Anemic colors

[Ali Iceloff]

I have a bit of  dilemma ---I got some nice wool for needlefelting in about 10 colors. Pros---it needlefelts really well and fast, and leaves little fuzz (vs. C1 and far superior to C1-Pelsull).  It's also a good price. Cons ---I've noticed that in comparison to the C1, the colors are flat and sort of 'anemic'. The NEFS C1 has really rich hues...sigh, it might be worth the $3 an ounce. ):


The obvious solution is to overdye ....but I'm just not willing to jump into the dyeing game at the moment (I do NOT need another hobby)....is there anything I can do to make the colors richer? (No carders either ): but I could hand mix I suppose). Or should I just make some flat felt pieces and stitch the bejebbers out of them? (:  

Not all the colors are a problem---the darks and lights and super brights are pretty decent to work with. But the middle tones are just kinda blah. ): 

[zed]

I don't know, I'd guess the colours are just right for something. You can definitely alter them by adding colours. I finally tried it yesterday and got good results.

Have you bought from the Norwegian Wool Company? They are very reasonably priced, probably the cheapest I've seen for Norwegian unsurprisingly.

www.norwegianwool.co.uk/coloursC1US.php

[Shepherdess]

They have good prices. new England felting supply is nearly $12 for 100gr. Their prices have come down. They used to be the only place you could get it if you lived in North America. I bet it wouldn't cost me much more to ship from Europe than form New England. My wish would be WOW to start carrying it. WOW's Norwegian is hairy and not nice when felted.

Ali, where did you get your C1?

[Shana]

Mar 24, 2015 2:57:03 GMT Ali Iceloff said:

I have a bit of  dilemma ---I got some nice wool for needlefelting in about 10 colors. Pros---it needlefelts really well and fast, and leaves little fuzz (vs. C1 and far superior to C1-Pelsull).  It's also a good price. Cons ---I've noticed that in comparison to the C1, the colors are flat and sort of 'anemic'. The NEFS C1 has really rich hues...sigh, it might be worth the $3 an ounce. ):


The obvious solution is to overdye ....but I'm just not willing to jump into the dyeing game at the moment (I do NOT need another hobby)....is there anything I can do to make the colors richer? (No carders either ): but I could hand mix I suppose). Or should I just make some flat felt pieces and stitch the bejebbers out of them? (:  

Not all the colors are a problem---the darks and lights and super brights are pretty decent to work with. But the middle tones are just kinda blah. ): 

Ali, as temporary and oh-so-cheap solution, you could use pet brushes to blend small batches of color.

I've been using Dyeing House Gallery's Maori wool for a while now..my favorite to needle-felt. Opulent Fiber used to carry it but now they ship direct to customer. 80 colors!! All definitely not-anemic. www.dhgshop.it/fibers-carded-batts-carded-maori-wool.php

[Pandagirl]

Thanks for the link Shana. Have you used it in wet felting? They say it's preferable for needle felting.

[Shana]

Mar 24, 2015 16:03:27 GMT Pandagirl said:

Thanks for the link Shana. Have you used it in wet felting? They say it's preferable for needle felting.

I have.. it wet-felts pretty well, actually. The fibers are fairly short 2" or so, which makes it preferable for needle-felting but takes longer for WF layout. It's much softer than C-1 and has very little vegetable matter (but it's in there.)



Disclaimer: DHG sent me some of their Maori/Bergschaf wool to try out so they're definitely on my "Friendly" list.

[Pandagirl]

Thanks Shana!

[MTRuth]

Blending with your hands is easy. That would be your easiest method.

[Ali Iceloff]

Wow...you guys are THE resource! I now have two new places to spend my money and some simple solutions to the current dilemma.

To answer the question above...I got my C1 from New England Felting Supply but because of the cost I looked elsewhere for felting material. Felt Alive has wool that felts really quickly (faster than the C1) with less fuzz....BUT the midrange colors are kind of blah. Of course, I'm super picky about my colors and if I hadn't had the C1 to compare, I might just have said, well that's what it looks like needle felted.

I'm going to use the blah colors as core wool and try mixing some by hand ....and stick to projects that look good with dark and light neutrals until I get more saturated colors. I was trying to make tropical fish...so you can understand why I was frustrated (:

[Pandagirl]

Sounds like a good plan Ali!

[zed]

Felting's too important for blah

Blending by hand is actually a lot easier than it sounds.