Nuno Felting Fun

Getting ready to nuno felt onto pieces of dyed cheese cloth. I'll also over-felt the pre-nuno'd long piece across top of photo. Cheesecloth pieces are laid out on pool-supply bubble wrap with tufts of combed wool, mohair and silk rovings arranged however you want. I have to remember to lay bits of wool on top of each piece of yarn, silk or mohair embellishment to felt it down to the base.
I've got a pitcher of warm ivory soaped water and use a plastic baggy glove to drip and rub with water. Then I roll them up rather tightly in the bubble wrap a few hundred times. Drop the wet bundle 10 times opening it up so I don't felt the edges together. Then, I chunk them down hard on the table about 10000 times for an hour until they shrink about 1/3 of the original size. ** Update - my arms are sore! Nuno-felting should be the new arm workout trend! (Click on the photo to see a close up.)

A couple of wet pieces after I've rolled and chunked them a few thousand times. They've started to shrink and the wool is coming through the wholes in back of the cheesecloth. It's finished when it's shrunk to about 1/3 of the size I started with

A few finished and dried Nuno pelts. (Click on Picture)

They remind me of fabric animal hides but without the killin and skinnin.

So far, I've only made doll clothes from nuno felt but I'm thinking of a small wall quilt or whatever else comes up. A few close ups:





eeew! I bought a bunch more felt, silk roving and a few yards of silk gauze from Wild Turkey Feltmakers and Polly Stirling. Polly is a magnificent fiber artist who developed the whole nuno felting process in Australia!