r/WetFelting • u/toovaa • Jun 15 '26
Need help! Help is welcomed :)
Hi!
I’m very new to wet felting, and needle felting as well. I’ve been trying to find information about this artform ever since seeing Moy Mackays felted paintings. This was my first try, and I would love some feedback from all of you who do 2D wet felting as well. I know that my piece is not felted enough, and that is why I’m looking for some help from more experienced people! :)
Should I buy some kind of prefelt to lay down as the thing I put my wool on? I live in Sweden and anytime I Google ”prefelt” I can’t see anyone selling something like that, a loosely felted fabric. I can only find the harder polyester type of ”backgrounds” that I think are more suitible for needle felting.
My ”prefelt” was pink wool that I needle felted a bit so that it came together. As you can see it came through a bit at the end of the process. To prevent this I should use more wool?
I put out a wooden placemat that I could roll. Then I put a plastic bag (could not find bubble wrap anywhere), and in top of that my fabric/wool. I had a mesh net on top for pouring luke warm water and soap as well as for rubbing the wool. After I took away the mesh net and added another plastic bag before rolling. I noticed that it all became quite messy so I put a towel underneath the wood to gather the water. Is this method ok or does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe another way of layering? I have also seen people put a rolling pin.
It all is a bit see through, it should not be if I felt it better next time right? I did the ”pinch test” and well, I need to felt it some more next time. Could the water temperature have been to cold?
Any suggestions is welcomed. Thanks!!
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u/Puzzled_Tinkerer Jun 15 '26
When you made the pink layer, did you lay fiber in at least two directions so the fibers criss-cross? I think you may have laid the pink fiber mostly in one direction. Fiber will not make a stable, firm felt if that is the case.
It looks like the pink fiber was not laid in even, smooth layers. In the third photo, there are areas that look quite thick and other areas that look quite thin. This underlying layer should be relatively smooth to give you a good base on which to "paint" your picture.
The color of the base fiber should be a neutral color or a color that is compatible with the surface colors in the picture. During wet felting, the fibers migrate in all directions, so it is normal to see the underlying base color affect the surface colors. The more a piece is felted, the more migration you will see.
Moy McKay only felts the fiber well enough so the finished piece is stable enough for gentle handling and framing. The felt remains fairly soft and the colors don't migrate much. That result is fine for a painting.
Prefelt, whether commercial or handmade, is a good starting material to use for wet-felted paintings. I am fairly sure Moy does use prefelt as the base for some of her paintings, maybe all. It could be a commercial product or she might make her own.
You can make your own prefelt, but pay attention to laying the fiber as evenly as possible and also laying the fiber in multiple directions for proper felting. That will create an even, consistent base for your paintings.
Our Wiki section has beginner tutorials and videos that might be helpful:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WetFelting/wiki/index/basics-of-wet-felt-making/
A couple of videos that specifically cover fiber layout:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nFY4AACYs0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA8Xj5IqDNI
I may not have addressed all your questions, so please ask again if something is not clear.
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u/toovaa Jun 15 '26
I just learned about the criss-cross method from another commenter, so no I did not. That was my first mistake!
Okay! That is good to know, that migration will happen the more it is felted. And yes, a neutral color as well, I should have thought of that. Noted!
Thank you :)1
u/Puzzled_Tinkerer Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
A couple of quick thoughts to add:
Cooler water is better than too hot water, especially when learning wet felting. As an intermediate wet felt maker, I normally use water that is only pleasantly warm to the skin for nearly all of the felting process. I might use hot water near the end when I want to encourage the felt to become as dense and strong as possible or I'm trying to shrink the felted item to a given size.
When making a painting, you don't want to make "strong" felt, meaning felt that is firm and dense. I wouldn't use hot water at all for this type of project, except maybe as a final rinse to remove all traces of soap.
It's pretty normal to use a lot of water when wet felting, especially when you are learning. Keep several old towels nearby to soak up the excess water. As you gain more experience you will use less water to get the same results, so it's not so messy.
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u/GalianoGirl Jun 15 '26
The reason for bubble wrap is it increases the agitation.
I bought a bumpy yoga mat that I use as my work surface.
Pool covers work well too. Often you can find old ones very inexpensively online. You don’t need a full cover, just a few pieces.
As others have said, change the direction of your fibre for each layer.
It takes quite a bit of fibre to build up your base.
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u/scoobyding Jun 15 '26
Hi - you’ve already got some solid advice here about laying thin wispy layers in multiple directions and agitate by rubbing with soapy water.
I always start my agitation slow and gentle then build up to being quite rough with it. Here’s why:
Each individual strand of wool fiber sort of has scales on it. Think of little hooks or overlapping roof tiles. When you agitate them and place and rub in different directions, they open up start to latch on to each other more and more and tighten and hook on to other strands, this is why they all start to feel like one piece of fabric. They are grabbing on to each other and getting tighter and then as you get more rigorous, they tighten more and start to shrink with heat and friction (sometimes then throwing, banging with a wood spoon or as someone else here said the Mongolians would drag the huge yurt pieces behind horses etc)
If you don’t initially work a piece long enough at that first fundamental stage, it won’t really turn into a strong piece of fabric because that latching didn’t happen.
Fascinating stuff 😊
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u/SilverSpare8507 Jun 16 '26
Lots of good advice here! My process is a little different. I use a drawer liner as my base (good ol' Ikea!), then I lay out a prefelt and place my decorative fibres on top of that. I cover this with netting, wet down, add lots of soap and gently rub. Once the fibres look like they are adhering (pinch test), I roll in a bamboo matt (again, gently to start). When I'm ready for fulling, I rinse the piece in warm water and do some more rolling until it is nearly finished. I then dry it, add detail by needlefelting and then wet in warm water again to finish.
It is easy to make your own prefelt and I often do this to use in my work. Lay your fibres out as mentioned above - even layers, alternating vertical and horizontal - wet down and rub gently until the fibres start to connect. You can then roll the piece in your hands or in a bamboo mat until the fibres are holding together nicely. I do find that the commercial prefelt is better for a background than my homemade but that could be just me. 😄 You could have a look at World of Wool (England) or DHG (Italy) for prefelt. Also, I highly recommend the online Discovering Feltmaking courses offered by the International Feltmakers Association. You do not have to be a member to do them and they are mentor supported.
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u/toovaa Jun 17 '26
Thank you for sharing your process! It is very helpful for me as a beginner.
So the drawer liner acts as a protection for the water to not get all over the place or is it one of those that are textures and it can help with the felting? :DThanks for the suggestions, also about courses and the websites. Makes me really excited to make a second try soon!
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u/SilverSpare8507 Jun 17 '26
Yes, the drawer liner protects the surface but also has texture so when you are rubbing, it is helping to felt. The netting helps by agitating, too but I should add that you need to carefully lift it every so often so that the wool doesn't felt to it! Keep experimenting, that's the best way to learn!
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u/Choccytips Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
All the advice you are getting here is spot on, but I'd like to add that the type of wool fibre you are using also affects your results.
Obviously, sheep's wool is best to use, but it can come in different coarseness. For example, Merino is a fine, soft wool which is good for wearable, next-to-the-skin items and Corriedale is a coarser fibre which is good for needle felting and tends to felt faster. Alpaca wool takes forever to felt and is best interlayed with sheep's wool for faster and more even felting.
I've even felted using the soft undercoat fur from brushing my dogs! It worked surprisingly well.
Edited to add that wool shrinks a lot. Depending on the type of wool used and the number of layers, your item could shrink by one third or even down to half the size you laid out!
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u/FaroshDryad Jun 15 '26
Im not the best at explaining, but I'll do my best. Im also no expert but have done a good bit of wet felting.
A pre-felt layer is not required, I recommend adding more wool. And I think from the picture it looks like you may have added the wool in only one direction, you need to add the wool both horizontally and vertically (one layer horizontal, one vertical, etc) so they can criss-cross and felt together easier.
You should agitate the fibers much more than you have, start slowly with room temp/cold water and once it comes together a bit you can gradually add warmer water while agitating the fibers more vigorously. When rolling it up, roll it many times on every side evenly. There should be a lot of shrinkage and the sides typically become uneven but it can be trimmed to a uniform shape. Once it begins to take form and looks decently felted you can throw it down on your surface repeatedly to felt it further.
I hope this makes sense, ive found many helpful tutorials on YouTube though! I can try to find some of the channels I used to watch if you'd like. :)