Wet felting - felting panels. Felting wool paintings: an original home decor item How to make a wool panel

Felting is considered one of the oldest technologies for creating textiles from unspun wool fibers. In recent years, this needlework technique has become very popular and has taken on an artistic form. This technique is now often used to make clothing, exclusive accessories, toys and original paintings.

This type of needlework is the process of creating a variety of products from unspun wool by interlocking and weaving its fibers using various methods using special hardened steel needles.

This process is also called felting (or felting). This exciting activity helps develop creativity.

Reference! Not all wool is suitable for felting, but only natural fibers. The best choice in this case would be mohair and alpaca wool.

Felting allows you to create original designs on fabric, beautiful toys and various decorative elements (photo). Let's look at how to felt a wool picture with your own hands with step-by-step instructions.

Necessary materials

For this type of needlework you will need the following materials:

natural wool;
felting needles with several notches at the bottom (for the dry method);
tweezers (for laying out small parts when making paintings);
flannel or non-woven fabric (for the base when making paintings);
liquid soap or warm soap solution (for the wet method);
eyes, noses and stuffing material (used in making toys).

If you do not yet have experience in purchasing suitable material for felting, it is advisable to purchase ready-made kits for creating paintings in craft stores. Such kits may include different volumes of material, needles of different sizes and a special solution for wet felting. Each set comes with detailed instructions, which will be especially convenient for beginners.

The undeniable advantage of such sets is that after creating one product, needles and solution will remain, which can be used repeatedly later.

Types of felting

There are two methods of felting - dry and wet. When dry felting The material is compacted using special needles with notches. Such notches catch the fibers and push them into the lower layers, resulting in felting. Repeatedly sticking a needle into the same place allows you to give the product the desired shape. This method of felting is most often used to create jewelry, toys and various figurines.

Wet method Felting involves the use of warm soapy water and straightened strands of wool. The layout of the material is soaked in a soap solution, after which it is rubbed and ironed in different directions, gradually increasing the degree of pressure. This method is in most cases used for the manufacture of flat objects: panels, paintings and decorations for fabric and clothing.

Advice! When making a pattern for a product, it should be taken into account that during wet felting the wool will shrink by about 30-40%.

Dry felting wool to create paintings

Paintings from a similar material are created by alternately laying strands of wool in layers on a base fixed with a frame in glass. Making a painting this way using a simple master class is a great way to master dry felting. By applying material of different shades in thin strands to each other, a smooth transition of colors from one to another is achieved.

The production of such a picture must begin with the creation of a background, which is recommended to be laid out from top to bottom in accordance with the chosen scheme.

The strands should be translucent, light and not particularly large. First, you should lay out the edges of the background with tweezers, and then the middle.

Important! After each stage of work, the product should be held under glass to secure it.

After this, you can begin to lay out the main motive of the painting. Schemes for beginners, as a rule, contain large motifs with a minimum number of shades. The first step is to lay out the contours of the main figure and fill them with material of the required shades.

Then, using additional colors, you need to “draw” the contours of the remaining figures with thin, slightly twisted strands. During the process, you need to constantly check the diagram. There is no need to rush. Continuing to “paint” the picture with thin colored strands, you need to lay them out along the lines outlined in this way, if necessary, straightening with tweezers or adjusting with scissors if the strands are too long.

Moving little by little to the foreground of the picture, you need to lay out small fragments of it, twisting and rolling the material. If the main figure turns out to be too voluminous, the wool can be slightly squished.

When the work is completed, the picture must be covered with a transparent stencil and the ends of the strands sticking out at the edges must be cut off. After this, the product can be inserted into the frame.

Wet felting

When making a picture from wool using wet felting, you will need a frame, fabric for the base, wool, tweezers, soap solution and gauze, on which the wool will be laid out in accordance with the chosen pattern.

Stages of work:

Technique:

You need to put gauze on a flat surface, and on it the base and the selected image.
Then you need to lay out the base with wool, then the background, and then the selected pattern. The wool should be laid out in strips and in the shape of a cross, trying to prevent the formation of bald spots and holes. The layers should be laid out at right angles to each other (they should have the same thickness).
After the blank of the future painting has been completely laid out, the wool must be sprinkled with water, covered with a thin cloth (nylon is best suited for this purpose) and generously lubricated with soapy water. Excess should be blotted with a napkin.
After this, the actual process of felting begins. When using the wet method, the required volume and desired texture are imparted to the wool through friction.

Advice! Using different types of wool for felting, you can get interesting decorative effects.

Working with artistic felt provides a lot of opportunities for making beautiful paintings on your own. The simplicity of the methods used makes felting accessible to everyone. Having successfully mastered the wool felting technique, you can create real masterpieces and collect your own art collection.

Wet felting from wool is used to create flat fabrics, which is why it is sometimes also called flat felting. Flat felting with wool for beginners may seem narrow-minded, but it's not!

Using this technology, you can make not only plain canvases and colored panels, but also handbags, covers for homemade notebooks, scarves, mittens and even flowers! Interesting? Then let's try it.

