blogger archives everything, I am having such fun going through all your old posts.
Now, the way I found you was by looking for rusting recipes for fabric. As such, I'm seeking your permission to link to you from one of two of my blogs:
http://thebartercircle.blogspot.com/
I would like your permission, in particular, to use the picture I've posted on my latest blog posting on the barter circle. I'm also listing you as a fav on my art blog too! I'm so glad I found you.
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