Felting

I promised to show the craft group I belong to how to make felt. It's years since I made felt so I had to give myself a refresher course. The wool I've been spinning for socks has been treated so that it doesn't felt, but I have some wool that hasn't been treated and felts easily.

I layered the wool on top of bubblewrap and sheeting, four layers, this way and that:

Sprayed it with warm, soapy water:

Covered it with another piece of sheeting to make a sandwich:

Then for five minutes I patted it with my hands, a hairbrush and a rolling pin to get the felting process started:

I rolled the sandwich up tightly, with the bubblewrap included. I found that the tighter it is rolled the better, otherwise the felt finishes up very wrinkly:

For another five minutes, I rolled the parcel back and forth on my draining board:

Peeled the layers apart:

To reveal the felt:

After rinsing the soap out,  I dyed it:

Rinsed it, and hung it up to dry:

I plan for the craft group to make felt, but it won't be ready to use for a while, so I have dyed felt in an array of colours:

My plan is to use it to make flowers like these: