Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Felt.....how do I feel about you?



It's that time again, the end of the semester. What do I want? To have fun. SO I decided to make a beard...a lady beard. My theme is sideshow oddities so I wanted to work with the bearded lady. She gets herself all dolled up in a fancy dress and shows off her beard to all. I think men look handsome with beards, so why can't ladies be handsome too? Why not doll up the beard too? I wanted to make a fluffy flowing beard. Metal is not the softest looking material, so why not try felting?

I purchased 15 feet of black wool and about six feet of purple wool. Yes, I am trying to keep the beard trendy and "stylish". SO last night I set up a little wet felting area on the floor of the studio. I needed a big enough work space and the floor was as big as I could get. I laid down three garbage bags so the water did not get on the floor. Then I taped the bags to the floor so they wouldn't move as I rolled the felt on top of them. After laying down the garbage bags you lay down the bubble wrap. The felt you gently tear aprat and layer them on top of each other. In areas where you want the felt to be thicker you layer more felt on top by crosshatching. Now you add a little bit of water and some soap. I used a pool noodle as my roller. I started to roll the wool and bubble wrap around the noodle and continued to roll it back and forth. After ten minutes or so, I stopped and unwrapped everything. I had used too much water, which made me very nervous and stressed. Luckily dabbing it with a towel helps to remove it. I let it dry for a little then rolled it all once more. Right now I have a pretty fancy looking beard

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