Wet Felting is the art of using water, heat, and agitation to cause wool fibres to interlock. Here, you’ll learn how to make a small wet-felted project using materials you have at home, and a small amount of merino wool top.
Wool fibres shrink by about thirty percent when they are felted; however, each individual creates a different shrinkage rate when they felt. So the first step in any large or fitted project is to make a shrinkage swatch. This swatch is made with the materials and techniques that you wish to use in the main project. Once made it can be referenced repeatedly. Before you invest hours laying out a large project, use a shrinkage swatch as a touchstone to peek at the potential appearance of your project.
Today we will use a shrinkage swatch to inform our creation of a custom fitted bracelet.
Materials
- Removable tape such as masking or painter’s tape
- Marker
- Rubber gloves (optional)
- Cookie Sheet
- Bubble wrap, two pieces (or one larger piece)
- Pool noodle (optional)
- 15-20g merino wool top
- Bowl of hot water
- Sponge
- Gentle soap or dish soap
- Moisturizer
- Scissors
- Towels: one hand towel and as many floor towels as desired
- Needle and thread
- One large and one small button: approximately 2.5 cm [1 in.] and 1 cm [0.4 in.] diameter.
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