roving Blog Posts

Here are some images from a  recent felting class. Students used a selection of wool roving and embellishments on a silk gauze base to create a one of a kind scarf.

A fine silk gauze makes an ideal base for a scarf.  The wool fibres are applied directly on top of the silk into a creative design. Then wet with a soap/water mixture until all the wool is wet.  covered with a layer of netting or tulle, the scarf is rolled around bubble wrap (and an old rattan blind) then  subjected to aggitation to encourage the wool fibres to felt into the silk.

Here are just a few of the items that can be made with silk and wool.  The first image shows a bracelet made from wool roving beads, hardened with a little mop and glow.  Along with these, Joanie has strung some hand dyed silk cocoons and commercially made beads.

Image two shows a ring: the band was made from silk roving and the top of the ring is a piece of a hand dyed silk rod, soaked in mop and glow and left to dry. ( they were left outside ontop of leaves in a tree, so they would pick up the shape of the leaf)

 The design in the first image was needle felted onto a wool base. Joanie used an old wool coat picked up from the thrift shop!  The other images show  machine needle felting onto a 100% wool felt base.  We created yardage using wool and silk roving and  silk hankies.  The needle felted yardage was then  wet with soapy water, rolled between layers of bubble wrap and gently rolled for approximately 10 minutes.