Creating woolie wet felted textile pictures is a passion of Franziska.
Franziska discovered making larger pictures out of wool by pure accident. What started out to be a broch became so much bigger, that she needed a frame rather then a pin to mount it.
And so, began my journey of felting loose fibres into actual pictures. The process is simple, but the outcome my not. As I lay loose merino fibres on a blanket of more loose fibres, the inspired design starts a life of its own. I can only ground or bind the fibres form distorting again by adding warm soapy water. The felting process has begun. Now it is down to me and a pinch of good luck that the design stays in place. The wool picture is now being stroked, rubbed, and agitated with my hands. This process takes elbow crease and patience. I can not rush the felting process as I need to check the accuracy of the design very frequently while I am doing the agitation of the wool.
I have only one chance to get it right, there is no coming back a second time.
The finer details are added when the wool wet felted picture is dry. I do this either by hand or with free motion embroidery with my beloved sewing machine.
I am using merino wool unless otherwise stated. The wool I use is mulesing free. This is important to me. I also use silks, other wool locks for different textures, wool yarn, fabrics, and other treads.
I am amazed every time on how much detail I can achieve using only loose wool fibres.
I also love the fact that my raw material is created by eating grass…..lots of it.
