Felting wool paintings

Felting is considered one of the oldest technologies for creating textiles from unspun wool fibers. In recent years, this needlework technique has become very popular and has taken on an artistic form. This technique is now often used to make clothing, exclusive accessories, toys and original paintings.

What is wool felting?

This type of needlework is the process of creating a variety of products from unspun wool by interlocking and weaving its fibers using various methods using special hardened steel needles.

This process is also called felting (or felting). This exciting activity helps develop creativity.

Reference! Not all wool is suitable for felting, but only natural fibers. The best choice in this case would be mohair and alpaca wool.

Felting allows you to create original designs on fabric, beautiful toys and various decorative elements (photo).Let's look at how to felt a wool picture with your own hands with step-by-step instructions.

Necessary materials

For this type of needlework you will need the following materials:

• natural wool;
• felting needles with several notches at the bottom (for the dry method);
• tweezers (for laying out small parts when making paintings);
• flannel or non-woven fabric (for the base when making paintings);
• liquid soap or warm soap solution (for the wet method);
• eyes, noses and stuffing material (used in making toys).

If you do not yet have experience in purchasing suitable material for felting, it is advisable to purchase ready-made kits for creating paintings in craft stores. Such kits may include different volumes of material, needles of different sizes and a special solution for wet felting. Each set comes with detailed instructions, which will be especially convenient for beginners.

The undeniable advantage of such sets is that after creating one product, needles and solution will remain, which can be used repeatedly later.

Types of felting

There are two methods of felting - dry and wet. When dry felting The material is compacted using special needles with notches. Such notches catch the fibers and push them into the lower layers, resulting in felting. Repeatedly sticking a needle into the same place allows you to give the product the desired shape. This method of felting is most often used to create jewelry, toys and various figurines.

Wet method Felting involves the use of warm soapy water and straightened strands of wool.The layout of the material is soaked in a soap solution, after which it is rubbed and ironed in different directions, gradually increasing the degree of pressure. This method is in most cases used for the manufacture of flat objects: panels, paintings and decorations for fabric and clothing.

Advice! When making a pattern for a product, it should be taken into account that during wet felting the wool will shrink by about 30-40%.

Dry felting wool to create paintings

Paintings from a similar material are created by alternately laying strands of wool in layers on a base fixed with a frame in glass. Making a painting this way using a simple master class is a great way to master dry felting. By applying material of different shades in thin strands on top of each other, a smooth transition of colors from one to another is achieved.

The production of such a picture must begin with the creation of a background, which is recommended to be laid out from top to bottom in accordance with the chosen scheme.

The strands should be translucent, light and not particularly large. First, use tweezers to lay out the edges of the background, and then the middle.

Important! After each stage of work, the product should be held under glass to secure it.

After this, you can begin to lay out the main motive of the painting. Schemes for beginners, as a rule, contain large motifs with a minimum number of shades. The first step is to lay out the contours of the main figure and fill them with material of the required shades.

Then, using additional colors, you need to “draw” the contours of the remaining figures with thin, slightly twisted strands. During the process, you need to constantly check the diagram. There is no need to rush.Continuing to “paint” the picture with thin colored strands, you need to lay them out along the lines outlined in this way, if necessary, straightening with tweezers or adjusting with scissors if the strands are too long.

Moving little by little to the foreground of the picture, you need to lay out small fragments of it, twisting and rolling the material. If the main figure turns out to be too voluminous, the wool can be slightly squished.

When the work is completed, the picture must be covered with a transparent stencil and the ends of the strands sticking out at the edges must be cut off. After this, the product can be inserted into the frame.

Wet felting

When making a picture from wool using wet felting, you will need a frame, fabric for the base, wool, tweezers, soap solution and gauze, on which the wool will be laid out in accordance with the chosen pattern.

Stages of work:

Technique:

1. You need to put gauze on a flat surface, and on it the base and the selected image.
2. Then you need to lay out the base with wool, then the background, and then the selected pattern. The wool should be laid out in strips and in the shape of a cross, trying to prevent the formation of bald spots and holes. The layers should be laid out at right angles to each other (they should have the same thickness).
3. After the blank of the future painting has been completely laid out, the wool must be sprinkled with water, covered with a thin cloth (nylon is best suited for this purpose) and generously lubricated with soapy water. Excess should be blotted with a napkin.
4. After this, the actual process of felting begins. When using the wet method, the required volume and desired texture are imparted to the wool through friction.

Advice! Using different types of wool for felting, you can get interesting decorative effects.

Working with artistic felt provides a lot of opportunities for making beautiful paintings on your own. The simplicity of the methods used makes felting accessible to everyone. Having successfully mastered the wool felting technique, you can create real masterpieces and assemble your own art collection.