Time to nuno

When I was in town doing my shopping chores this morning I popped into the charity shop and found this lovely silk scarf for £1.95. It sort of reminded me of a 1950's textile pattern and black and red is a favourite combination of mine too. Now, I am always buying either silk or viscose scarves when I see them, never paying more than a couple of pounds for them and keeping them in a box planning one day to felt into them. This is a technique known as nuno felt and it is supposedly an advanced technique but I have run workshops where beginners have dyed a scarf and then nuno felted it at their first attempt. So, having established that I have quite a few of these scarves, why buy another? Good question. Can't answer it. Just wanted to do some felting after having a clear out yesterday and realising just how much fibre I still have to use up. Thought I'd document the process in case anyone would like to try it. As you can see the scarf is laid out on bubble wrap (bubble side up) with a towel underneath it. My table in the shed is 6 foot long so you will be able to calculate the shrinkage later. Silk works best but any fabric that you can blow through and feel your breath will take this technique.

I decided to lay the fibre just down the centre and laid out two fine, thin layers at right angles to each other, on one side only. The next step is to wet the fibre. I use a milk bottle with holes punched in the top and sprinkle the water on. In contrast to traditional wet felting you don't want the water too hot. If it is, the wool will felt too quickly and you need time to encourage the fibres to migrate through the warp and weft of the scarf, so lukewarm to cool is the best option, plus a dash of washing up liquid. A lot of felters use olive oil soap but I am not worried about the archival issues and have never had a problem.

Once the fibre is wet I fold the other half of the bubble wrap over on top and use my hands to make sure everything is well wetted.I spent a few minutes doing this and then rolled the whole thing around a foam tube and rolled it back and forth. I forgot to photograph this bit as I was engrossed in the rolling process. You have to count as you do it and I rolled about 300 times - feltmaking is not for the weak and wimpy. No wonder I have biceps like Popeye! After testing to see if the fibre has started to adhere to the scarf you fold it and start throwing it on the table. First you fold it fibre side inwards. Then you change it all around. The knack is to keep folding and throwing and it is the shock of this process that causes the wool to felt. In truth I also have a secret weapon which is a converted sander. I used that a little bit today because I made three scarves on the trot but it is mainly brute strength that gets the job done.

It's a good idea at the sandwich stage to refresh the felt in alternating baths of hot and cold water. This also adds to the shock factor and gets the process going. I often whack it on the table from a great height because I love the noise but the spray does tend to get everywhere and you're up to your knees in water if you're not careful. Anyway, I made three scarves today and felt physically tired (no pun intended) so decided to 'finish' them off in the washing machine. After a fast wash cycle at 60 degrees here is my finished scarf.

Remembering that I started off with a 6 foot scarf I have achieved about 25% shrinkage but I love the way the fabric puckers and crinkles with the felt coming through it.

This green scarf was a polyester/viscose one. I put it on the sewing machine and stitched the long sides together loosely. When I laid it out I put the seam uppermost in the middle and made lots of circles of fibre, laying them out on both sides down the centre. I felted this until it was just holding together and then threw it in the machine with the other two.

The circles have felted together in a lovely organic way and again, it has shrunk by about 25% . I am happy with both of them but the third scarf was a disaster. Par for the course with me these days. This one I felted completely on one side and I was really looking forward to it. Sadly, the washing machine was a step too far and it has shrunk so much it won't fit round a doll's neck even. As I never pay much for the scarves I shall chalk it up to experience but I've been doing this for so long I should know better.

I might do a few more tomorrow but I found an old project while I was up the shed and it has taken my interest again.... and I still have those buttonholes to try to do to finish sewing my little remnant purses. Might do that now while I'm in the mood. After being caught out by the washing machine, I'm going to show the sewing machine who's boss!