Nuno Felted Scarf

Friday is Nuno Felting Day. Only yesterday I got very busy and could not get to my nuno felting - I also wanted to think more about my design and what I wanted to do. So today, Saturday, ended up being Nuno Felting day instead.

I wanted to do a scarf this time. I had two silk chiffon scarf pieces and they were not that long individually. One was also slighty wider than the other. But for my first scarf I figured I would just give this a try and use these two pieces. So what I did was sew the ends of the two scarfs together to make one long scarf. I sort of liked the fact that one side would be more narrow than the other and end up maybe even more interesting this way.

First thing I did was decide on my color for the scarf. I love greens, I love the colors that can be paired up with greens and I find wearing green is a good color and goes with alot and great with jeans. So I prepared my dye bath for a green color. I love the Faery Green color I have available in my silk that I sell. So I decided to start there. So I used chartreuse, a dab of brown, a small dab of turquoise, and also some emerald green. I am very excited about my scarf when I see my green color! After my scarf is dyed I will be ready to go.

So here we go, once again, my nuno felting! I just love this stuff!

All images are clickable for larger viewing.

My chiffon scarf in the dye bath.



I lay out my scarf so it will dry on the bubble wrap and I planned my colors pulling out all my wool to see what I like. I decided on a deep teal, some greens, a pretty magenta fushchia color. I am still not sure how to do like real patterns, flowers, and thats what I had wanted, but for my first scarf I just decided to use the colors layed out in a design. I also decided to leave about 6 or so inches at each end of just plain silk and no wool. I felt it would drape nicely that way rather than the wool going all the way down to each end.

I left alot of areas where the fabric would be showing for some nice affect.



Now, I put my piece of tulle on top of the scarf and wool and wet it down. Again, I agigate the wool so the fibers start tangling. I make sure my design stays put for the most part. I keep rubbing it through the tulle with my hands. When I see the wool fibers coming through the tulle is when shorty thereafter I will roll it up and start rolling it.



This time around I decided to remove the tulle at this stage and lay down the nylon curtain before rolling it. With such thin layer of wool fibers I didn't want to have the tulle start to stick too much during the rolling.



Now I roll up the whole thing and start my workout! Rolling and Rolling and Rolling! Put on some music and its alot of fun! My excercise for today. :-)

If you read my other tutorials, I unroll and check every 100 rolls or so. When I see the wool fibers moving to the back of the silk scarf I can tell the fibers are adhering to the silk chiffon. I do the pinch test on the front side to make sure the fibers are also plenty tangled and then I began my fulling process. I like this part!



For fulling, I roll up the scarf gently into a ball and bring to sink and run hot water over it and agigate it some more in my hands. I also added a little bit more soap as well. I gently squeeze and agitate for maybe 5 mins. Then I gently squeeze out the water and start dropping the scarf onto my worktable from about 12" high from the air and letting it splat down on the table. This is what makes the wool start to full and then you will start seeing amazing things happen with the silk chiffon. it starts to pucker and shrink in with the wool.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this part and seeing the transformation and wondering what I will end up with. Its like a surprise!



Here is my scarf and I just love it! I will wear it alot I am sure! I love the green silk color and I love all the puckers and scrunchie areas. This stuff literally makes me drool and all I can think about is doing more!!



Thanks for viewing and I think I will always be up to something with Nuno Felting. It has me hooked! I love color, I love fabric. I love the ability to dye my own fabric colors and make anything my little heart desires when it comes to this fiber art. And I just love the ending and seeing what turns out!