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Rufnut Teddy'sMatilda and Judi I love your new bears. Great pics.
Hey Matilda, what do you use for felting? Corriedale, Alpaca or Merino. I am just wondering what we call batt here in Australia?
I'm just discovering here that it is called carded wool here in the UK. I couldn't understand why I couldn't locate batts anywhere, bearing in mind we are a sheep farming country! I was hunting high and low and then I wondered if maybe it was just called something else ... now I think I may have located some at last!
:doh: :doh: :doh: :doh
Wack me about the head, I am just too stooopid for my shoes. Until I received my copy of the TBF (USA) magazine, that we would sit with some wool( fluff) some sharp needles and prick prick away, shape, prick until we had something that looked like a muzzle for a teddy bear. We would then take this "shape" and somehow, which has been making my brain cells work overtime,attached this to a mohair teddy bear that we had now sewn , with a partial face ???? :redface: :redface:
(creeping out from under my computer) Then I saw a picture showing what should be done, Hah you attach the "fluff" and you then needle felt onto the mohair into the filler and so you adding onto the mohair to create like an added on muzzle. :clap:
Am I stupid or what !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(pullling a hat over my head)
Hey Lynette - I guess we both have a heap to learn eh?!! 
Bine-TeddiesI took an online class with Bobbie Ripperger and she recommends to card all wool before felting it. I use wire dog brushes since I didn't want to invest in big carders. The brushes work really well and I only need small amounts at a time because I usually felt only small pieces. I am not sure, but perhaps roving can be carded and then it is batt?
Ooh Sabine, it sounds as though you've hit on something here!
Posts: 8,574Lynette, you are too cute to be stupid so stop beating yourself up! :hug:
And we must remember that everything we learn today is a basis for something great tomarrow-its like building the pyramids.
I have gone to many needlefelting sites, and I think Judi's batt is the same as my rovings, rovings being carded wool.
so I think we are doing the same things....just calling them different things....hmmm
And making mistakes is a great way to learn.
I am working on Clorinda, the ballet loving cow. I now have an aramature.....I wrapped the wire in surgical tape. Then I decided to wrap the wire in quilt batting.....but silly me
I used polyester I wasn't thinking; to answer all the unspoken thoughts out there....
Kids don't do this at home
I tried to felt into the polyester padding- no go.
So now I have removed all of that, and I rewrapped in cotton batting.
better but still not ideal. So I plan on removing the cotton and wrapping in felted sheets of wool.
I am going to continue to play with it, but what I will ultimately end up doing is ordering more white rovings from Mielkes Farms I had 1/2 pound, but I think I will order another pound or two.....
I can always use it for something else if I don't need this much.
Unless I could use wool yarn as a base to felt into....would this be possible? I'll let you know
Intrepid and undaunted
dilu
Hmmmn - I just received the following info from a supplier:
The white Falkland is carded wool that would be in batt form but not of any specific weight, just order what you want.
Any reason for batt only as it is rare to have wool prepared in this form. Ours wool comes off the carded and is collected on a rotating drum and therefore, forms a batt.Just about everything else we stock is in combed top form which is the way feltmakers usually make use of it.
So I still am none the wiser about knowing exactly what to order! 
Posts: 8,574yEP....CLEAR AS MUD.....but we are learning
I have great news......
I wrapped Clorinda's limbs in unprocessed wool yarn and then laid small sheets of lightly felted wool over the wrapped limb and felted into the yarn
Guess what!
It works great! :dance: :dance: I am getting there, I am very happy
After I get the whole thing covered in the first layerr of felting I am going to dip it in boiling water, with the hope (FINGERS CROSSED)
that it will shrink everything up tight
and then begin in earnest with the outer needle felting.
Can anyone see any faults with my logic?
hurry hurry tel me please
dilu
Cleathero CreationsNo help here but won't the shape distort? will you need to have gloves on in case tis happenes so you can reshape while it is still hot?
Flying Fur StudiosI think Dilu, it's more than just heat that firms it up, it's a combo of heat and friction. But, on the other hand, I don't think you'll hurt anything by trying.
I have hear of people putting their felted items in a stocking or something and then run it thru the washing machine. You'll have to add the finishing details when it comes out tough.
Debonaire BearsI dipped one of my projects into hot (I can't remember if it was boiling; I think maybe it was) water hoping to tighten it up. It was pretty tightly felted to start with, and the water didn't seem to change the shape at all. If I had waited for it to dry I am sure it would have been fine; but, impatient as I am, I continued to needle the wet wool. It was a disaster! The wet fibers were much softer than they had been when they were dry and I destroyed the shape.
Anyway the moral of my little story is after you wet your wool don't try to needle it again until it is completely dry.
Posts: 8,574Bronwen: good point, but since she is a childs picture book cow and since it is only the first layer of felting I don't think it will matter......thats me being optimistic
Heather: If she wasn't a heavy duty wire armature underneath the felting wool and cotton it might work....I hate to think now though....I was thinking of felting some house shoes though, that would work good for a soft project. Right?
Marie: Thanks for the warning my darling friend! I will let her dry in front of the wood stove over night.....