What do you need for wet felting?

Unlike dry felting, wet felting requires quite a lot of materials. But you can probably find them all at home. So, you will need:

bedding made of waterproof material (usually bubble wrap is used);
soap;
warm water;
net (for example, mosquito net);
towel;
spray bottle or sponge;
bamboo napkin or washboard;
decorations for your future masterpiece (optional).

Where to begin?

Wet felting lessons from wool for beginners usually involve creating simple things. For example, you can make a small panel - see the instructions for creating it below.

Lay out the bubble wrap with the bubbles facing up. Now take the wool for felting. Holding it with one hand, pull out small bunches from the tape. How small? Imagine that you are pulling out a fluffy bunch from a faded thistle flower - this is approximately the volume the bunches should be.

Lay the bundles parallel to each other, overlapping the thin edges. When you have covered the intended area of your workpiece, begin the second layer. Lay the second layer perpendicular to the first. Then repeat again, and again. The result should be 4 layers, and each subsequent one is perpendicular to the previous one.

Now it's time to check the quality. Gently pressing the wool, look for any gaps. Clearances are “blanks” for future holes in the canvas. If there are gaps, they need to be covered with tufts of wool.

How to wet felt wool?

Wet felting involves moisture. For this you need a soap solution. The technique of wet felting wool for beginners allows preparing a soap solution from ordinary soap, although professionals often use expensive ready-made felting solutions. So, take two glasses of warm water and dissolve two tablespoons of grated baby soap or three tablespoons of liquid soap in the water. Pour the solution into a spray bottle, but if you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. A sponge will also work for moisturizing.

Cover the workpiece with a net. It should cover it entirely and be even larger than it. Starting from the middle, moisten the surface with soapy water. To ensure that the solution penetrates deeply, press the product with your hands. How to understand that the workpiece is moistened enough? It is quite wet, but when pressed, no water comes through under your fingers. If water appears, blot the surface of the future panel with a towel. Balance is very important here: wool that is too dry will not mat, but wool that is too wet will unravel.

Happened? Now let's finish the product. Remove the mesh. Decorate the surface of the panel with beautiful woolen threads (if so intended), and trim the fluffy edges, tucking them into the total mass of the canvas.

Now let's start felting.

Wet felting with wool may seem uncomfortable for beginners. To prevent your first time from turning into a tragedy, use gloves. Cover your future masterpiece with the mesh and smooth it with light circular movements. You don't need to press too hard. After some time, check whether the workpiece is falling against the mesh. In this case, the pressure must be reduced. When the top layer falls off, the mesh can be removed.

When will it be ready? Easy to check. Pinch the surface of the workpiece. If hairs of fur come off, it's not done yet. When is it ready? When the entire canvas follows your fingers.

When the front part is felted, start working on the back side. Turn the workpiece over and continue felting on the other side.

When the other side is ready, take the workpiece in your hands and rub it with your hands. The first stage of felting is completed.

Now take a bamboo napkin. Place it so that it is convenient to roll it up. Place the canvas on a napkin and roll it into a roll. Place a towel on the table so that the napkin does not slip, and roll the roll over the towel. Then unroll the roll, flip the piece over at a 90-degree angle, and repeat.

If you don't have a bamboo napkin, you can roll the fabric on a washboard. To do this, spread the product on a board and rub it as if washing. When it wrinkles, smooth it out, turn it at a right angle and rub again.

And now that the panel has fallen off, it needs to be rinsed. Place it in the sink or bathtub and run hot water over it. Rinse until the water runs clear. Then rinse with cold water and dry by rolling it in a towel. Then lay it out on a horizontal surface to dry completely.

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ALL ABOUT WOOL

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History of wool felting The history of wool felting goes back to ancient times. Felting wool is the oldest technology for creating textiles. It can be associated with the nomads who were the first to domesticate sheep. It should be noted that the wool of wild sheep is almost

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Preparing wool for felting Wool prepared in the manner described below can be used for any type of felting of various products: felt boots, clothes and various small items. You already know that wool is a mass of soft and thin hairs that fit tightly to each other.

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The degree of readiness of wool It is quite difficult to determine the degree of readiness of wool for a beginner in felting. This should be determined by a number of signs.1. The size of the finished product should be reduced by 20–30%.2. The finished product will be dense and flat.3. Finished wool fibers

According to the size of the hardboard backing removed from the frame, cut out a rectangle of white flannel. Stick onto the backing (use a glue stick). This is the “canvas” for the future painting. The picture should be “painted” from the background. Tear off thin, almost transparent strands of wool from the ribbon and place them on the background. The strands should overlap each other - this results in a mixture of colors and smooth transitions from color to color.

Step 2

Lay out the foreground - snowdrifts. Different thicknesses of layers in different parts of the picture also create perspective.

Step 3

It is impossible to line small details of a painting with long fibers of wool. Cut a strand of wool over a piece of paper into very short lengths.

Step 4

Picking up small pieces of chopped wool with tweezers, lay out a small house lost in the snowdrifts.

