What is felt-making?You make felt by wetting or rubbing raw, unspun wool, which naturally binds together during this process to form the cloth. You can then use the felt to make bags, hats, scarves, babies' boots, other clothing or wall hangings.
What is batik?In batik – the word comes from the Javanese for "painted" – you decorate cloth by dying it after applying hot wax to certain areas; then, when you remove the wax, the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas makes the pattern. Batik is used for the likes of clothing, wall hangings and cushions.
How do you make felt?There are two processes, wet felting and dry needle felting. For wet felting you wash and untangle the wool, then place it in horizontal and vertical layers, with bubble wrap on the bottom and top. "You gently massage this so that the fibres grip together and the wool mats and tangles naturally. Then you can roll the whole lot up in a towel and roll that along a table," says Sheila Jordan, a fibre artist.
For dry needle felting you put thick layers of wool on a foam block and punch down into the fibres with a strong-needled brush. “People are amazed that felt-making doesn’t involve stitching or weaving or gluing,” says Jordan. You can add raw silk fibre or fabric to the layers of wool to create different textures and colours. The process takes 10 or 15 minutes for a small amount of felt.
What's the technique for making batik?You begin with a white or light-coloured piece of fabric, preferably cotton. You paint or drip hot wax into the shape or design you want, then leave it to dry for a few minutes. Next you sponge or paint on a light-coloured dye and leave it to air dry. You repeat this process with more wax and darker dyes until you are satisfied with your pattern. The last stage is to remove the wax. "The piece of fabric will be very stiff, so you can scrape off some of the wax with a knife and remove the rest by ironing the fabric between sheets of brown paper," says Janey Winchester, a textile and fibre artist.
Where do I sign up?Sheila Jordan (sheilajordan.ie) is giving a felt-making workshop at Airfield (airfield.ie), Dundrum, Dublin 14, on June 11th, from 10.30am to 4.30pm. Airfield is also hosting an exhibition of textile works by Filament fibre-art group from May 19th until June 19th. See also feltmakersireland.com. Janey Winchester gives batik and silk-painting courses at her studio in Dunmanway, Co Cork (jpandkw@gmail.com).
