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Post by zara on May 5, 2014 21:51:42 GMT
Thought I would share my first go at wet-felting a fleece. The fleece was sheared off our neighbour's ram and as she did not want it I took it to experiment with. I just layed it out with the cut ends facing upp, covered it with two thin layers of carded wool and wet-felted it until it hung together as one piece.
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Post by zara on May 5, 2014 21:55:28 GMT
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Post by MTRuth on May 5, 2014 21:56:51 GMT
That turned out really well - you did a great job.
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Post by Pandagirl on May 5, 2014 22:17:29 GMT
Great Job Zara, thanks for sharing. That was a big job.
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Post by zara on May 6, 2014 0:56:15 GMT
Thanks! :-) It looks a bit wild, but I like it. I now have the bench and the felted fleece in my little green house - where I can sitt and look at the snow and hail and hope for the return of spring and warmer days to do more felting outdoors...
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Post by halay on May 6, 2014 6:09:07 GMT
Zara, super! I can't imagine how difficult it was to felt the piece considering that the whole sheep's wool went into this. It must be very warm.
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Post by zara on May 6, 2014 6:20:59 GMT
It was actually easier than I expected. The carded wool and cut ends of the fleece felted together quite quickly (probably an easily felted type of wool), and most of the "locks" kept well on the other side. And no preparing (washing) of the wool before felting needed. Instead the fleece became washed during the felting and rinsed properly afterwards. But it took 3 days to dry! :-)
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Post by zed on May 6, 2014 9:21:48 GMT
It looks gorgeous
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Post by lyn on May 6, 2014 10:45:02 GMT
It's beautiful! Well done for attempting, and succeeding with, what must have seemed like a huge task.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on May 6, 2014 13:31:35 GMT
Fabulous work, Zara! Not only beautiful but so practical as well. I wonder how long it will take the sheep to grow its fleece back?
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Post by zara on May 6, 2014 18:53:40 GMT
Just a few weeks since we sheared the sheep and they already have a short coat. By autumn it will be time to shear them again, before we move them from the summer pasture to the barn (i.e. indoors) and a smaller outdoor enclosure. The neighbour's ram was not sheared last autumn, so his fleece was very long at shearing this spring.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on May 7, 2014 0:48:21 GMT
So it sounds like most sheep are shorn twice a year. I envy you for being able to take care of those beautiful sheep! Of course, I know it must be a lot of work, too.
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Post by Shepherdess on May 7, 2014 22:57:23 GMT
Fabulous! You did a great job and the colour is beautiful. I want to try this but nice clean and cheap fleece is hard to come by.
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Post by zara on May 8, 2014 21:42:12 GMT
Our first lambs have just been born! Perhaps one of the greatest joys of being a sheep owner. :-)
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Post by MTRuth on May 8, 2014 23:00:38 GMT
They are adorable
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