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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 8:13:39 GMT
Hello! I tried to find posts on drying methods, but I think I am not very good at searching in the forum, I could not find anything specific: apologies if I am bothering everyone for something already out there!
I would like to understand different methods to dry felt, with weaknesses and strenghts of the methods.
For instance, for a flat piece maybe it is best to put it on a flat rack to dry,so it does not lose its shape, but if you want to dry fast you can use also..? For a sculptural piece you can use a dryer both to full it and to dry, but only if/ when...? And if you do so, then maybe the shape will be altered if...? An advantage of the method is that the felt becomes...?
I am very interested, because I am drying a vessel on a heater, I do not have a dryer and anyway I am wondering if it would lose its shape in one: someone has mentioned using a phon to achieve stiffness on top of fast drying, using kitchen paper towels inside the vessel to wick out moisture and dry it faster, and I am thinking that there must be loads of tips on drying that I would love to learn!
Thank you as always for your patience with my rookie questions! Caterina
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Apr 6, 2021 9:26:08 GMT
Your questions are just as useful to us as to you. It makes us think, and we get tips from each other with the answers. I'm looking forward to seeing how others do their drying.
With flat felt, I tend to spin it in the washing machine, then roll it in a towel and twist hard (if you roll it up in the towel and put one end of the roll on the floor under your foot, then twist the rolled towel until it buckles and pull hard it really does squeeze out much of the remaining water)and then reshape and iron it. It then goes into the airing cupboard or on a radiator till almost completely dry and I iron it again if necessary. With sculptural pieces, the only difference in my handling is to leave out the ironing. After getting as much water out as possible, I reshape and then put it in the airing cupboard. If necessary I add some sort of support to some part of it, depending upon the shape and "floppyness". Ann
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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 9:44:01 GMT
Your questions are just as useful to us as to you. It makes us think, and we get tips from each other with the answers. I'm looking forward to seeing how others do their drying. With flat felt, I tend to spin it in the washing machine, then roll it in a towel and twist hard (if you roll it up in the towel and put one end of the roll on the floor under your foot, then twist the rolled towel until it buckles and pull hard it really does squeeze out much of the remaining water)and then reshape and iron it. It then goes into the airing cupboard or on a radiator till almost completely dry and I iron it again if necessary. With sculptural pieces, the only difference in my handling is to leave out the ironing. After getting as much water out as possible, I reshape and then put it in the airing cupboard. If necessary I add some sort of support to some part of it, depending upon the shape and "floppyness". Ann Very intetesting, Ann, thank you. I must try some of it: especially the twisting with towel part is unexpected for me. For the flat pieces, I carefully wrap in a towel, put the sandwich on a chair and...sit on it! Sometimes my bottom gets wet, it is a bit embarassing..lol! But it does squeeze a lot of the water out. Then I put it flat on a heater or rack. Caterina
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Post by MTRuth on Apr 6, 2021 14:28:50 GMT
I use the towel rolling method with both flat and 3D pieces. For a flat piece, I sometimes "block" it on a foam pad by using pins and stretching and pinning the piece flat. It can help even up the edges too. Then let it dry, sometimes leaning it over the heater vent in wintertime.
With a 3D piece, I often stuff with plastic bags to get the shape I want. Or you can use a balloon to make something round. If you are adding creases to a piece you can use bulldog clips to hold them in place but you should cover metal parts with paper or cloth to prevent rust stain on the felt.
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Post by lyn on Apr 6, 2021 14:33:17 GMT
My favourite drying method for flat pieces is to lay an old towel on my bamboo mat, place the rinsed felt on the towel, then cover it with another old towel (old towels are quite smooth). Then I roll it all up tightly in the bamboo mat and roll it back and forth. Then I place plastic cross-stitch mesh on a rack then lay the felt on it to dry. With vessels I prefer to just let them drain dry on plastic cross-stitch mesh on a rack. The large rack is from Ikea and is covered with two large pieces of cross-stitch plastic mesh. The small one is a cake cooling rack.
