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Drea's BearsHi there, I'm fairly new (and addicted) to needle felting, I've been making bears for years and now that I'm hooked on felting I have a hundred ideas floating around in my head. I'm looking for a good source for wool, specifically white, it seems very easy to find colours but white is proving to be rather elusive. I thank you for your help in advance.
AndreaM 
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsAndrea,
This is the best price I have found in searching the web.
http://www.magiccabin.com/magiccabin/pr … 04&pgc=175
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Andrea, what type of fiber are you looking for?
The project should always be considered first, then the fiber that gives the results that best match, then the needle sizes & styles that work best in that fiber.
Ask yourself about the size, firmness or softness, etc.
Those two things alone will help determine which breed to look for, based on each breeds' general length and how it will needle.
Drea's BearsHmmmmmmm I hadn't thought of that, or course the project would make a difference. to be honest I'm looking to be able to felt into a muslin or cotton form of the peice at the moment.....( is that cheating?) 
AndreaM
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Back later - I just an emergency call to babysit.
No it's not cheating, many of the TTers here use NFing exclusively for that ~ muzzles, inner ears, paw pad embellishments.
TTFN ~
Drea's BearsI will do that Thanks Jessi!
Charlotte: I went to that website but I can't seem to find any woll on it.........I must admit that I'm my head's been a little cloudy lately 
, I'll try again.
AndreaM
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)http://www.magiccabin.com/magiccabin/pr … 0Result|P1
Andrea, this is the url for the fiber on that site.
Can you tell us the size of the bears you'd like to apply/NF the fiber to?
Size DOES make a difference!!!
I purchase from New Zealand as I like using the Corriedale and in South Africa it tends to be difficult to find. We have plenty of merino - yet this is not suitable for what I want.
I recently purchased from a place in the UK- who has an online shop- kraftmania- they had all sorts of rovings and I got some angora, silks, soya bean,camel hair- all to be used one day !!!!!!!!!!!!.
Locally I purchased alpaca roving and I enjoy working with this using it mainly as an overlay to finish my projects.The farm also supplied me with a coarser texture, this coming from the areas along the lower legs.
As Bobby also mentioned the right needle for the right fleece will also give you the correct end result and will also help prevent breaking off the tips of the needles.
I did a course with Judi Paul via the EZBear university and this is what got me hooked onto/into needle felting and via TT learnt so much more.
Now can some one tell me where I can purchase some time for all these projects buzzing in my head ??????
Lynette
PottersHouse BearsWith all of the talk of needle sizes, type of wool etc., I have a question. How do I know what needle, which wool and what goes with what?
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Millie, you have just asked the absolutely First and Foremost Essential Question!
In a Perfect World, the first question should always be - what do I want to design and create? The fiber sometimes has a mind of its own and in spite of your efforts to create an Owl, it starts leaning toward Octopus!
But just a a decision to knit a lace shawl or a bulky outdoor sweater, one wouldn't go into a yarn shop and say give me some blue yarn and a pair of needles.
Your first desision would be to decide on the light and lacey shawl pattern, look at what the yarn requirements are in terms of sts per inch (choosing the thinner rather than the thicker yarn, and NEVER just 'the Blue' yarn) and the appropriate sized needles.
Well, successful Needle Felting has the same approach. You decide if you're going to be needling the image of your favorite bear creation on the back of your denim jacket, if you're going to make a 3" miniature hippo or a 3-D, 15" Lion. All of these call for a different type and length of fiber and felting needles that best work those fibers.
Consider the length: every breed has an average length that it's known to range within. Wensleydale is about 8", Romney is about 5" and Corriedale is about 3". Which one is going to be earier to work into a 3" miniature?
Right, the shortest fiber. I have seen my estimate being quoted by others online: the fiber closest matching the verall length or width of your project is going to work in the best (On the 3" miniature, you will spend extra time bring 5 -6" fibers under control and solidly needled than you will a 3" fiber.)
Of course one can always go outside of this rule-of-thumb if it's the color that comes in only one breed or from trusted supplier or one has much previous experiencve and knows the tricks to handling the differences between breeds. This is just that - a Rule of Thumb to be used as a guideline in the beginning, to build your experinece on.
