I’ve been working on new wool and silk nuno felted bracelets. Here’s the process step by step.
Hand dyed silk ironed to heat set and placed on top of bubble wrap.
Pulling tufts of wool and placing it in designs on the silk
I place wool close to the edges if I want the edges finished or place the wool in from the edges if I want ruffled edges.
I use a hand soap that smells like vanilla, mixed with room temperature water. Not hot because then the wool felts to it’s self before it has a chance to work it’s way through the silk.
After they bracelets are soaked lay bubble wrap over the top and roll it up over a swim noodle, rolling pin or rolled up bubble wrap.
Roll it up in a towel to soak up the water and roll it back and forth for about 5 minutes
At this stage I unroll it and trim off wool that is coming over the edges
If you don’t want to trim just push it back onto the silk
Roll it back up and roll it back and forth some more then unroll it and check to see if when tugged on it feel attached. You can also check the back to see if the wool fibers have worked there way through the silk.
If not you can run your fingers back and forth over the back with it face down on the bubble wrap.
Okay now that the wool is laminated to the silk you rinse it in warm water and then throw it down hard on the table or in the sink 200 times at least. I break it up by rinsing it with warm or hot water a few times thinking this probably aids in the wool’s shrinking process.
When the silk starts to ripple and get wrinkly then throw it on the table some more. You heard me, it always shrinks a little bit more with the last 50 times it’s thrown down hard. This is called fulling.
Here are my bracelets after a final rinse, let them dry then they can be trimmed and snaps or other closures sewn on for finishing them.
New photographs of finished bracelets.
I listed the black and white one in my etsy shop last night and plan to list more soon and send the images to a gallery in Philadelphia.