Nuno Felting

I have a had an amazing couple of days updating my felting skills.

I make lots of felt pieces as part of my Timezones work, but I was beginning to feel that all I do is make flat squares and then embellish them. Then a few months ago I saw an amazing piece of felted clothing which really inspired me. This was worked in Nuno felt.

Now I have done this before, but it was some years ago. I needed to indulge in a little ‘professional development’ . This meant several emails and a bit of organising between friends and fellow creative crafters, and it all came off as a wonderful couple of days up in Aberhosan, a tiny village above Machynlleth.

Now the technical bit. Nuno felting is worked on open fabrics, such as silk georgette, cotton muslin, or voiles. You lay the wool fibres over the fabric in thin layers. Gently wet it all with cool, soapy water. Then roll, and roll, and roll. Just keep rolling. Until the fibres start to come through the fabric. Then the fun bit. Rinse the whole piece in hot water, and throw it, hard. Lots of times. The piece will really shrink, some go down to about half the size.

I made two pieces, a waistcoat back, and a silk stole. The waistcoat was amazing, we started with over two metres of fabric! I wanted contrasts, so the waistcoat is a solid piece worked on cotton muslin. The stole has a very open design using silk georgette. The effects were great. As you can see I am going through a bit of a blue phase! It was great to work something big, and to actually create instead of just teach. Sue. I will be back!

Sue was our tutor, a lovely lady, she also supplies me with fleece for schools, and projects. http://www.sueterrey.co.uk

My fellow felters were Caroline and Ann from Hembra Crafting, they are based in Wolverhampton and offer a range of workshops, such as peg loom and Natural dyes. http://www.hembracrafting.co.uk/#!home/mainPage

Follow the links to find some very talented people.