Step 5

Cut a strand of white wool and lay the pieces on the roof. To make the roof “reflect” the sunset sky, add a little colored wool to a strand of white wool.

Step 6

While cutting colored wool, make other small details - for example, house windows, a pipe. Make smoke from a twisted strand of white wool.

Step 7

Twist a thin strand of dark wool in your fingers - a tree trunk. Place it near the house. Use finely chopped white wool to make a snow-covered tree crown.

Step 8

In the same way, laying out the cut pieces with tweezers, “plant” several Christmas trees near the house. To depict Christmas trees, use wool of several colors at once - dark green, blue, light blue. Place the strands together and chop them finely, mixing the colors. Place some white wool “snow” on the spruce paws. Lay out thin twisted strands of wattle fence near the house.

Step 9

Wrap a thin strand of yellow wool around your finger several times - this is the outline of the moon.

Step 10

Place the ring on the background. Fill it with chopped white wool. Place an image of a snow-covered Christmas tree in the foreground. Given the perspective, the image should be large.

Like any work, felting should begin with a sketch:

In order to felt a panel measuring 45*32, we will need approximately 100 grams. unspun wool. Moreover, about 40-50 grams of them. - so-called sliver, coarse wool, which is used as the basis of the panel. For “painting” with wool, both combed tape and carded tape are suitable - they will give different effects similar to painting with watercolors.

We will also need: plastic “bubble” film (which is used for packaging equipment), thin plastic film (cut bag), a bar of soap (for children), rubber bands, cotton fabric, a watering can or a plastic bottle with 5-6 holes in the cork holes, as well as a stick 60 cm long and 4 cm in diameter (you can take a rolling pin or a shovel handle)

It is necessary to take into account that wool shrinks by 30% during the felling process, which means the panels need to be laid out a third more on each side.
We begin the process of laying out the wool: take a strand of sliver in one hand, and with the other we pull out a small piece from it

We place it on bubble wrap, which is laid out with the ribbed surface facing up. We lay out the strands, orienting the direction of the fibers in one direction. In this way we lay out the entire area of the panel, not forgetting that it should be 30% larger than the final size. Then we lay out the second layer of sliver in the same way - now with the fibers in the other direction. This is necessary so that shrinkage occurs in both directions. When the entire sliver sheet is laid out, lightly press it down with your hands.

Then, in accordance with the sketch, we begin to lay out the colored wool. The layout is in such a way that the color that is in the background is laid out first. Those. First we lay out the background, and then the figure on it. We divide the wool into thin layers, which we place on a drainer. During the layout process, we use different colors, slightly overlapping one color with another, to achieve a painterly effect.

When the background is laid out, we proceed to laying out the fur on the cat figurine

We also use different shades. After that we lay out the small parts. Please note that small and thin parts may shift slightly during the felling process.

You can also use regular woolen threads (yarn) in panels to outline the elements. The yarn will fall to the wool and give an interesting “trembling” effect).

This is what our panel looks like ready for wet felting. Note that sometimes laying out the wool takes longer than the actual felting.

Prepare a soap solution: grate three baby soaps and pour 1-2 tablespoons of soap into 1 liter of boiling water. We wait for the soap to dissolve and carefully water the panel using a watering can. You should not pour a lot of solution - excess will spill out and create inconvenience, but the entire product should be evenly moistened. Small parts may shift - correct them by placing them in place and pressing lightly.

Then cover the panel with thin plastic film in one layer. Gently press the film onto the wool, lightly moisten it with soapy water (so that your hands glide over the film better), then begin to rub the entire product, pressing the wool evenly over the entire area. Three minutes 5-7 - at this time the initial falling of the wool occurs. Excess solution may spill out - keep diapers handy.

Then we tightly wrap all the layers (film and wool) onto the stick. We tie the resulting “roll” with rubber bands in three places, wrap it in a diaper, which we also secure with rubber bands, and begin to roll it with our hands. We roll along the entire diameter, move our hands along the entire length - this will ensure that the product falls evenly. We roll with effort for about 15 minutes.

Then we unfold it and check whether the product is deformed. Uneven edges can be folded inside out

Then we roll it into a “roll” in the same way, but in a different direction (i.e., if earlier you rolled it widthwise, now the panel should be wound lengthwise around the stick. This will allow the product to shrink in both directions proportionally)

At the second stage of felting, the “roll” can be placed on the floor (with an oilcloth underneath) and rolled with your feet - because the legs have more strength than the hands and the product is felted better

In total, the product should be subjected to friction for 40-50 minutes. Periodically unfold and change direction; the panel can be slightly pulled, eliminating deformation of the edges.

Indicators of felting of a product are: shrinkage of the product by 30 percent or more, inseparability of fibers from each other, general uniformity of felt.
When the product is felted, unroll it and wash it free of soap under warm running water. Gently squeeze into a dry diaper and lay out to dry.

The finished panel can be placed in a frame or sewn on the back of the slats and hung on the wall.