Wet Felting and Tangkou Dolls

Step 1: Laying out the wool fibres into a pattern

 Wet Felting
 
It's been a while blogger, last week I didn't feel much like blogging as had caught a bad flu/cold bug and was down for the count :(. Anyway I'm feeling a bit better and have been busy crafting away today. I thought I would have a try at "Wet Felting" to those unfamiliar with the term "Wet Felting" is basically natural wool fibre matted with hot soapy water to create felt. Sounds easy but my first try was quite a challenge (especially since I didn't cross layer correctly and thus had holes). Note to self and others reading this, while pre-cut felt might seem like a good idea at the time it is an complete pain in the tush to fuse pre-cut felt with the wool fibres (whether glue has anything to do with it I have no idea).

Step 2: Adding hot soapy water

Step 1 (above) is all about laying out your wool fibres into a pattern (least if your doing a tapestry anyway).

Step 2 (right) is the fun part >< adding the hot soapy water and beginning to fuse/agitate the wool fibres together (note to self and others it's definitely worth the investment of a fine mesh or muslin cloth so your fibres don't casually float about.)

Step 3 continue adding soapy water until the fibres are squidgy to touch, then you can start rolling your "tapestry" with your bamboo placemat this should make your tapestry nice and flat (though in the image below I found that although my tapestry was nice and flat my pre-cut felt kept wiggling about :\)

Step 3

Step 4- Finished product

Step 4 once satisfied with the flatness and composition wring the soap out and wash with hot water. When the water comes clear (basically not soapy) wash with cold water, wringing it out as you wash. Et voila one wet felt making tapestry complete :) (I wasn't entirely pleased with my first attempt as I realised that I had layered the layers to finely so I had another attempt (see images left).

My second attempt was definitely more successful a) because I didn't include pre-cut felt and b) because I layered the felt up much more thickly.

I have yet to photograph them but  after my second tapestry attempt I decided it was time to try out making synthetic felt dreads (though it seems I struggle to roll the felt with my bare hands so I ended up having a handy assistant (otherwise known as my mother to roll the length of felt into dreads (and there fairly easy to make you just roll the felt with your hands and add a bit of hot soapy water as you go).

 Completely unrelated but my tangkou doll family expanded (I now have a fab family of 3). Tangkou's have definitely changed since I purchased Marilyn (Tangkou France) last year, the clothing is definitely more detailed and as for face up's well they two have had an "upgrade" with detailed eyeliner and eyebrows (which really surprised me). If you want to see more of my Tangkou Loli Izzabella you can visit my set on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/jam-gloom/sets/72157631761669160/ and if you want to see more of my Tangkou Vampire Veronica you can visit here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jam-gloom/sets/72157631761669164/

Hope you feel inspired 

Haus of Gloom

xox