So it begins....Today was the first day of starting my adventure into processing my own wool fleeces. As you remember Hubby gave me some on our Anniversary. Awww, nothing says love like a good farm smelling fleece. I went and bought another 19 and 3/4 pounds more and the lady I bought it from gave me another two pounds. My poor husband looked at the seven large garbage bags on her table and said that's all yours?????????? With the cheesiest grin I responded uhhh huhhhhh, poor guy.....So day one and what have I learned. First let me say, I LOVE IT!! I find it very therapeutic. Believe it or not, this is some of the white wool, looking pretty dirty, its going to get better..
Now for my first lessons. Too much soap, oops, makes it much harder to get rinsed clear with SO many bubbles.
Next buy a pair of good Playtex gloves, I burned the **it out of my hands!!!
Love these!!!
and I got to put the Horse Before The Cart, I usually do...
In the two pounds the lady gave me there were batts / batting nice and clean and ready to use, yippee. It's a very dark chocolate brown. So last night I made these. Wool Dryer Balls, they are a lot of fun to make. Again very relaxing. I will tell you more about this process later. First we have to sort out the unusable stuff, wash, dry, pick / tease, comb and make rolags from our raw wool fleece and then we can create. I'm the only one allowed here to put the Cart Before The Horse, lol. I can't wait to try soap felting too!!
Yikes, that's a lot of wool, I better get those gloves this weekend, I have a lot of work yet to do, lol, poor hubby....
Here's a few pics of my Wedding Witch still in progress but she's getting closer...
Here's the front view, hahahahahahaha. She has a lovely netted underskirt, hehehehehe.
Check out how long her netted train is!!!!
A bit closer up...
and she'll be holding this little JOL treat bucket for her bouquet, haven't figured out what to put in it as of yet????? Any ideas???
So there you have it. The sheep are hanging out in my kitchen and I'm trying to plan a Witchie Wedding, no rest for the Wicked, lol.
Hope your having a wonderful week!!
I'll be back to baaahhh ther you more soon...
Brenda
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When I was in high school, my Mom & I learned to work with wool. And boy, do I ever know what you mean about the smell!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of soap did you use to wash the fleece?
Also, look for something called wool cards (Google it). They make it super simple to 'clean' the wool of burs and little stuff as well as make rolags.
Wish we lived closer...I have half a gray fleece I'd give to you!
Bren, when you make your felted soap, you are going to LOVE it! If you make your own soap, it is even better, (if you don't make your own, see if you can exchange with someone who does. .a few bars for felting some for her) but even if you use commercial soap, it will last forever, and you can use the felting again if you want, or use it for something else.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I wish we lived closer! Every year, there is a huge fiber-fest near me, and I can see a bunch of us know decending upon the fair grounds! They have everything from the animals to buy, to finished items, and everything inbetween you would need to make yarn, dye it, make paper, rug hook, spin, weave, knit, crochet. .you name anything to do with fiber, there is a vendor there to sell it! And they have demos and classes. .just a whole lot of fun!
How very interesting Brenda! I love visiting your blog. You are so upbeat and creative! Magic you are! Ooh and I would try to find some little tiny moonflowers for the bouquet!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating process!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the peeks of your witch ~ can't wait to see the wedding! ;)
What a fantastic gift from your man. When I lived in Illinois,I used to profess my own fleece, nothing like it and your hands are never softer or smoother from the lanolin. Just discovered your blog and am enjoying your posts. Sea Witch
ReplyDeleteLOL Jeanne! I wish we lived closer too, what fun we could have with that fleece!!
ReplyDeleteSuzie, I wish I made my own soap. I have made the melt and pours but they are not the same as you already know. I may have to buy a few handmade soaps to felt at least for gifts. I would love to go to the Fiber Fest, OMG how awesomely fun we would have there!!
Thank you Sherry, your such a sweetie!! Love the Moonflower idea, I will have to see if I can sculpt them small enough for my JOL bucket, hummm or maybe paper Moonflowers. Fab idea!! Thanks Sherry
Hello Laura, Aggie has to be finished and listed on Ebay no later than Saturday, the 17!!! So guess what I will be busting my hinny doing next week, ugghhhhhh. I'm always behind. Plus I need time to take pictures as that part takes me forever, sometimes I swear it takes me longer to take the pictures than it took to create the piece, blah.
Hello Sea Witch, welcome to my blog, so nice to meet you. I never thought about the lanolin making my hands soft, whooo hooo another good reason to work with fleece!! Thank you for your kind words about my blog and I hope you will visit again!!
Happy Weekend Everyone!!
((Hugs))
Brenda
Wow are you ever going to be busy...it wasn't intimidating at all? I had no idea of the process! Can I buy some of the finished wool when you're finished?
ReplyDeleteWow Brenda I am amazed by this process! Can't wait to see your creations finished! Have a blog award for you cause you rock! lol:) Becca
ReplyDeleteGosh Brenda this process is really cool and its taking all my strength to not look it up on the internet...I get so wrapped up on new ideas...Make sure you tell us all the steps..hehhehe!!Your witch looks amazing too!!Hugs-Cat
ReplyDeleteLOL Lisa, I've got wool coming out of my ears. Yes, I was a bit intimidated by the process and I spent a lot of time researching it on the internet. My biggest fear was felting during the washing step. But it's not as easy to felt wool during washing as I thought it was. Processing your own wool is very easy, labor intensive, but very easy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, yes you may buy some if you would like when I am finished. It's going to be awhile yet though, if that is okay. I'm kinda working in between projects right now. Also what are you interested in, wool for hair on sculptures, needle felting, etc?
Brenda
Becca and Cat, I'm so glad your enjoying my adventure into wool processing. This has to be one of the most amazing creation adventures I have ever taken so far and I'm so excited to share it with all of you. I can hardly wait to see the creations made from this soft, wooly fiber myself.
ReplyDeleteCat, warning once you start, you won't want to stop, as long as you can get past the smell, lol. I will post a great link for learning how to process your own in my next wool post. I have done a lot of research and I have found a great link with great info all on one site. I was finding a bit here and a bit there and compiling. Since I have found a site that has it all!!
Brenda
Hey, Brenda! I didn't know that you worked with wool! Love the dryer balls. Let me know when you give more info on how to do that. Looks so cool!!! I've only felted balls under running hot water which works, but this looks like fun! Also, be warned: felting soap is addictive! I am a recovering soap felting addict. . . among some other wool addictions!!!
ReplyDelete