Consider the Breed: the Navajo/Churro or a Lincoln or a Mohair is a coarse, long fiber without as many scales around each fiber to entangle with each other. (All breeds have a named average range of 'Micron' size: a unit of measurement for the fiber diameter of wool, one Micron being a metric unit of distance equal to one millionth of a meter or 1/25,000 of an inch.
The human hair average about 100 microns. Compare that to a Merino fiber that ranges between 17 - 22 microns. Which one would be needled more easily into a fine, light, soft scarf?
If you will be wet felting or working on a large (sized) project that can be satisfactorily needled either softly or firmly (depending on what it's end use will be - decorative/seasonal on display for only a short period of time & in storage the rest of the year or a vest that you'll be wearing while doing outdoor chores every day in the winter) you can see how a most firmly needled would hold up better as the vest than a softer product.
So what the project will be used for is right after the project is and what length of fiber will be best suited for it.
A 6" long Romney fiber will be better suited to heavier wearing or larger sculptures than a fine, soft Merino. By the same token, the Merino will be more comfortable as a next-to-the-skin garment but its softness works against it when you are designing a sculpture that needs to be very firmly needled and hold itself upright by itself.
No matter how firmly you needle Merino and other fibers in that under low 20's and under micron size, you will always be able to fold them or bend them - they just can't be needled rock hard.
Now consider which needles best 'work' that fiber. The barbs in the needles correspond in size to the needles' named sizes. Those in a 36 T or S are larger than those in a 40 T or S.
If you are using a Romney (41 - 38 micron) which needle is going to 'catch' more of the fibers with each thrust?
The #36 needles. The narrower needle shafts of the 40 needles will not be able to 'catch' the thicker fibers.
And the thicker shaft of the 36 needles will not be able to penetrate the finer Merino as it comes together.
So—no one can tell you "Yes, use Lincoln for this project with X sized needles and Merino or Cormo for the other.
If you're serious about wanting to use the best choices of fiber breeds for your projects, educate yourself about what the qualities of what's being 'grown'. Google is your Friend! Put in 'sheep breeds' and you'll be amazed at what's availble! Almost every one of them is available from a small flock owner here in the States! We are so Lucky!!
It is ALWAYS best to work with a breeder/owner: they know their flocks' qualities best. Your opinion of what you like to use will certainly vary from the norm - that's natural.
But what you should REQUIRE from every supplier is the name of the breed of the fiber or the crosses (one breed mated to a different breed.) Too many ppl are acting as Distributors and suppliers, jumping on the current sell-what's-hot-now bandwagon. Don't be beguiled by those shiny, lustrous 'ropes' of fiber on eBay and websites, unless you're WET felting, whose beginnings have been lost in the mists of Time but has been very well documented in how they will react. They are a put-up as Top, which has combed out the shorter fibers and is ready for drawing off for spinning, as the long, straighter, smooth orientation.
We like better the fuzzy, matte finish of fiber in a batt form, which already has the fibers running in randon orientation, which is what Needle Felting does. You 'can' use Top, but you're going to work a lot harder to get what you want needled. And Needling is already a long process!
NEEDLING is entirely different and requires the fiber to act differently. Many sellers are not aware of this and will tell you information based on the known ancient wet felting methods. Informing yourself is the only way to avoid costly mistakes.
After much reading online, and taking into account the guidelines I've given here you should be able to find suitable fiber for wjatever you'd like to create. Write me off line if you have some specific questions (I feel this way about computers and software: I don't know enough to know how to form my questions!!)
Here's an example from the Google Page:
Sheep Breeds Swap
Results of a Sheep Breed Swap held on Compuserve, descriptions of 32 breeds of sheep plus spinning information.
www.sdcwg.org/notebooks/sbs.html - 158k - Cached - Similar pages
Most fiber information up to the past 5+ years has been geared toward spinning. We're working on changing that!!
Note to self - keep working on that Book! LOL
Deedle BearsHoly smokes Bobbie, that was wonderful! Just let me know when that book is done I take one!
that was a great overview and thank you for taking the time to post it. I have read a few books but I don't think I got as much out of those books as you just put in one page!
