Wet Wool Felting and Inspiring Artists who use Felting in their Practice

Todays textile lesson was based on wet wool felting. I vaguely remember having a go at it around my Grandma’s table when I was younger and I am familiar with needle felting as my mum and I used to make ‘magic wool fairies’ with needles around the fire in winter.

I enjoyed the process of wet wool felting, although it was tedious rolling the wool for lengthily periods of time.

Below, I have attached an image from my sketchbook where I have explained the process of wet wool felting:

I made two sheets of plain felt, one a natural white and then one grey, ready to use for a task next lesson. These were quite thick as they were formed from 4 layers of wool. I then made a patterned piece based on my illustrations of seed heads. The patterned version is made using the same process as the blank pieces, only just before placing the mesh over the wool and adding warm soapy water, I placed some materials and bits of coloured wool on the layered pieces of wool. In order to ensure the bits of material and string etc. stick, and felt along with the wool, very fine layers of wool must be layered over the material.

As it was my first attempt at creating a wet wool felted composition, I wasn’t sure how the materials would look once they’d been rolled and felted and so I just went ahead and experimented. I’m not so fond of how the finish piece looks as I’d like it to have a little more definition, I will perhaps work into it with stitch to refine it a little more. I am however more familiar in working with felt, and now know what to expect a little more and so it was a useful experiment.

Artists who use felting in their practice

Joe Neil

Jo Neil, a felt maker based in North West England, takes her inspiration from everyday ‘mundane’ objects with an interest in our relationship to them, how we use and view them. ‘Felt like it’ was started up in 2008 as a label for Jo’s original designs that use feltmaking, stitch and fine art technique. The first piecec I’ve chosen of her’s, drew my attention for it’s monochrome patterns appear to be piled and tangles- a nice effect that I would hve never thught to epermient with. As she uses a monochrome palet for this piece it ppears stright forward and it’s easy to distingiush the felt and it’s patters despite being a complicated design. The second piece by her, that I’ve chosen, featuring a rather abstract figure interested me for i like the way the artist has created a muffled, soft coloured backgroundto contrast the intricately stitched red clown. As the background is quite ubtle the artists is able to use fine stitch which creates delicacy within her piece.

Moy Mackey

Moy Mackay works from her home in the Scottish Borders, and she fuels her passion for colour and texture through inspiration drawn from her surroundings. She uses merino fleece fibres in the same way that a painter uses brushstrokes which creates “felt paintings” of stunning warmth and texture. Her pieces are striking as she dapples them with vibrant colures which immediately catch the eye and I notice the felt imitates and slightly exaggerates the waves and slopes and curvatures of nature perfectly, giving each piece character. I’m particularly drawn to the piece featuring two little houses, as the background blue is so vibrant and despite the it covering most of the piece it refrains from washing the other elements out for she dapples blue in the bottom half of the piece to balance the image. What’s more the blue is lies by an almost equally strong ochre colour. The careful black outlines lend the piece refinement and pull the simple elements together and form detail.

Andrea Hunton

The way the artists uses the felt here, exemplifies the flowing strands of hair and grass and clouds and creates a striking sense of the wind.

Andrea Hunton’s felt piece’s caught my attention for she creates a sense of space within her work by creating strong foregrounds, middle grounds and backgrounds. As I look at them I feel as though I’m sucked in by the flowing strands of felt and it’s difficult to look away. The artist uses mixtures of strands of colours in her elements which lend a realistic effect. As her pieces feature dark toned colours, her work exposes a raw mellow atmosphere that I relate to, found in nature.