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Many years ago I went to a workshop by Lisa Klakulak. The big take away for me was how the thin or thick fibre layout affects the quality of the final felt.  In my mind, this is called layout density.   The thinner felt layout shrinks more and is stronger hence the name of Lisa’s website – Strongfelt. 

So what you are thinking.  Well, I want to make thin felt.  In fact, thin white felt.  I want to make thin but cosy , light and comfortable wraps.  The white felt will act as a foil for my naturally dyed fabrics. This thinking process reminds me of the great care Lisa took in the starting thickness of the felt she was making.

I started with 4mg of fibre/ cm2.  My wrap size is big so this means a total of 60g of fibre.  At this density, it’s very hard for me to lay out the fibre.  The top has to be split into many fine sections and a very delicate touch is needed to separate the fibres.  Plus it’s pretty easy to disturb the fibres when wetting out. 

I used 40% shrinkage. This is a shrinkage I think gives a good effect when using fabric as part of a piece. In this case, the fabrics I used were mostly silk, dyed with indigo and madder, and marked with sumi ink.

Overall I achieved my aim.  The finished wrap is almost featherlight and is thin and flexible. It is about 160cm long and 40 cm wide

Perhaps slightly thicker would be easier to layout ?

Perhaps it would have less tendency to have thin patches.  ?

How much thicker ?? 50 % No far too much.  25%. Maybe. 

What I need is do is to do some sampling.

This piece was made this year just before I broke my elbow. I think I shall make some thicker thin samples as part of my recuperation in a few weeks.