Merino Wool and Silk Blended Top - FELTED

You may remember our item about Felt Wrapped Soap and the lovely Merino wool and silk blend we used.  Impatient as always, I decided to unwrap the soap before it had all been used.

After carefully cutting open the package at one end I found that the fibre had not felted quite as much as I had expected.  As the package was still soapy, I rolled up a handful of carriers bags, pushed them inside the orifice and dampened it with hot water before working up a lather.  More soap and hot water was added while I worked the piece into shape.

A felted vessel that started out as felt wrapped soap.

It didn't take too much effort for the fibres to felt together and tranform into this organic shaped vessel.

Here are examples of how the Merino wool and silk blend looks when flat felted. The highlights of white silk glisten against the subtle blend of tan through to dark brown.

A dense felt with highlights of silk

The Merino wool and silk blend top was spilt lengthways and loosely woven, over and under before felting in bubble wrap and a bamboo felting mat.  It took a fair amount of elbow grease to achieve this dense felt but was well worth the effort.

The Merino wool and silk blend can be found on our website, as can a selection of Felt Making books and felt making tools, including the bamboo felting mat and bubble wrap.