The Dodo Blog

One of the questions I'm asked most often in my live classes is "is this enough soap?"

Felters who aren't very experienced are often unsure about how much soap to apply to their wool fibers. But there are a couple of clues that can help you avoid drowning your project in foam. And that's what I'll go into today.

Before I get into that, I'd like to say that the best way to avoid getting your project too soapy is to add soap slowly and only add more when you notice it’s not enough.

This is why using soapy water is not my preferred method of adding soap to the wool. I like adding water, getting my hands soapy first and only then applying it to the fibers. This way I have more control over how much soap is going into the wool. If you use this method, the tips I have for you today make much more sense.

You’ll know you have the right amount of soap when:

1. The wool doesn't stick to your hands.

When you’re applying soap with the method I mentioned above, you’ll notice the fibers sti...

Hi!

Today I’m here with the Q&A Sessions, something I haven’t done for quite some time.

This is where I go through all sorts of questions you have about wet felting.

So, if you have something on your mind that you haven’t been able to solve yet, drop me a line and tell me all about it.

For that, just scroll down to the end of any page on this site. Then click on “Contact” and let me know what’s troubling you. Your question might be selected for the next Q&A video!

Ok, so today I have a question from Audrey, who writes:

“I’ve a question for you and it’s about rolling and nuno felting. Is it really necessary to roll while fulling?

I really like the contact with my piece and am quite happy to spend more time massaging away, particularly when I do not have wool covering all the fabric.

I can understand rolling being preferable for a more layered piece, or larger piece to give a more even result.  

Would love to hear your thoughts whenever you have a moment. 

Many thanks again!...

Sharing tips, ideas, and experiences from felters who write me emails telling me about their felting projects has been on my mind for a long time.

It's so rewarding to hear from you, whether it's about something you created based on one of my tutorials or just to chat about felt. And I'm always thinking "Wouldn't it be great to have a space where we could all talk to each other".

Finding a way to exchange experiences about the things we love is becoming more important every day, especially in these times we're living. So, I'm looking for the best solution for that. But, in the meantime, I'd just love to encourage you to email me things you’d like to share.

Today I'll be doing exactly that: sharing great information I got as an answer to one of my recent posts.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about how to choose your felting suppliers. And I ended the post asking you to send me any recommendations you might have, if you've had a good experience with any shop.

Well, I got an a...

I’m often asked who I recommend in terms of suppliers for felting materials.

My first recommendation would always be to find a good one near you, a brick and mortar store, where you can see and touch the wool before you buy.

But, not all of us have good felting suppliers around the corner. In fact, depending on where you live, it’s often difficult to find a local shop that carries the big diversity of materials you need for more sophisticated felting projects.

So, most of the times, we have to resort to online stores.

Even for online suppliers, I’d still recommend finding one as close to home as possible. That’ll mean less money spent on shipping, and it’s also better for the environment.

Next, I’d look into the variety they offer and how dependable they are when you need advice on the best wool for a particular project.

Another important factor is the shipping time. If you need materials for a project you want to finish soon, waiting a long time until the wool arrives on your do...

You plan the piece you want to make.

You draw and cut the resist.

You lay your wool.

Everything is going great, but when you start fulling, your felt just seems to be stuck. Somehow the wool just doesn’t seem to become compact. In fact, nothing seems to happen.

You’ve been felting for hours and you feel tired. What started out as fun is now getting on your nerves. So, you decide to stop.

But then you ask yourself:

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY PROJECT IF I STOP NOW?

IS MY PIECE RUINED?

SHOULD I JUST LEAVE IT ON THE TABLE LIKE THIS? (I ACTUALLY NEED THE TABLE!)

I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT WENT WRONG!

Do you recognize the scenario? It’s happened to me dozens of times. The difference when it happens now is that I know exactly what to do.

So – because I suspect it’s happened to you too – I wanted to bring you a couple of tips today on what to do.

Let’s start with “what went wrong”

Well, felting is a physical but also a chemical process. That means that sometimes different factors combine in a...

Are you going crazy with the ‘what is what’ in terms of the wool for felting?

I do my best to avoid insider lingo, but the truth is there’s no escaping. You’ll just have to learn a couple of new terms when it comes to this. Otherwise you risk not getting the right materials for your projects. So here is some of the terminology you’re bound to hear if you’re taking on felting:

Raw fleece is what you call the wool when it’s right off the animal and unwashed (that means dirty and greasy). This is not something you can normally get, unless you buy directly from a sheep farm.

Scoured fleece has been washed to remove lanolin and dirt, but it still has the lock structure. I use it to fill pillows or for doll’s hair, for example.

Wool batts, wool batting or carded wool is very similar to quilt batting. It’s the result of removing the debris from the wool with a machine that breaks up the lock structure, and then going through the carding machine. The carder brushes and blends the fibers ...

Hi!

Here’s the third part of my answer to your question:

“What are resists and how do you use them?”

If you haven’t watched parts I and II, go and check them out. You can find the links below.

SO WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING A RESIST?

You probably already know that wool can actually shrink a lot when wet felted, right?

Like even 30 or 40%, depending on the wool type and how thick your layers are or how you lay the fibers.

So, when designing a resist, you have to plan for this shrinkage.

If you’re making a bag or any other object where the size doesn’t have to be very precise, you can make your resist and start felting.

But if you want to make a hat or a pair of shoes, then you want to get the RIGHT size, right?

In that case, start by making a sample with the wool you’ll be working with and lay it in the way and with the thickness you’re planning for your piece.

From this sample you can see how much the wool shrinks, so that you can design a resist for the exa...

Hi!

Today I’m here with the second part of my answer to your question:

“What are resists and how do you use them?”

If you haven’t watched part I, go and check it out. You can find the link below.

SO WHAT MATERIALS CAN WE USE FOR A RESIST?

One of the most important things when using a resist is the CHOICE OF MATERIALS.

It has to be something that doesn’t felt onto wool, otherwise it’ll remain stuck between the layers, instead of doing its job, which is to SEPARATE them.

It should also be flexible enough to work with.

The 3 main materials used are cardboard, thin plastic and floor underlayment.

CARDBOARD is not something I use, because we work with water, so you can only use it once. It’s also not very malleable, so it’s a bit hard to work with.

THIN PLASTIC is something I use sometimes. It’s malleable but it’s hard to feel through a thick piece of felt. So, I only use it when I’m felting thin pieces.

FLOOR UNDERLAYMENT is my favorite resist material. It’s thicker than plastic...

Hi!

Today I’m answering another one of your questions.

Now, I’ve done a couple of videos about resists, but I keep getting questions about them. Because this is such a big and important topic, I keep answering them.

Speaking of which, here’s the question for today:

“What are resists and how do you use them?”

Now, this question is very likely from someone who’s starting with wet felting and wanting to improve the technique. And this is in fact, one of the most important things to understand.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do have a couple of videos about resists, but I don’t think I explain what they are in any of them.

So, that’s what I’m going to do today.

SO, WHAT IS A RESIST?

By definition, a RESIST is anything you use between two pieces of wool to avoid that they felt with each other.

A resist is only used DURING the felting process and it’s removed after the process is complete. Or rather, before you start fulling.

You can have a resist:

• for the whole piece (like for a
...