Wet Felting
The way that I create a tapestry involves wet felting. It is not a complicated process. Warm water, soap and some agitation. One insensitive Amazon reviewer complained that the book contained too much information on wet felting. She failed to understand that it is an actual step in the process of creating a tapestry. I even include instructions in my kits. You can accomplish the tightening process using nothing more than your hand to cause the agitation.
Why bother wet felting? Wet felting your tapestry will smooth out the needle marks and create durability. It will allow your tapestry to be used as a pillow, rug or upholstery fabric. The agitation shrinks the tapestry down, tightening the fiber strands and turning the needled tapestry into a durable and unified fabric. I welcome you to the studio for a quick tutorial in person.
Use a roller assembly which is a handy tool with a piece of PVC pipe in the middle to wrap your tapestry around
Use a roller assembly which is a handy tool with a piece of PVC pipe in the middle to wrap your tapestry around
Use the FlashFelter to alleviate the stress to your hands! There are many tools on the market that will help you get the job done, even an old fashioned washboard!
Here is a brief video of transferring the design to the wool pre felt. The pattern is underneath the wool on a white crafting table for the best visibility. There is no need for a light box, although Amazon sells an LED lightbox for less than $20 which can be very handy. I am using a ‘light hand’ with a fresh Sharpie marker.
A few simplistic & brief videos, in real time, of outlining. More videos coming soon.