Why don't you share list with all of us Bobbi. I'd love to know about these forums. I also agree about dry needle felting and courser wool working better than merino. I have a local gal that has meat sheep crosses with some rambouillet bred in and the fiber is just great for needle felting esp to get it nice and firm. But I have also found it works great in my mini mills felter as well and much better (and cheaper) to make prefelts for pictorial projects.
I haven't worked with border leister very much but I think it would be just great for needle felting. Bobbi -- your bears are w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l BTW -- I think I have seen them in the Teddy Magazine! If anyone hasn't checked these out yet you must these great personalities! I was doing fiber sculptures for awhile and then recently moved on to pictorial needle felting. With both of these they need dry and wet processes to finish. The course wool is more manageble and predictable. Then I do a top layer on the sculptures of dog hair or whatever and brush it after it is wet felted. I call it "breltwork" for brushed felt. The courser wool is great for the base of these before the dog hair. Merino and the fine wools felt fast somehow when hand rolling for wet felting but are much harder to control in large amounts with the machine. Polworth included but is ok for some features of needling dry over the courser prefelt. BTW on the topic I am quite excited because when I try something new I enter it in some show or other to get a reaction. The recent local juried art show actually had a category called "fiber art" and I entered some pieces and got a first for the pictorial felt and a first for 3D category (silk fusion head lighted with a handspun satin angora tam called it "Enlightened Global Warming"). Both pieces have been selected to be in the big show in the city (Winnipeg) this year held at the Bay for month of July. I haven't got a picture of it but do of the other one (Dances with Moonbeams) along with some of the earlier sculptures --note the pelican as it was needle felted with this type of wool that I am describing. It was not wet finished only needle felted. Also the polar bear sculpture has the base of this wool but the topcoat of dog hair (great pyranees I think) and is very firm -- indeed hard to the touch but still looks soft so a nice art "anomaly". Our studio tour has a webpage for each artist so you can have a look. http://www.mts.net/~hroggere/artist/creature-comforts.html FYI the "Tessie Bears " shown are handspun kid mohair -- my first kind of "breltwork" and after brushing I restore the curls. This list has been quiet. Nice to her from some of you out there! Regards, Dianne If it were clean fiber (colored would be an added Plus!) the shorter length and it in batt form would be especially attractive to needle felters. Many are realizing that there actually ARE other breeds than Merino, and that Merino is one of the more difficult fibers to needle (its softness would be a natural for small projects but its length makes it difficult to work it into a 2" - 3" project.) Romney and similar micron breeds needle VERY firmly if one puts in enough time so marketing to the Dry-/Needle-Felters is a new and growing market. Too much of the current info being posted is still apropos for WET felting and it is most often the exact opposite in directions and results for dry felters. Unfortunately, that is what the dry/needle felters are hearing - my mission is to change this, one needler at a time! So ask you friend to have her fiber cleaned, possibly dye some of it, drum card it and join the needle felting lists and forums - I can forward a list if she needs outlets! Bobbie R 2008 © RKR4CDS http://www.BeyondBasicBears.com eBay ID ~ rkr4cds Artist Dichotomy: Shoulds vs Wants "I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping, still my guitar gently weeps." While My Guitar Gently Weeps ©1968 George Harrison [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
