Today I thought I’d show you some of the different fibres i use. Here is a selection of the white and neutral fibres in my collection. Zoom in to see the different textures.
Angora Rabbit - sooo soft! This is collected by brushing the rabbit. It is my go to fibre for white horses as it holds really well for quite a soft delicate fibre and is the brightest natural white I’ve come across.
Silk Noil - great for fluffy clouds, cowslip, meadow whites. Very delicate - I use a fine needle only.
Mulberry Silk - smooth and shiny. Doesn’t felt (surface too smooth) but I use it for white horses sometimes and snowdrops.
Carded wool - fluffy and easy to felt. Good for coverage, backgrounds and to build volume.
Flax - strong, straight fibre great for whiskers and tall grass.
Alpaca - fluffy but quite coarse, good in thin layers for textured ‘glazes’ over an area.
Gummy silk cocoon strippings - brilliant for dandelion seeds. Actually fluffs up well when you tear a bit off.
Merino wool (also corriedale wool) - soft easily felted fibre. Good for coverage in directional areas like skies and fields. Mix with other fibres to aid felting. I don’t see it as a textured fibre - more of a neutral all rounder.
Angelina - artificial fibre made for sparkles. Some form are fusible so can be ironed into flat shapes. I just mix it in to my layers for twinkles.
So hopefully that will give you a better idea of what I’m on about when I describe finished work!
Feel free to ask questions or correct me - I’m not a fibre expert, I just use the stuff and happy to share what’s worked for me and learn more from questions I can’t answer yet!
Can you tell I’m missing open studios?You may have noticed that I try to list the main fibres used in each new piece.
Today I thought I’d show you some of the different fibres i use. Here is a selection of the white and neutral fibres in my collection. Zoom in to see the different textures.
Angora Rabbit - sooo soft! This is collected by brushing the rabbit. It is my go to fibre for white horses as it holds really well for quite a soft delicate fibre and is the brightest natural white I’ve come across.
Silk Noil - great for fluffy clouds, cowslip, meadow whites. Very delicate - I use a fine needle only.
Mulberry Silk - smooth and shiny. Doesn’t felt (surface too smooth) but I use it for white horses sometimes and snowdrops.
Carded wool - fluffy and easy to felt. Good for coverage, backgrounds and to build volume.
Flax - strong, straight fibre great for whiskers and tall grass.
Alpaca - fluffy but quite coarse, good in thin layers for textured ‘glazes’ over an area.
Gummy silk cocoon strippings - brilliant for dandelion seeds. Actually fluffs up well when you tear a bit off.
Merino wool (also corriedale wool) - soft easily felted fibre. Good for coverage in directional areas like skies and fields. Mix with other fibres to aid felting. I don’t see it as a textured fibre - more of a neutral all rounder.
Angelina - artificial fibre made for sparkles. Some form are fusible so can be ironed into flat shapes. I just mix it in to my layers for twinkles.
So hopefully that will give you a better idea of what I’m on about when I describe finished work!
Feel free to ask questions or correct me - I’m not a fibre expert, I just use the stuff and happy to share what’s worked for me and learn more from questions I can’t answer yet!
Can you tell I’m missing open studios?