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Post by Frances on Feb 13, 2015 4:56:10 GMT
I use the microwave too - what I was working on would not fit that is why I tried the iron. I almost melted a plastic bottle in the microwave today - thought I hit 1 minute and hit 2 - it is a little out of shape now.
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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Mar 20, 2015 17:53:09 GMT
Hm, I'm reading about the iron with felt and remembered something I read the other day about setting yarn (that's when you're finished spinning it, and then 'finish' it off with a wash and other little details). Although setting is usually done with water, it can also be done with an iron, but Jacey Boggs, spinner extraordinaire, was saying that using steam to set wool would alter its properties in some way, like changing how springy the wool could be. Bear with me, here's the question: if steam does alter the wool in a more permanent way, would it also affect how it behaved if wet felted after steaming? Would it decrease the shrinkage rate, for example? (Sorry if my explanation and question aren't the best, my brain refuses to cooperate today)
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Post by MTRuth on Mar 20, 2015 21:05:53 GMT
I use steam all the time when I dye wool. It doesn't seem to change much as far as I can tell. The wool still felts easily.
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Post by Shepherdess on Mar 21, 2015 0:55:18 GMT
I can't see how it would What it does do is give the wool back its crimp. All the wool in top has been stretched. Then the spinning stretches and straightens it more by adding twist and tension. When you wet it or steam it gets it's crimp back. You haven't really changed it but returned it to it's natural state. I think it's a bit like thwacking your yarn. You can but you do not need to. It depends on what you want to do with it. There was some discussion on the felt list about steaming your wool to get it to felt faster because it has it's crimp back. What did she say would change?
PS it seems to me there are as many Rules in spinning as there are in felting. and if you ask 10 people what to do you get 10 answers.
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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Mar 21, 2015 18:12:45 GMT
Ann, here's a copy of Jacey Boggs's words: "Hold the yarn in the steam until all the squigglying stops. That’s it. Unlike a basic finish, a steam finish (or set, and you’re about to see why this can be called a set more than the other methods) will actually change the make-up of yarn. The steaming process causes individual polypeptide chains to burst, shift against each other, find their equilibrium, and form new chains in this more stable position. This sounds great, right? (...) Steaming yarn, let’s be honest, is a bit of a correcting finish. As such, there’s usually some sort of stretching, elongating, or holding firm, and whenever you do that kind of blocking, the result, to varying degrees, is a loss of elasticity and loft. And while steaming is a more permanent resetting of the twist than anything else we can do in the comfort of our own homes, it may not last forever. Here’s the deal: Your yarn’s new steam-provided balance will only stay put until the yarn is subjected to a higher temperature than the steam you used. When and if that happens, you yarn will be re-set in whatever position it’s in when it comes into contact with that new, hotter steam." Here's the link to the article: www.cnch.org/cnchnet/fall-2012/get-ready-get-set-finish/
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Post by Shepherdess on Mar 21, 2015 20:57:37 GMT
Ok I see what she is talking about. In this case it is changing the yarn. you are hiding its true nature. she is talking about blocking the yarn. It would be similar to wetting and weighting it until dry, to set the twist. As soon as you wet or resteamed either you would get the true form of the yarn back. I don't think it needs to be at a higher temperature. Usually it is over twisted yarn people are tying to make straight. The problem is if you knit with the set yarn when you washed your piece it may end up ruining it as they yarn got back the twist it really has. I would question her bursting chains, that doesn't sound right, wool is very heat tolerant but I do not know.
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Post by Leonor (of Eleanor Shadow) on Mar 22, 2015 18:39:39 GMT
She is talking about setting the yarn, but I don't understand what she means by "a steam finish (...) will actually change the make-up of yarn. The steaming process causes individual polypeptide chains to burst, shift against each other, find their equilibrium, and form new chains in this more stable position."What does she means, does it set it permanently? If so, then you'd not get any changes if you wet the yarn again, thus it would be a great way to work with unbalanced yarns...
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Post by MTRuth on Mar 22, 2015 23:39:05 GMT
I have never heard of what she is talking about and it doesn't really make that much sense to me.
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Post by Shepherdess on Mar 23, 2015 0:10:23 GMT
I don't know what she is talking about. I don't know the chemistry but the wool has been heated several times before it got to be spun without changing it. I can't say she is wrong because I really don't know about the chemistry. My experience is that when you steam set with the steam available at home if you wet it, it gets it's energy back, assuming it is over plied or under plied. If its balanced in the first place nothing much will happen. But there are many ways to fininish. The reason you wet it or steam it is toe get the individual fibers to relax back to the natural state or to put it under tension to stretch it. Rewetting or resteaming will let you change that. They do it in weaving too. Weavers call it fulling ( just to make things confusing) but after taking a piece off the loom the wet finish it to get the fibers to realax and fluff up again.
I am not an expert all I can say is my experience and what I have seen with friends.
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Post by zed on Mar 23, 2015 9:05:53 GMT
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Post by Shepherdess on Mar 23, 2015 14:32:16 GMT
Wow that was a long an complicated way to say things. The crinkling info says spun yarn will try to ply itself to equalize the twist. They seem to be setting singles under high heat steam. They don't say that it can't be reset. As I said I am talking from my experience. I use steam in ironing and shaping but reshape with steam too. I have a steam iron and a steamer that you use instead of ironing. It's interesting that the carpet industry uses different terms. I wonder how it works with clothing textiles. the fabric would be steamed and the garments are steamed and ironed along the way to being finished.
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Post by MTRuth on Mar 23, 2015 17:30:10 GMT
Well that was way more than I needed to know
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Post by chookie2 on Sept 7, 2015 1:47:42 GMT
So glad to hear that others have a microwave in their studio,I wouldn't be without mine. I too am a loathing ironer, but my iron is out in the studio by the felting table now to give this technique a try. Yesterday I went to a dyeing workshop at an old original 1840s homestead farm in the same family since 1840 so I brought some of their original bred Polwarth roving to try. In the cellar of this lovely farm ( Tarndwarncoort) they had a beautiful large felted artwork of their home and property done by a felt artist from Holland. It was an inspiring piece. Please forgive me - I didn't take my camera or phone with me into class and so the car was too far away to go back for them in the rain. You can see some of their home and farm here though. tarndie.com/ I now really want to try a wall picture with my fleece so will try out the steam as I go.I thought I would bind it to silk as I saw a lovely wall hanging in their tea shop all eco dyed and on silk and it was about 2 x 3 metres in size and framed like a picture without glass like the first one I saw.
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Post by Pandagirl on Sept 7, 2015 1:57:17 GMT
Chookie, I'm glad you had such a wonderful experience. So sorry you didn't bring the camera it would have made a great blog. Perhaps next time. Please share you results with us.
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