Plastic Fibre

[zed]

Here's a photo of the Plastic Fibre I used for the 'Twists, twirls, and Spirals' Challenge


plastic fibre by zedster01, on Flickr

It has some crimped bits which felt quite well if they're not layed too thickly and it can be carded/fluffed up/spread out etc.

I blended it with merino, then made twists for felting into a coaster


Merino and Plastic fibre twists by zedster01, on Flickr

[MTRuth]

Hmmmm... I haven't seen that before . Did you get it from World of Wool?

[koffipot]

Does this fibre stiffen the felt? I'm thinking lampshades.

[zed]

Yeah, it's from World of Wool
No, it doesn't stiffen it really, it's very soft and spongy, so it's thick but still soft and light.

[lyn]

Hello Zed - I haven't seen that before. What is the advantage(s) to using it? How does it enhance the wool in felting?

Like the coaster very much!

[zed]

Hi Lyn
Thanks. For this piece it was more about experimenting with the look and feel really. The plastic is good for texture, for using to create a certain look, a 'sponginess'. I've used it to give a look of moss or moor grass. I'm sure it could be used for many more things, and it's only £1 for 100g

[MTRuth]

Can you dye it? What kind of plastic is it? I know nylon dyes with acid dyes.

[pamd]

I think the coaster is quite wonderful, Zed.

[zed]

Thanks a lot, Pam
I don't know, Ruth, plastic bottles come in all sorts of colours, but I imagine the dye is added very early in the process.
Nylon is an almost exact synthetic copy of silk or wool, it does dye really nicely doesn't it. The nylon and plastic staple fibres look very similar but work very differently. I'd love to dye the plastic fibre, I'll have to do a search about it.

[florcita]

that fibre does look cool! I like your stripey coaster!
Does it feel soft like silk afterwards?? for that price, it is worth the experiment!

[zed]

Thanks
It's more like polar fleece in the way it feels, especially if it's thick, kind of spongy