The Dodo Blog

Hi!

Here’s the third part of my answer to your question:

“What are resists and how do you use them?”

If you haven’t watched parts I and II, go and check them out. You can find the links below.

SO WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING A RESIST?

You probably already know that wool can actually shrink a lot when wet felted, right?

Like even 30 or 40%, depending on the wool type and how thick your layers are or how you lay the fibers.

So, when designing a resist, you have to plan for this shrinkage.

If you’re making a bag or any other object where the size doesn’t have to be very precise, you can make your resist and start felting.

But if you want to make a hat or a pair of shoes, then you want to get the RIGHT size, right?

In that case, start by making a sample with the wool you’ll be working with and lay it in the way and with the thickness you’re planning for your piece.

From this sample you can see how much the wool shrinks, so that you can design a resist for the exa...

Hi!

Today I’m here with the second part of my answer to your question:

“What are resists and how do you use them?”

If you haven’t watched part I, go and check it out. You can find the link below.

SO WHAT MATERIALS CAN WE USE FOR A RESIST?

One of the most important things when using a resist is the CHOICE OF MATERIALS.

It has to be something that doesn’t felt onto wool, otherwise it’ll remain stuck between the layers, instead of doing its job, which is to SEPARATE them.

It should also be flexible enough to work with.

The 3 main materials used are cardboard, thin plastic and floor underlayment.

CARDBOARD is not something I use, because we work with water, so you can only use it once. It’s also not very malleable, so it’s a bit hard to work with.

THIN PLASTIC is something I use sometimes. It’s malleable but it’s hard to feel through a thick piece of felt. So, I only use it when I’m felting thin pieces.

FLOOR UNDERLAYMENT is my favorite resist material. It’s thicker than plastic...

Hi!

Today I’m answering another one of your questions.

Now, I’ve done a couple of videos about resists, but I keep getting questions about them. Because this is such a big and important topic, I keep answering them.

Speaking of which, here’s the question for today:

“What are resists and how do you use them?”

Now, this question is very likely from someone who’s starting with wet felting and wanting to improve the technique. And this is in fact, one of the most important things to understand.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do have a couple of videos about resists, but I don’t think I explain what they are in any of them.

So, that’s what I’m going to do today.

SO, WHAT IS A RESIST?

By definition, a RESIST is anything you use between two pieces of wool to avoid that they felt with each other.

A resist is only used DURING the felting process and it’s removed after the process is complete. Or rather, before you start fulling.

You can have a resist:

• for the whole piece (like for a
...

Hi!

As you might know, I’ve been asking you to send me the biggest questions you have on wet felting. I’ve received a bunch of them and I’ll be working on the different topics in the next weeks.

Some of them are great for the free videos and I got suggestions for new courses as well. So, thank you again!

I’m going to start with the ones that are common problems to a lot of people. Today I have a great topic.

I don’t know who it’s from because it came from an anonymous survey. But it’s definitely a common one. And the question is

“How important is the thickness of the fiber layers when making something like mitts? Is it better to do thin or thick pieces?”

No matter if we’re talking about mitts, clothes, hats or bags, my answer to this question would ALWAYS be the same.

FIRST – YOU decide on how thick you want your piece to be.

This will depend on

a) the type of climate you’re making it for

b) how stiff or soft do you want your piece to be.

Let me give you an example, so that ...

I often get questions about nuno felting, so I’d like to share a couple of tips to help you start experimenting, and to get the feeling for it, especially if it’s something entirely new for you.

Nuno felting is a very recent felting method, and it was developed when designers rediscovered felting, and started playing with new ways to use this old textile technique. It was developed by Polly Stirling in the 90s, when she combined the traditional wet felting with light fabrics, like silk for example. In her own words:

‘In 1990 I became entranced by the myriad of transformations of the rich and ancient textile called felt. I spent most of the ensuing decade seeing what new forms could evolve, as appropriate for the subtropics of Australia where I had lived for nearly 20 years. The techniques I developed for making lightweight felts soon led to experiments combining other materials, and in 1994 my assistant Sachiko Kotaka and I developed the technique we termed “Nuno Felt.” [From the J...

Even if you’re more experienced in wet felting, you’ll still have projects that don’t go the way you planned. Sometimes that can lead to surprising results and to discovering a new technique, but sometimes they just turn into something you’re not happy about.

So, the question is ‘what went wrong?’ I often say that wool has a mind of its’ own. That’s actually one of the beauties of felting. But it’s also true that so many times the cause for a ‘failed’ project is you didn’t pay enough attention to a part of the process.

In some cases, you can still ‘save’ the piece, but the best way to deal with this is to know where things can go wrong. This way you can avoid running into problems in the first place.

Now, we know there are 5 important factors for wet felting: 1) wool, 2) soap, 3) moisture, 4) temperature and 5) pressure. So, if something went wrong with the process, we can assume that something went wrong with at least one of these 5 elements.

So, if things didn’t go as planned or ...

I’m a felter at heart, so, like you, I love wool. I love its softness, its textures and its warmth. You know that smell when you’re wet felting? I adore that too (and I bet I’m not alone).

But wool is even more than that. It’s a wonder fiber created by Nature.

So, if you like to understand how things work and you’re a bit of a geek like me, I think you’ll enjoy today’s video.

Because of the structure of its fiber, wool is naturally flame resistant. That’s why it’s an excellent fiber when it comes to fire safety.

Of the commonly used textile fibers, wool is recognized as the most flame resistant. Here are some of its particular properties, when it comes to fire:

•  It has a very high ignition temperature of around 600° C
• It needs a high oxygen level to sustain combustion
•  It releases a low amount of heat energy when it burns
•  It doesn’t melt nor stick when it burns
•  And it’s self-extinguishing

So, this is why wool blankets are recommended for extinguishing small fires, and wh...

POUNDING/BEATING/STOMPING

In these techniques, pressure is applied to the piece by hitting it with something. These are more aggressive methods and they make sense when you’re felting a large piece, especially if it’s a thick one, or when you want to get a particularly dense felt. In fact, this technique was widely used in traditional felting, in combination with rolling, especially for carpets.

Stomping would, of course, be done with your feet, whereas pounding and beating would imply using a tool again. Depending on the size of the piece, some felters may use a meat mallet or a potato masher, wooden hammers or sticks/clubs.

Image from “Vom Filz behütet”, Bruno Bujack

One way to do this, is to roll the piece and to hit it on the spots, where we want our felt to become denser. The piece should then be constantly turned, in order to get an even result.

The advantage is that it’s easier to achieve a greater density than with other methods, but keeping the right shape and an even d...