I just love the mental process that goes into find your way on a new project. Clorinda's body is 14" tall and I think her head will add another 3" So she's gonna be a big little gal....
Thank you for all the advice- I really think through everything you all mention and analyze it to see if it applies. We couldn't buy the kind of experience and expertise we get here!
dilu
LuxembearsDilu, I think it is great that you are experimenting and trying new things. That is how I learned to needle felt onto mohair. I had no books or instructions...just my supplies and my imagination. It worked!
Pauls, maybe this will help you to better understand felting. Carde wool, roving, batt...are all wool fibers so all will work for needle felting. The process of needle felting matts the wool together hooking the tiny barbs (that you cannot see with the naked eye) together..intertwinning them, or matting them. When you have a roving, where the wool fibers are all lating in the same direction, it works better if you pull it apart to get the fibers going in direfferent directions. This will all make sense once you actually start needle felting.
I was totally clueless when I first picked up a needle and a wad of wool. The more I did, the easier it became. It is very easy and I am sure you will do very very well. :clap:
Phew, carded, roving, batt,!!!!! all of a sudden from someone mentioning something about doing one new project my mind is in a whirl, I know about wool, and knitting needles, and I can knit a jersey. Judi , I think what you have said, is slowly starting to make sense.
(Carde wool, roving, batt...are all wool fibers so all will work for needle felting.)
Boy oh boy Judi, am I going to have fun in your class
Lynette
Posts: 8,574Dipping her in boiling water and letting her cook for about 5 min seems to have worked.
she did tighten up under her first layer of felted rovings
Turns out our dryer had a shelf thingy that the hubs went and found in the garage- she has been through 3 of the superhot cycles.....then dried all night in front of the wood stove and now is going through another dry cycle.
moral?
she's costing a lot in electricty-good thing we don't use very much normally
Next time I decide to do something this big I think I should wait till summer so she could cook outside in our 100+ long afternoons
dilu
LuxembearsDipping her in boiling water and letting her cook for about 5 min seems to have worked.
OH MY!!! Sounds like Hansel and Grettle!!!! 
I am enjoyimg hearing how things are working out for your Dilu! Keep it coming!
Lyntte, when I first started needle felting it was like a whole new language. Now I am having a blast with each new bear or critter I create. Don't worry, We're all here to help everyone along the way...with open arms. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
Awww Thank you Erin. Hints sometimes need to be very loud ...men can have much thicker bone material around their brains....oops....did I say that? 
Judi, I climbed into my cupboard yesterday as I thought along my travels I had bought something that I think could be batt, its called " Schafwolle ". Placed an order for more needles, not sure what I actually have and how to tell the difference as they are not marked except for the 40S, so being a good girl and getting ready for the BIG class.Getting all excited now and looking forward to it all.
Lynette
Matilda Huggington-beare
Karen, I have no idea what I'm using other than it is roving. I bought all of mine from the 'Teddy Tree' here in Perth. One lot was fine and silky which I used for Leo and Kitty. But at the last show I bought this mixed stuff from them. It is mulit hued with fine and coarse fibres. It starts our real ugly but the finished product is wonderful.
I do have alpaca roving that was sold as doll hair for clothe dolls. This I have used as a fine multi cloured layer over the finished bear. The packets of roving werent labeled nor could anyone tell me other than it is wool. :doh: I have a packet of core wool from ed imports which I loath and the other wool that came with it are awful as well. I have no idea what these people are thinking when they put such crappy colours in a kit. 'yellow purple and green' just the colours to inspire a person to needlefelt NOT hahahahahahah If you want it Karen just say and I'll send it to you.
free no strings attached. There you are Karen ,the photo above is the stuff I dont want. The white is a 4oz packet of core wool. If you want it, email me with your address and I'll post it off. Ok spotya possum. Matilda
Matilda Huggington-beare
This is the last lot I bought. I've made my danglies from this and Sabines surprise (which is on its way to her right now) also the alpaca, which is gorgeous to use. It's just like silk.
Posts: 8,574I love all the fun colors- but don't have that many uses for them. I am trying to collect large quantities of bear colors. Oh and black for the gollies, but I just got a pound orf black
A pound of rovings is a lot
Try this link for lots of colors to look at
http://www.mielkesfarm.com/flt_fbrs.htm
from there you cal go to the merino or coriedale pages....oh and they also have angora, but it is only in white and is $ 40.00 per half pound
dilu
Flying Fur StudiosI say, keep your cool colors. You can make dragons, pumpkins etc.
I have LOTS of teddy colors, but I find I like felting other things besides bears.
Plus, my multi-packs with all those colors just look soo nice......
Bine-TeddiesOh, Matilda, I 'heard' that Now I'm all excited. Can hardly wait anymore 
Posts: 8,574Clorinda is felting OK- but I have broken 2 size 36 needles on the metal armature......hmmmm gotta figure out that somehow
but now that she is wrapped in surgical tape yarn and a first skin of felting I am feeling like she is so big....SO BIG
Ricky sAys he would be happy to do another armature at half the size.
I am thinking he might have a point- she could take a long long time to felt well....
so now I am in a quandry......
dilu
LuxembearsLove those colors Matilda. The really bright ones look like it was cut straight from a currly lamb. Gorgeous.