Question, I have corriedale that is in a rope fashion that I pull sections off of. Would it make more sense to pull it all apart and then use it or continue pulling chunks off the rope style it came in? (Hope that makes sense?)
Duff
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Yes, I understand what you mean. This is an extra from my book that I'll post here (though I think I may have put it into a thread a week or so ago: Using Top Put-up but making it more Needling Friendly:
To change Top back into a more usable form, it's necessary to bring some of the natural crimp into each fiber. Top has had this processed so that it's as smooth as possible, to be able to draft finely, thin, straight, tight yarns with for creating a Worsted ply - one that is composed of the longest fibers from the breed and doesn't have a lot of fiber ends poking out along the length of the ply. (Worsted is spun to weave gabardinde/twill fabric with. Think of the very expensive Italian wool fabrics that can float like chiffon. Now picture Scot Tweeds; bulky, fluffy, fuzzy (partly from partial Fulling & Teasing to raise the nap.); these are hard-wearing due to the breed choice but they and the fluffy, lofty yarns we knit with create warm garments with that can trap air between fibers are called Woolen in the trade, as they were spun to be looser that Worsted plies.
You can return some of the natural crimp back wqith steam. During the winter months, Nov - Aptril, we put an enamel canning pot on our stove and keep it filled and just barely simmering, like mist off a lake.
A few years ago (when I had much more Top in my inventory than Batt or Clouds (that's the 3rd type of put-up,) I was doing some late season canning on another burner and cooking dinner on the third burner. There was STEAM in that kitchen.
As I've gotten older, my hair has gottensome natural wave to it in the summer humidtiy but goes strasighter in the drier winter months. Well. I caught sight of myself in a drenched window and saw a Fuzz Ball! And sitting over in the corner was some new Coopworth fiber I'd bought because I thoyght it would make good Grizzly bears. I laid a cake cooling rack on top of the simmering water pot, laid some finber loosely on top - mine was still in the top form but you can pull gobs off it - and placed a clear plastic microwave cover over it. You do have to be careful to choose a lid that is slightly smaller than the width of your pot or you could create a mess!
Leave it in the gentle steam (I supopose you could boil the water but I haven't tried that to see if it would speed up the process. I'm happiest in the driest environment I can find!) for at least 30 minutes. It doesn't hurt to leave it for hors, I'm always in a hurry to get more done...
Remove the cover, and don't worry about th condensation making deep pock marks in it, they will puff up along with the rest. I set the rack over a floor vent and let them dry overnight, w/o touching the fiber!
This is what happens! My microwave lid is just under 4" tall high - it pushes the lid up off the cake rack! Ah, the Wonder of Wool!!!
Russell: - 4.5" Grizzly
Now keep this just between us, so I can still use it in the book!!
This is my own personal bias, because I like only very firmly needled work, that any time one can see a fiber(s) that is/are traveling in one direction for more than half an inch w/o changing direction or disappearing into the interior, it's not firmly needled, no matter what any one claims. I purchase many NFed pieces online. And they're mostly to prove my points.
I really appreciate your comments & compliments, Duff (I'll add your name to my list!); it's my 'Mission' to describe all types of NFing, and let everyone know that every style is good. The craftsmanship comes in being the master over the fiber & needles and in knowing when to use which fiber & needle & to what needling degree/style appropriate for that project.
Then one is not afraid to continue needling for fear of losing a certain line in the work, because if it was needled in solidly, continued needling is not going to erase or change it.
Happy Needling!
2007©RKR4CDS - all of my writings are Copyright Protected.
Deedle BearsOoooh all this talk of wool and felting leads me to believe I need to do more reading up on fiber. I am glad you understood what I was saying. I will be pulling out a pot in the morning and give it a whirl. It is amazing how the humdity put the body back in the wool in your pictures. It is pretty dry over here but I know what you mean about the hair and humdity. Although the only curl I am getting these days is from the wierd curly grey hairs that are creeping in amoungst all my normal hairs. A few more years and they will all be curly!
