Beautiful film on felting

[Warpy]

Felting was the original textile, bits of animal fiber picked off bushes and small trees during the spring when anything covered with hair was molting the winter coat. "Oetzi," whose 5000 year old body was discovered in the Alps, was wearing felted garments.

The film is 30 minutes long and every minute is delightful.

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/10499

[snappyturtle]

1. Hey thanks! I'll love this. I don't felt but have been

interested in the process and someday want to make a felted
bag. Maybe this is what I need to see!

[northoftheborder]

2. I haven't watched this, but plan to.

I used to have a Sheltie who shed the most bountiful hair, all the time, but especially late in the summer, I suppose, because new hair was being grown for winter. I used to comb and brush piles of hair, and wondered how that could be used to make a fabric. How would you wash it? I'll watch the film, I was just wondering what kind of thread/hair they used for the felting.

[Warpy]

3. They concentrated on artists who are making a living at it

and they say merino wool does the best job. Their most interesting stuff is mixed media and their colors are absolutely stunning.

If you know any spinners, they'd probably like the dog hair. While it will felt, it's not nearly as good as wool.

My favorite sweater is wool and chow hair. 22 years later, it's still going strong.

I have to say it's making me think about going to Etsy and buy a bunch of batts for felting. I'd love to do a bag with fine wire inside the shoulder strap to piss thieves off.

[surrealAmerican]

6. It was surprising to me ...

... that she didn't use anything to reinforce the shoulder strap. I would have thought it would be necessary, even just to prevent the straps from stretching out.

[Warpy]

8. Felted wool is amazing stuff

and not a bit like the craft "felt" you find in stores. It doesn't budge, at all, and while it will tear if it's thin enough, you have to apply considerable strength to do it. I would reinforce a bag's strap with fine wire only to keep it from being cut by a thief. I wouldn't want to lose my spindle and wool, which is what would be inside it.

It would be interesting to felt something on purpose, anyway.

[surrealAmerican]

10. I've felted knit items, including bags ...

... and while tearing is not usually an issue, sagging is, especially if the bag is loaded with more than a couple of pounds of stuff.

[northoftheborder]

4. That was totally fascinating.

I see why they use wool. It is long, and wavy, which helps it stick together in the mat. I have a scarf I bought on Etsy that used felting. It was not nearly as advanced and complicated as the wonderful art shown on the video, but it is soft, and I love it. It uses very thin felt made together with the sheer silk; part of it is just silk and sheer, other parts very finely felted. I have no idea how they did it; the process in the film used a layer of silk to roll and knead the felted mat, but then removed when completed, leaving only the wool mat.

That was very interesting; thanks for putting that on the blog.

[Warpy]

5. I was especially impressed by the use of silk between the lattices

in the scarf. The material distorted beautifully as the size decreased.

Once you've got the batts, it takes soap, hot water and elbow grease.

And talent.

[surrealAmerican]

7. Great film!

I loved the way the stop-motion animation worked with the live action.

[SheilaT]

9. I will need to watch it, although

apparently the Felting Gods do not like me very much. Nothing felts for me except by accident. Yesterday I machine washed and dried a shawl I had crocheted a while back, deciding it definitely needed to be cleaned. Now I have a lovely, semi-felted scarf.