Wet felting with resist

[Deleted]

Hello Everyone,

i just took took a wet felting class to make a purse. What I was taught was to start with your fibers slight over the edge and then fill in the rest of the center. Then "Wet" down turn over  and bring your over the edge fiber over to the new side. Thenndomthe same thing x 4 times. 

My question is each time you do this the edges of your purse is getting thicker and thicker. In the end my purse had a big ridge on each side which I did not like. They edges did not blend in smoothly with the front and back of the purse. 

At home yesterday I wet it down again and rub these edges with my palm wash board and got them to look at bit better and now the purse is  drying again.

How does one "Prevent" this extra thickness on the edges? Is the technique right? Also both corners of the purse really turned our very very thick.. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Pandagirl]

Judy, when I did my purse I had the handles go around the sides and bottom so I did overlap it around to secure the strap. Which is why next time I will try to put them inside. They don't look that bad, but I understand your concern.


feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/08/02/from-batts-to-a-handbag/#comments

i would suggest the last one or two layers you don't over lap.  It probably depends on the thickness of the overlap. They should be wisps, not like you were laying out a layer of roving to build up a base.  The instructor should have made that clear and checked your work as you went.

[MTRuth]

Judy - yes, that is the way I do things over a resist. What you want to watch is how much fiber you are laying over the edge so that the thickness is not excessive. You don't want as much fiber going over as you do on the body of the piece since you end up with fibers from each side overlapping. On the last layer, I avoid doing any overlapping edges at all.

Also, you need to pay close attention to the edges making sure that they are not sagging away from the resist. When a resist is rolled and the edge is sagging away from the resist, it will felt to itself and make a ridge. I spend a lot of time rubbing the edges in towards the resist before doing any rolling. I will also check each time after rolling and make sure the edge isn't making a ridge. It helps if once the felt is holding together fairly well if you move the edge of the resist around inside the felt.

Any extra thickness anywhere is the result of how you laid out the wool. Careful attention to layout is the key. You should be able to feel with your hands before wet down if there are thick or thin places. Then you need to either remove or add wool to get everything even. With practice you will be able to make 3D pieces over a resist without ridges or extra thickness.

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Great advice, ladies! Felting a vessel with a resist is on my list of things to “try again."

[halay]

I understand your frustration especially if this happened during the workshop.
Next time, if you notice that your edges are getting too thick compared to the central part, add more wool in the middle to even out the surface. As Marilyn said, I also think that your teacher should have warned you about getting ridges on the sides. I believe bringing ends of fibre and folding them on the other side is important for getting strong edges but you do not need to go too far beyond the edge wheny laying the wool.
You mentioned you laid four layers of wool. If it was 21 mic merino I think that was ok, however not with some coarse wool. But then again thickness of layers is a relative thing.

[Deleted]

Hello Ladies, thank you very much for your opinions, I think it will be awhile before I feel comfortable with using resists and having my edges look like the experts do. I did have a ocean theme for my purse and made a prefelt to take with me to the class to create wee rock pool on it. I had put a lot of thought into designing my purse and making the template before the class.

[MTRuth]

Just keep practicing - that's the way to improve the edges Do you have a photo?

[Shepherdess]

As everyone said practice, being conscious of how much wool is at the edge and keeping the wool tight around the edge. When I first cut out my resist work on the edges right away. Often stretching the inside to match the outside to eliminate any ridge, then work on shrinking them together. The wool next to the resist has less distance to go around then the outside wool. Think of a running track. The inside lane is shorter then the outside lane. You need to even that out when you open it up.

[crealou]

Great information on this post. How about working inside out? I mean by that once it is all felted you turn it inside out and the edges that might be too big, not even and maybe ugly are inside the purse instead of outside. I am just a thought saying that but I never tried before. The only thing I tried with a resit are fingerless gloves and the edges are quite difficult to do wright. Of course the wool would have to be laid out according to what you want to see once it is turned. But like I said, it is just a thought. The experienced ladies on the forum will tell me if me idea is totally bad and does not make any sense.

[Pandagirl]

Crealou, you can work either way. When I did my Easter baskets, I worked inside out. However, when I designed my purse with multiple resists I did the opposite.
feltingandfiberstudio.com/?s=Easter+basket
feltingandfiberstudio.com/?s=Handbag

I think it depends on how you plan it, how complicated it is and how comfortable you are with working inside out. It takes a bit more planning to do it inside out if you have a complicated design, but it's doable. I hope that helps.

[MTRuth]

I like working inside out. But some people have a real problem with doing it that way as it all "seems backwards". I know this because I taught a class where I showed people how to work inside out and some of the students just didn't get it at all.

I think that most embellishments stay on better when working inside out because you aren't disturbing them as much as you do when they are on the outside.

[crealou]

Thanks Ruth and Marilynand also for the links. I saw that you edges are quite nice and smooth since you have worked inside out. Great job buy like you both have said could be quite a challenge to work that way.

[Deleted]

I have never thought that you could work inside out. Ruth do you work on both the outside and the inside both or just the inside???

[MTRuth]

When you are laying out your fibers, you put the embellishments first against the resist and then add a layer of wool. You wet down and then flip over. Lay out embellishments, fold over any wool from the other side, lay another layer of wool and then wet down. Then just add your layers of wool as you normally would. Begin the felting process the same as you always do. After cutting out the resist, you turn the piece inside out and there you have all your lovely embellishments on what is now the outside. If you have felted a ridge along the edges, it will now be inside. But you should still try to avoid the ridge by methods discussed above.

[Deleted]

I am a visual learning person, so I think I would have to see this method done before trying it. Big smile. I just realized you have published a book how exciting this must be for you, I have not seen it yet. Is this method explained in your book??? Smile