I love your bear, his color is great!
Duff
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)I know what you mean!!
And I love my gray streaks & wish I'd go Silver like my YOUNGER compatriate, Marion/merbear!!!!
My gray ones that fall/come out are Shirley Temple-like!!! (Old hairdresser here: you're said to lose about 50 strands a day)
You've got a gorgeous head of hair too, but I'm sure your my DD's age...
Deedle BearsVert kind Bobbie, thank you! I feel like I am losing 100 hairs a day! I am pushing 40 and my mom was completely silver grey by about 43 or so. I suppose the good news is that I don't have to highlight my hair anymore as the grey hairs make it look highlihgted 
I always wanted curly hair so more good news, it looks like I will eventually get it 
I did pull out my pots and pans last night and tried your recommendation. worked like a charm! it is fluffy and kinky and the felting is going great today. Thank you for the tip! I must admit I did a really stupid trick... apparently I still have a lot to learn. After I had gotten through a large part of the 1st stage of felting the face on my bear I realized it was crooked to the actual neck joint, which I had not yet closed! Arrrr.... At 1st I thought I may have to start over but it is a rather big head and the stuffing was a pain. So I took my lillte scissors and cut the face off one snip at a time and have now just finished felting is back in place, straing this time! I am amazed at how forgiving NF is. I am in heaven that I can actually cover up my mistakes!
I am off to finish more felting and steam a few more colors! Thanks Bobbie!
Andrea - I appogize for hijacking your thread - I have managed to get it way off track.... sorry!
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsBobbie,
As always you are such a wealth of knowledge on Needle Felting in all aspects!! Thanks so much for all you share! I can't wait til your book is out.
I finally got around to trying the "steaming" of some merino today & thought I would share the before & after pictures.
What a difference re-hydration makes!!!!
Hugs &
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)No Duff, you haven't re-directed this thread at all. Andrea asked where the best place to buy fibers is: we're still addressing that.
But what works for my type of needling may not for the next person. I could easily list my favorite suppliers of different breeds, but if someone orders from them and finds that that particular breed isn't 'up' to what they were designing, they would consider me off-center and all of the listing will be worthless and one would then doubt all of my choices. It would be much easier for someone to say "I want to design & needle a Christmas Elf, about 4" tall, who needs to be holding the reins of a slightly larger reindeer."
In that case, I (myself) would use different breeds' fibers from those that I would choose if I were making a similar sized (Size does matter, as much as purpose for the sculpture) Elf that was going to be a brooch or tree ornament, because he would need to be self-standing as well as having a pull (from the weight of the reins) against his stance from a certain angle.
Given that the exact elf could be created out of coarse/straight fibers or very soft & fine micron fibers, the way I'm going to use the sculptures is so different, that half the battle is won if you choose the right elements & tools: see why the design makes a difference in the breed choice?
So it is more important to figure out what type/breed works best for your own individual style of work projects. And there is a certain place in the chain-of-events of each project where that decision is made. That's the main point I was making.
In refering to the book I'm writing, I made many MANY costly mistakes when I first began purchasing fiber. I too, fell in love with the shiny smooth ropes of sliver/roving. In fact, I never even saw batts available at Fiber Festivals! I want to save someone else from my mistakes, tho we all do learn best from our own!
Well, I also made mistakes in the brands of needles I bought too, but those are not as bulky and tuck into a drawer corner rather than facing me every time I go into the workroom!
After I discovered that there is more fiberhere in the States than all of us TTers down through third cousins could ever use, I decided to write to these small flock owners, asking them for a grease/raw, lock/staple and if I could purchase a minimum amount of the clean fiber. The reason I want grease fiber is to photograph its natural crimp/curl formation, clean them, needle them and the photograph again and write up my opinion on how each of them needle.
The writing of the text information on Needle Felting has been easy; it's those 350+ samples waiting for that processing that has been a major stumbling block. That, plus 2 new knees in the past 2 winters and back surgery in 4 weeks.
Durn! Life keeps getting in the way of what I want to do!!
I'm extremely pleased to have passed on the steaming tip. It doesn't reclaim all of the original qualities, but it has made some of my mistakes easier to swallow and usable again!