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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 15:01:50 GMT
I use the towel rolling method with both flat and 3D pieces. For a flat piece, I sometimes "block" it on a foam pad by using pins and stretching and pinning the piece flat. It can help even up the edges too. Then let it dry, sometimes leaning it over the heater vent in wintertime. With a 3D piece, I often stuff with plastic bags to get the shape I want. Or you can use a balloon to make something round. If you are adding creases to a piece you can use bulldog clips to hold them in place but you should cover metal parts with paper or cloth to prevent rust stain on the felt. Thank you, Ruth. The bulldog clips seem what I need for my vessel right now! Do you mean pegs? Maybe something stronger? Caterina
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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 15:03:57 GMT
My favourite drying method for flat pieces is to lay an old towel on my bamboo mat, place the rinsed felt on the towel, then cover it with another old towel (old towels are quite smooth). Then I roll it all up tightly in the bamboo mat and roll it back and forth. Then I place plastic cross-stitch mesh on a rack then lay the felt on it to dry. With vessels I prefer to just let them drain dry on plastic cross-stitch mesh on a rack. The large rack is from Ikea and is covered with two large pieces of cross-stitch plastic mesh. The small one is a cake cooling rack. Thank you, Lyn. The plastic mesh seems stiff enough for augmenting the available drying surface as well! That is pretty interesting for me. Caterina
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Post by MTRuth on Apr 6, 2021 15:42:10 GMT
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Post by Shepherdess on Apr 6, 2021 16:16:15 GMT
I usually spin my pieces out. I have a laundry spinner so is get a lot more water out than a salad spinner or washing machine. I lay flat things on a sweater dryer to finish drying but I would iron it if I needed it to dry fast. for hats, if it's simple just spin, shape and pop it on a drying wrack. if it has a lot of folds or things I often reshape it on a hat block and pin or clamp parts until they are dry. In class, we use a salad spinner to get lots of water out, so things are not dripping on the way home. Scarves I spin and hang over the shower rail.
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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 17:14:01 GMT
Thank you, Ruth, now I get what you meant. I must have small ones somewhere around the house, I need to buy bigger ones for felting. Thanks. Caterina
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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 17:16:38 GMT
I usually spin my pieces out. I have a laundry spinner so is get a lot more water out than a salad spinner or washing machine. I lay flat things on a sweater dryer to finish drying but I would iron it if I needed it to dry fast. for hats, if it's simple just spin, shape and pop it on a drying wrack. if it has a lot of folds or things I often reshape it on a hat block and pin or clamp parts until they are dry. In class, we use a salad spinner to get lots of water out, so things are not dripping on the way home. Scarves I spin and hang over the shower rail. Thank you: I own a salad spinner, I will give it a try with scarves and smaller things! Good idea. Caterina
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Apr 6, 2021 21:40:21 GMT
I have tried this but I ended up with marks/dents that I couldn't get out. I suppose my clips may have been too strong. Ann
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Post by caterina on Apr 6, 2021 22:32:23 GMT
I have tried this but I ended up with marks/dents that I couldn't get out. I suppose my clips may have been too strong. Ann This is an interesting point, Ann. I guess if you take them off before the object is totally dry, maybe you could still rub the marks smooth? or is it too late? Caterina
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Apr 7, 2021 6:13:44 GMT
I have tried this but I ended up with marks/dents that I couldn't get out. I suppose my clips may have been too strong. Ann This is an interesting point, Ann. I guess if you take them off before the object is totally dry, maybe you could still rub the marks smooth? or is it too late? Caterina You probably could. Alternatively you could perhaps put larger pieces of plastic between the clip and the felt to "spread the load"; or pieces of dry felt to pad and soften the clip edges. Ann
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Post by caterina on Apr 7, 2021 7:20:47 GMT
This is an interesting point, Ann. I guess if you take them off before the object is totally dry, maybe you could still rub the marks smooth? or is it too late? Caterina You probably could. Alternatively you could perhaps put larger pieces of plastic between the clip and the felt to "spread the load"; or pieces of dry felt to pad and soften the clip edges. Ann Yes, that would help, I imagine. Thank you for the tip! Caterina
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