FELTING 3D OBJECTS: AROUND A SOLID 3D OBJECT

As I have never tried resist felting before, I decided to try a few different techniques out and see what works best.

Technique 1: Felting around a solid 3D object

The first method I used seemed the most obvious to me as I had a glass bottle right next to me in the room I was in. 

• I turned the bottle upside down and carefully laid a few layers of carded wool onto and around the base of the bottle.
• Before wetting the wool, I placed a stocking over the bottle with the wool round it and tied it at the top to hold the wool in place. 
• Then, I wet the wool through the stocking with hot water and applied some soap but rubbing it onto the wool.
• Now that the wool was wet and soapy, I was able to felt it by rubbing it in all directions with my hands.
• When I could feel that the wool had felted a good amount, I gently removed the stocking and took it off the bottle.
• I then began to work the felted wool with just my hands whilst trying to keep its shape.
• To finish the felting process, I rolled it with a towel to help it shrink and lock the fibres together even more.

As my first try at making something three dimensional I think this worked really well! It was very difficult trying to get the wool even and keeping the wool in place to begin with. Once the stocking was on and I wet it, the wool stayed in one place, but the piece still looks quite uneven in some areas. The top edge was particularly hard to keep straight as I couldn't move the wool once the stocking was over it. Maybe this could have been fixed after taking the wool off the bottle, or it could also be cut off and made even, however I do quite like it as it makes it look more natural and hand-made.

Photo example showing how the piece could be used.

🌱Kat Webb🌱