Not only can you make changes like straightening the head, but you are able to get design lines in that would be almost impossible to engineer in flat-pattern drafting, like Wendy's muzzles/expressions (Matilda). You just keep right on developing the piece as you go, though at some point, like a Nascar pit cre., you have to declare "Hands off!" and stop working on it...!!!!
About your head cutting - that's one of the 3 principles that I have trumpeted about NFing: everything is fixable, everything is changeable and nothing is wasted. Here's pic of what I was doing during Michelle Lamb's workshop. This bear's head was at the wrong angle, his body was too small/short and his raised arm was in the wrong place.
All 3 of those areas got lopped off. Once your fiber is rock hard, scissors just hack at the fiber. If you worked a softer needled piece, you could cut through with scissors.
Get some straight backed razor blades; they slice through like Buttah!
Deedle BearsCharlotte, Amazing how much the steam brings back life to the wool isn't it? I am planning on steaming more! Thank you for sharing the photos, I did not even think to do that last night!
So, what are you going to make with your newly rehydrated wool? I love the blue and grey combination. I am looking forward to seeing what it will be! (or possibly it was just test wool?) either way keep us posted!
Bobbie, Oh My, you do have a lot going on, new knees and then back surgery. I am so sorry to hear that! What are you having done; Diskectomy, fusion? I am up for L4/L5 fusion but am doing anything and everythng I can to hold off until I can go no more. You must be at that point now???
More Tips, I love it :dance: Althought the picture caught me by surprise as I was reading and wow that was a shock! unerving to see a headless polar bear. But the razor blade idea is a good one. Good news on the bear I am working on was only just started today so the clipping was pretty easy with the scissors. But on the lion I did I ended up having to cut back the nose area and it did take some time to do it. I think I have some razor blades hanging around. Great idea.
The other trick I tried that I was very please with was using a very small hand held trimmer (for dog faces and toes) to trim off any stray hairs that could not be felted down. It is amazing what a difference it made in the final product.
I can't even imagine how much space those samples must be taking up let aline the thought of preparing and felting each one of them, holey smokes that is a lot of work! We will all wait patiently for the book, I am sure it will be well worth it!
One of the places I have gotten my wool from is a place called the Felted Ewe... www.thefeltedewe.com
they do have a very nice dark grey/blackish foam that is holding up much better then the white stuff I had 1st purchased as well as they have a great single beedle holder that is wood and very handy for the fine details - so much so for me that I went back and ordered another one (they are only $3.50 each). they do not have a screw to hold the needle in place but rather a wood stopper that you lay the felting needle in and push it up into the handle, and the shape of the handle is wonderful! Jot to mention the owner is very nice and helpful.
One more question, is the foot pad painted on or needle felted? (from your picture above I can't quite tell)
Keep us posted on your back, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Duff
Back Road BearsBobbie...... your book is going to be more useful than my dictionary ever was!! I can't wait!
OK, so back to finding WHITE wool.... regardless of who it's sheared from.... I've wanted PURE WHITE (not winter white or natural white which is OFF white) for many different projects.... including Mimzy. Charlotte - the wool stuffing at magic cabin... is it pure white?
I ended up using polyfil (the coarser stuff that packs hard) a few times but it's still too slippery, lumpy, etc.... but better than nothing. I didn't make a whole bear or creature out of it.... I'd never be satisfied. (I can see Bobbie cringing at the use of polyfil for needlefelting!)
Anyway.... WHITE WOOL??? (Corriedale if I had my choice) Just give me a link or tell me that the wool stuffing at Magic Cabin is WHITE. I've searched all over, ordered more wool online that was called white that turned out not to be to my standards.... help.
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsDuff,
I haven't decided yet what I will make, but will sure keep you posted!
Daphne,
I didn't order any of the wool from Magic Cabin, but the person who told me about it did & says it's more like vanilla color, not pure white. I do have some Merino Roving from Edinburgh that is white. It's not listed on their web site, but it's FW 06 & if you call & check with them, that might work.
