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purelyneysa Oct 20, 2005

Good Morning,

Wool batt or roving which do you like to work with and why?

I personally like batt, it is in my opinion easier and faster to felt. The fibers go in all directions, batt being cleaned and carded.

Roving is cleaned, carded and combed until the fibers all go in one direction. I think using roving is more work and takes longer to needle. 

What do you like? Neysa

psichick78 Oct 20, 2005

Good question!

I use the batt for the core of all my creations, and then use the roving over top.
The batt is also cheaper, so I have a HUGE bag of the stuff and then smaller amounts of the nice colored roving.

I'd be interested to here what everyone else does.

Heather

purelyneysa Oct 20, 2005

I use my batt for the whole critter if it's small. Otherwise I use polyfil as the core fiber. I don't like roving as much but find that it works almost as well when needle felting a face.

Guess I'm just "batty" Neysa

matilda Oct 21, 2005

Until I recieved my parcel from ed imports. I didnt even realise that there was a core material. I thought there was only roving. :doh:

purelyneysa Oct 21, 2005

Core fiber is usually white wool, which is not always the best to felt it is generally to soft. Some white felts very well it the breed of sheep it comes from. Using a core fiber is just a way to save on wool. But if your project is small why use a core fiber... use the wool you would to finish the project.

I wouldn't pay for core fiber... polyester stuffing is just as good if not better. Neysa

Dilu Oct 21, 2005

I appreciate that tip, Neysa, I wouldn't have known about having a core fiber let alone using batt vs rovings.  When I think of Batt I am thinking the stuff I used in quilts.  So I am thinking I am way off base....is the batt you are refering to a courser rougher fiber, is it something you crunch into a little ball prior to felting?

I guess I am a little confused, not hard to believe for anyone who knows me.

Thanks

Dilu

purelyneysa Oct 22, 2005

Dilu, maybe the following photo's will help... the colored wool is "batt" it's clean wool the is fed through the carding machines just a few times so that the fibres are going in all directions. "Roving" the second picture - camel colored .... it is clean wool that if fed through the carding machine multiple times and "combed" so all the fibres are going in one direction... note how you can see this in the picture. Roving is what spinners use they just pull strands from the roving to spin. Does that help any??? Neysa

matilda Oct 22, 2005

Now I know what your talking about!!! In that case then I must like the wool "batt" the best. Because even though I have only used roving, I pull the roving apart so that the srands become all higglety pigglety.  Other wise I end up with long lines on my felting work.   AHA!!!   Now I know what's going on. Thankyou Neysa. This would've taken me ages to work out on my own :doh:

Judi Oct 22, 2005

I'm "batty" like you , Neysa.   I think it felts up beautifully.  The roving works best for me when I pull it all apart to mix up the direction of fibers.

Core wool, in my personal, opinion feels kind of yucky and is  lumpy.  I can understand why you would use it for the core of a project though.

Great pictures Neysa.  Those colors are yummy

gingerbear Oct 22, 2005

i like the batts so much better than the roving.  :thumbsup:

ginnie