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k-times-two — Fluff Control Comparison
Published: 2013-08-03 10:23:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 389; Favourites: 6; Downloads: 0
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Hey, remember these guys? Probably not. They're some of my OLDEST felties. I think, actually, that they're probably among the first three I made. Which was quite a while ago now, I suppose.But anywho. I'm not postin' them just for ships and giggles. I am posting them because of my ~exciting~ new fuzz control method, and showing off how it works.
For those of you not interested in felting, this commentary is useless. If you are, continue on!
The difference is harder to tell in photos than when you're right there, unfortunately.
I tried my best to capture the difference anyway. It's definitely easier to see if you zoom in. I sure hope you can guess which one is treated and which one isn't. If you can't, please tell me! It means this isn't worth trying. If you can, and think it is...
The formula? Half water, half modge podge.
Pros: - Fluff becomes WAY easier to control, and doesn't re-appear with casual rubbing, unlike regular felts. (This is a fairly big plus!)
- Form becomes a tad bit more rigid and durable.
Cons: - Makes the exterior texture feel weird. Cuddle factor plummets. Regular needlefelt can feel from fluffy cloud to short-haired terrier-- this feels like dog paw pad, and can get scratchy (depending on the quality of the needlefelt surface and the way the mix was applied).
- If you aren't careful of how you apply & dry the modge-podge-water-mix, the mix will drip into and through the interior, wasting the mix and causing pooling at the bottom which ends weird.
- Modge-podge-water-mix can cause weird dried-glue patches, sometimes due to pooling and sometimes due to surfaces the needlefelt was touching when it dried.
- Can reveal flaws in construction in poorly felted forms, espeially if you bend them.
- Can cause discoloration. (Modgepodge supposedly dries clear but sometimes it still affects the coloration.)
- Form becomes more rigid. (Since I like needlefelt as a posable medium, you can see why this is on both lists. It's still posable, simply... a little less forgiving.)
My opinion? It can be useful. Especially if you're using it for something that doesn't need to be bent or posed or whatever. But it's not perfect. Honestly, I just like leavin' felties as they are... this feels strange, and I'd rather have a bit of fluff than this feeling. Though I can fix up my felties whenever I please-- it does make the surface more durable and less likely to rub off, so... there's that to consider.
And if you couldn't tell, I applied it to the green guy. Gee, I really hope you can, though.
Any feedback at all would be super helpful! What do you guys think?
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Comments: 12
I've always used wool itself to cover the fluff 
It has some fibers sticking out, but then again the kitty is only 10cm tall. I always felt to the point where the wool is strong and firm. In other words, you can't squeeze it, really. And I use different size needles in turns to do this quickly. To cover up any wool textures (like on the brown guy, the line on its neck that shows the direction of the new layer of wool) and fluff, I take a flat piece of wool that I haven't tampered with myself yet, the fibers are all naturally messy, the edges fluffy (it' really hard to explain xD) and apply it to the spot, stabbing first on the center and then randomly all around to keep new lines from appearing.
Can I ask, what kind of wool are you using? I used to work with combed top merino, but after buying some local wool batting I realized just how awful it is to work with merino. Merino also leaves more fluff and is harder to cover up
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Yeah; I tend to not felt to that degree of stiffness. Personally, I don't care to-- it makes my movable bits harder to maneuver, if you can at all. Also, it takes waaaaaay more time. Considering I usually make my creations starting at maybe 15cm and going up to... well, I guess on average, maybe like... 40 cm plus... it becomes a staggering amount of work. These were some of my earlier works-- the orange guy is like... 4 or 5 cm, tops.
I also don't use different size needles, but that's mostly because I've found 38 stars in a tri-holder to be versatile and pretty good for nearly every job. Perhaps investing more in smaller sizes might help me with finishing.
Most of the wool I work with is bought as roving; a lot of it is merino mix, and a lot of it is more rough fibers. I've used synthetic-mix and silk-mix in the past; those are the worst to work with. I don't exactly know what you mean by "flat wool", though.
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I personally like the result with stiff felt sculptures, although yes, it takes more time. Only parts that are hard to maneuver though are the spine and neck of the bigger creatures, usually. My average sculpts range from 10 to 20 cm and over
I have three sizes of triangular needles.. I believe they are 32, 36 and 40. I used to work with only the 40 gauge ones, but it took so long and later I discovered that using different ones in turns really speeds up the project. I haven't used any holders before, so I don't know how they are.
Yes, roving is what I meant 
Ignore the "flat wool" part, I was trying to describe a technique but I couldn't find the right words
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As far as roving goes-- I can experiment with how I prepare my roving, but I'm not aware of large quantities of batting around. I do use undyed wool batting for the interior of many of my pieces, though.
Given that I have quite a collection of roving colors, I'm not going to be switching any time soon. It'd be easier if I could dye my own wool, but I am definitely not in a position to dye much of anything right now.
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Oh, I know how that feels. For some reason, there seems to be so many colors of roving out there and a much smaller selection of wool batting, so I admit I'm at a little disadvantage here from that side of things ._. I have this beautiful shade of bright purple roving and only one very dark and one very light purple in batting. Plus I can't find a good solid gray anywhere; all I have is mixed fibers of black, grey and white xD
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(roving can be easily spun into yarn, that's the reason.)
You do bring up a point, though: roughing up the roving beforehand should lead to easier felting.
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I have a question if you dont mind? If its a wired felt doll would this be a bad idea to do?
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Well, honestly, I dunno. I didn't soak them in the modge podge, so I don't think it got to any of the wire.
I guess you could test a sample of the wire in the modge podge if you were that worried about it.
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Thank you for posting your experiment
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That is fascinating! I'm not sure I would necessarily like what it would do the texture (I like things soft! It's why I've loved using alpaca wool so much) but it would work really well for a more scaly critter like a lizard or dragon. I'm going to consider that at some point!
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This is very interesting! I've tried similar techniques for different purposes, like trying to get mica powder to stick to rooted hair (didn't really work
Thanks for sharing!
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It definitely has its applications in needlefelting. I've tried some aerosolized sealants before but-- anything "spray" turns out reaaaally weird on needlefelt.
I'd suggest starting at a relatively low concentration of modgepodge to water: I've only tried 1:1 and 1:2, and those both leave more stiffness than I'd prefer. It also has to do with how deep the mixture penetrates; I'd suggest painting one side and then sitting the piece on that side to dry that bit before doing the same for other parts.
And of course, test drive whatever you're doing on something you don't care about first. ^u^
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