Hugs &
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Duff, I didn't open TT until after I'd read & replied to your PM! I'm going for a Laminectomy, the lesser of the 2 evils. Don had 4 spinal fusions and while we're dedicated exercisers (now) I see the difficulties involved when you lose some spine flexibility. My surgeon laid out my options: doing this procedure or having at least 6 fusions. Heck, I'm 65 in a few weeks and waaaaaaay to young to be totally stiff through my back! How else would I play hide & seek with our 5 yo Grandie? - a funny story at the end of this.
There are interesting developments in spinal surgeries, as in all of medicine, and in 5 or 10 years, I'm counting on it being much easier.
L4-5 and L5-C1 are the first 2 most common joints to go. I can only imagine the problems that professional sports ppl get into as they age. Heck, you look FAR to young to be having this type of problem!
I'm looking at the chop job now in a whole new way! I never thought about the pic being startling, as I do this so often. It must have been the stark black & white image... with just the tip of that Sinister-Looking razor off in the corner.....
Looking at it now makes me laugh! Some kind of weird ritualistic voodoo practice that girl does!! Hopefully he will be seen in his full glory as a TOBY and/or Golden Ted nominee. I'm actually far ahead of my timing on those for the first time in years!!!!!!
Yes, there are those trimmers that are less than an inch wide on their blades. Excellent for getting into tight corners. Mine pcs are so small that I usually just use curved tip scissors. But as a hairdresser/'Cosmetologist' since I was 19, I have all of the hair clipper sizes and tools. (None of my family have ever been in a barber or beauty shop, except out DD, who worked in them after completing her certification while still in high school) That tip that's always quoted about 'twirling the errant hairs with your needle and needling in" works only so far! Too many breed fibers just won't catch on the needles' barbs and if they will, too much time is spent on each one. Cut those suckers off!
The Felted Ewe! Carol and her daughter both took my San Jose class 2 summers ago. Great Ladies!!! Their gray foam blocks are a good material (I've not located a source for them yet or I'd have them too!) except they're cut in a cube instead of a book-shaped rectangle and that's awkward to needle on - it rolls over too easily instead of being a support for the sides of your palms. And it makes (me, at least) hold my shoulders hunched up high to raise my hands enough to stay on top of it, and I get tight and pain in my neck area. I'd use it and cut them flatter. And I did introduce them to my original idea of covering the foam with the fiberglass screening (that comes with your needle order) to keep most fibers from bearding into the foam and easily clean off what does stay in!
My bear's foot pads are hand-formed polymer clays. I've found it very difficult to get clay flat enough and still keep their tiny size & shape. (I don't know HOW those doll artists create those beautiful fingers!) I learned how to make molds and now can replicate my all of my original many sizes. (Why reinvent the wheel with each bear; the claws are hard enough!!??) The paw pad at the top of the pic has a bit of shine so that's a giveaway. I paint them with dark brown/black combined acrylic paints when cured.
Charlotte, I tried fiber as it came from the supplier (yours looks like mine, a thick fox tail too) but after treating the very thin Coopworth in the picture, which was processed by a lady in MO to be made into a very thin sliver (SLYver - I feel as tho I have to insert that until it becomes a normal term), ready to be spun into a very thin lace-wt yarn.
So I began to experiment with pulling strips of fiber off the main length and I found that I got a much fluffier result. More space between, more room to expand. And this treatment to return the crimp/curl can be repeated if you think that it can still expand further. I really got blasted on some of my fiber lists when I asked why Top had been put through a sort of ironing process, to get it so smooth and slick. They all denied that this was done. And yet, as I continue reading, I keep finding info about weighting the hanks as they are drying after scouring or dyeing. And steaming to 'relax' the natural curl/crimp: read that as - 'remove'. Sometimes it takes an 'outsider/lurker' to read between the lines!
Most of the fiber that is the Top put-up can be reclaimed this way, and I have plenty of those early buying mistakes in my stock. I'm not sure I'd call it rehydrating, as it never lost moisture in processing. The fibers always retain their ability to absorb and release moisture; that hollow core is one of its properties that make it wearable in hot humid weather as well as very dry hot and very cold environments. I'm certainly no authority and it may well be the correct term! I call it reclaiming the original properties of crimp\curl\wave.
