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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Apr 9, 2015 18:31:38 GMT
Hello, fellow forum members! Here I am with another question I hope you can help me with. I was recently contacted by a customer who'd like to commission a needle felted dog sculpture from me, but she wants to gift it to a friend who's a vegan and allergic to wool. I can only come up with decent ideas if I'm blending with animal fibres, so I was wondering if anyone has any brilliant ideas with plant fibres to completely replace animal ones. Long shot perhaps, but I had to try! Thanks in advance for reading  |
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Post by MTRuth on Apr 9, 2015 18:54:31 GMT
I would assume that the person has a dog?? I would go with dog hair.
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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Apr 9, 2015 19:05:56 GMT
I asked about that, but it seems the pet is gone already, this would be a memorial :/ But thanks, Ruth!
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Post by Shepherdess on Apr 9, 2015 19:35:08 GMT
If she is allergic to wool would llama or alpaca work? Neither are harmed to get the fiber. I do know someone that uses polyester fiberfill for her cores. Maybe it would work and then use permanent marker to "paint" the outside?
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Post by Frances on Apr 9, 2015 21:10:18 GMT
I have ramie and bamboo fiber - would that work - I have only used in nuno felting. I have also seen milk and corn fiber mentioned.
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Post by MTRuth on Apr 9, 2015 22:05:27 GMT
None of the plant fibers felt by themselves.
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Post by Frances on Apr 10, 2015 0:13:25 GMT
Thanks Ruth - I did not think of that
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Post by halay on Apr 10, 2015 4:59:01 GMT
How about yak wool?
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Post by zed on Apr 10, 2015 10:46:54 GMT
Is she really 'allergic' to wool? It's very, very rare. When people say they are allergic they have usually had an itchy experience of coarse wool. If it something to do with trapped skin flakes (just guessing here) then any animal fibre would be out. Would it be too much hassle to felt a small ball to send see how she is with that? What colour do you need? There are quite a few animal fibres not from sheep, like angora, mohair, yak, camel, bison, llama, alpaca. A lot of people in spinning groups use dog and cat hair/fur. You could ask at a pet groomers? I think most of the plant fibres would be too soft/shiny too. The flax/hemp ones would break and be too rough looking. Of the synthetic fibres, the rougher ones like crimped plastic or nylon would needlefelt better. I've dyed crimped nylon, and it comes out quite 'matte' so that might be an idea. Top left:  |
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Post by Frances on Apr 10, 2015 17:59:47 GMT
Maybe I just have really sensitive skin but I have a knit 65% Baby Alpaca and 35% Linen Sweater and I have to wear a blouse under otherwise it is itchy.
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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Apr 11, 2015 11:37:29 GMT
Thanks for all the help!
The main problem here is that the girl is a vegan, and so all animal fibres are out - I don't know her so I can't say anything, but I also had the same thought as Zed, I wondered if she was really allergic to wool (because she's a vegan, sometimes it's just easier to claim an allergy than to have to explain your values to others).
Zed, would the crimped nylon needle felt on its own, you think? I'd need natural colours, I think white and browns.
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Post by Frances on Apr 11, 2015 13:56:33 GMT
Perhaps you could make a form using muslin and then use embroidery stitches using cotton floss to add the details - it would not be felted. I would explain to the client that successful felting requires animal fibers. Maybe she should contact a potter to make a likeness out of clay.
But when you really think about it when growing cotton pesticides are used to control/kill damaging insects. So if her belief in being vegan is not hurting living creatures the only fibers available to her are synthetic fibers. There is some cotton labeled "Organically Grown" which may mean that commercial pesticides were not use.
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Post by MTRuth on Apr 11, 2015 15:48:27 GMT
Frances - that might be the linen portion. I have always found that to be itchy for me.
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Post by zed on Apr 11, 2015 17:50:52 GMT
Yeah, I don't think alapca hs 'scales' like sheep wool (is that right? my head's fuzzy today)
Leonor, I'll try my hardest to remember to try it. I was thinking of it needled into wool, so I'm not sure on its own. Saying that, I have needled commercial synthetic art yarns into craft felt. So maybe as long as it isn't handled much, it might work.
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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Apr 11, 2015 19:45:34 GMT
Frances, that sounds like a great idea, but I'm not very good at making patterns for sewing, so that's off the table for me (then again, I think this commission is, too). Thanks, Zed. I'm beginning to think this is just too much for me right now, I'm getting ready to say I can't do it. Frances is right, this might be a better job for some other type of artist |
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