Daphne - I'm sorry to have to say that there are NO sheep with fiber as white as we want them to be! Believe me, I've got every shade of white in my inventory. I do have something new coming next week though. Unfortunately, I'll be in AZ and won't be able to needle it until the 30th. But it is the white that you & I are looking for. I don't know how it will needle though, especially as it's a Merino to work with. I will let TT know, and be glad to share some with you. But it is a very specialized Merino fiber treated for wearing next-to-the-skin garments.
There have always been discussions in the fiber world about being 'allergic to wool' (Is it a true Princess & the Pea condition?) and 'the prickle/itch factor.' Science is solving this to a certain degree, through biopolishing, which is an oxygenation and enzyme process, which removes just the scales on the cuticle layer. Now, it's the scales that felting & some fulling depend on to entangle and hold the fibers together. So how well they'll needle is going to be my experiment, but the oxygenation creates a pure white fiber like you're searching for. I will post the results in early Dec.
And I'm not cringing (too much) about polyester filling being used. Neysa was a great proponent of it as a total product used with no wool over it. It certainly is white but as you've discovered, polyfil comes in many styles, and not all of them are needle-able. Everyone finds their own pathway here and there is no One way. What works for You is the way to go. I prefer total wool, but my sculptures are minis. If I were creating a 2' design, I too might use something else inside, but only if it can be needled solidly.
Here's one last 'rant' if you will, to learn to use the words needle\needling instead of felt\felting. The latter describes the reaction within the fibers during a process or a finished product, the former describes best what we do to get it there, as opposed to the standard wet felting. While the traditional wet felters wouldn't say they were 'wetting' to do their work, it's understood in the larger fiber world that 'felting' represents wet felters. So - we needle, not felt.
OK, bye! Bobbie has had here soapbox kicked out from underneath her......
Oh, I almost forgot mty funny story. Aidan is with us on Fri afternoons while Mom is Room Mother in brother Evan's class. Last week we putting things in the dishwasher and Aidan asked "Why is the rug wet?" His sox were soaked as he was standing on the sink side of the dishwasher. In looking into the cabinet under the sink, I discovered a lake around a bucket placed there for a very slow drip that Don could never find the origin of. It had been forgotten and eventually overflowed.
This week we were loading the lunch dishes in and I told him about G'pa laying half of his body through the 12" opening to work on the sink pipes. With Don's somewhat inflexible back, that's quite a feat, but he's a retired electrician and used to assuming that uncomfortable position.
Aidan's qustion was "Was G'pa playing hide & seek?"
He is the champion Hide&Seeker, pulling himself into impossibly small places.
Here's a recent shot of him coming out of an 8" x 12" x 24".
And when he was hidden, no sock, face or pants showed....
PottersHouse BearsThank you all for so much info. Bobbie, I will have to print your responses on paper. There is just so much there, that I will never remember it all. Besides, I am from the "old world" where there is something about having the written word to lean on. (Maybe that is because the memory is about shot.)
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)LOL Millie, the TT link from Daphne's post was the first e in the queue today, I started writing that at 9:30... In the meantime your response was posted. I am totally old world with you.
While I listen to recorded books on my iPod 24/7 (unless I'm showering, it's clipped to me) but I also have a print book going. I love to 'look' as the words. And paperwork is my nemesis! The 8" stack next to me here was sliding this week, so it got put on the floor - and a new one has started in its place.
The computer was supposed to create a paperless society. Heck, it has doubled our paper use. For those of us that like paper (or like me - once any list gets to #3, I've got to have it printed out!) and we know that computers often fail and we need to have a hard copy as back-up....
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsBobbie,
The non indigo wool in the pic that I steamed is Merino from a lady in California..I found on ETSY....and tried spinning some of it, and it comes out beautifully thin!!!Love the natural color & it seems like some of the core wool I have gotten previously when you needle felt it..will keep you updated as I work with it more.
Hugs &
Back Road BearsCharlotte & Bobbie... thank you for the info!
Maybe I'll try cotton balls next!
:crackup:
