Does anyone who has made felt know if wool fleece (the sort that is processed and made into 2 inch thick rolls for loft insulations) can be made into felt by soaking soaping beating and rolling etc??
Question about wool insulation and felt
- Thread starter mr dazzler
- Start date
I'm not anecessarily expert on this but what I have done is a felting class one afternoon. So knowledge is minimal. What I did learn is that the fibres need to mat together so the longer the fibre the better.I have never handled wool insulation but I imagine it's lots of small fibres chopped up and processed together somehow. but having no idea of the way it's done I don't know.
I imagine you are thinking some of the hard work has been done for you.
I think it might not work , but it is going to be hard work being so thick.
The only thing to do is take a small bit say a foot square and try.
I'm sceptical that it will work but very happy if you prove me wrong.
Good luck.
I imagine you are thinking some of the hard work has been done for you.
I think it might not work , but it is going to be hard work being so thick.
The only thing to do is take a small bit say a foot square and try.
I'm sceptical that it will work but very happy if you prove me wrong.
Good luck.
I have absolutely zero knowledge about the process, apart from watching, but the first I would investigate is if the insulation felt has been treated with something.
Anti mould, anti insects, anti fire?
Internet says the wool fibers are commonly held (=glued) together using polyester.
Anti mould, anti insects, anti fire?
Internet says the wool fibers are commonly held (=glued) together using polyester.
I have a little knowledge of industrial processes to make e-glass needlemat from glass fibres (textile grade). The fibres are 50 to 100mm long iirc and using a carding machine then needling machine you compress the loose wool into a felt. Easiest with a lightweight tissue carrier but that's a machine based problem and shouldn't be needed if the machine was working right.
Glass wool has a sizing coating but no binder type of treatment. Lambswool insulation would expect not to have any binder on it and could be felted from the insulation. However I've never really handled it. A salesperson brought samples round in the earliest days of it being used in buildings. Well actually in development and trials. Back then it was not with any binder, however it was with natural lanolin to the touch. That could interfere possibly.
Try it and see. I'd card it to get the fibres lined up or cleaned up a bit first but I've never made felt personally so definitely no expert. The length of the fibre is likely to be similar to glass fibres used in similar insulation applications.
Glass wool has a sizing coating but no binder type of treatment. Lambswool insulation would expect not to have any binder on it and could be felted from the insulation. However I've never really handled it. A salesperson brought samples round in the earliest days of it being used in buildings. Well actually in development and trials. Back then it was not with any binder, however it was with natural lanolin to the touch. That could interfere possibly.
Try it and see. I'd card it to get the fibres lined up or cleaned up a bit first but I've never made felt personally so definitely no expert. The length of the fibre is likely to be similar to glass fibres used in similar insulation applications.
I make felt, and to be honest I wouldn't use this stuff. Well, maybe for a sit mat, but remember that it's been processed and treated to be insulation.
The manufacturers/installers claim that it's 'pure wool', and 'ecologically friendly', but even the stuff made in Europe which isn't usually mixed with plastic fibres is treated with Borax.
Borax is good stuff, just not in our lungs or on our skin. It does protect the wool from moths and fungus though.....but neither insecticides or fungicides are good things in our lungs or on our skins.
There's one other caveat. For wool to felt it really needs those little scales left on the fibres. Pure New Wool, the stuff you can wash without shrinking is made by removing those little scales. I don't know if they've removed the scales from the insulation so that it doesn't mat down. Pack wool into something and it'll felt anyway, roll it up and it's pretty much guaranteed to felt a bit. It does that, it's natural.
It only doesn't do it on a sheep because the sheep produces something in it's sweat/oil called suint.
Suint naturally cleans the hair and wool when it gets wet, and the lanolin helps keep it all in good order.
We have to remove that from the fleece before we felt it (it and shed skin scales attract insect mites, etc.,) otherwise we're just trapping dirt in the layers of the fleece felt, and to remove the stink. No getting away from it, an unwashed fleece smells and it's not a good smell.
I don't know how they've washed the wool before they've made these insulation batts.
Our farmers are very careful now with organophosphates (why we have had an enormous rise in the issues with ticks) but that's not true of the whole of 'Europe', and I don't know where they have sourced the fleece.
Organophosphates are most definitely not stuff you want on your hands or in your air. From handling a fleece from a sheep that was dipped a bit before shearing my hands broke out in the most horrendous dermatitis that left my skin cracked and bleeding, and just touching one of those fleece now has my skin so swollen that I have had to have a ring cut off. It's not fun stuff to be around.
On the other hand, having written all that, I'm interested to know whether the stuff can be safely felted
See when you have a go ? come back and let us know how you got on.
It's easy enough to felt something. Get hold of either some bubble wrap or the kind of bamboo matts that used to be used as table mats or for rolling sushi. Even a bit of old net curtain will do.
Find a squirty bottle of some kind, shave some soap off a bar (we go all posh and purist and only use the finest olive oil castille, or glycerine soap but honestly, any bar of soap that's used beside the sink or in the bath will do) and put some hot water in the bottle. Shake it well until it dissolves. You should have a greyish looking liquid. Squirt that or shake that all over the fleece. Roll it up in the bubble wrap/bamboo mat and roll and roll and roll it backwards and forwards, pressing firmly the whole time.
Open it up and turn the fleece 90˚ and do the same again.
It might need more soapy water, but if it's going to felt, that ought to do it.
Measure the piece you're going to try first, and mark it in some way (I stitch through a length of coloured yarn at one side and corner) so that you can see if it felts more in one direction or the other, and measure when you're done. Good felting will really shrink the batt. Poor felting will hardly move it.
Best of luck with it
M
The manufacturers/installers claim that it's 'pure wool', and 'ecologically friendly', but even the stuff made in Europe which isn't usually mixed with plastic fibres is treated with Borax.
Borax is good stuff, just not in our lungs or on our skin. It does protect the wool from moths and fungus though.....but neither insecticides or fungicides are good things in our lungs or on our skins.
There's one other caveat. For wool to felt it really needs those little scales left on the fibres. Pure New Wool, the stuff you can wash without shrinking is made by removing those little scales. I don't know if they've removed the scales from the insulation so that it doesn't mat down. Pack wool into something and it'll felt anyway, roll it up and it's pretty much guaranteed to felt a bit. It does that, it's natural.
It only doesn't do it on a sheep because the sheep produces something in it's sweat/oil called suint.
Suint naturally cleans the hair and wool when it gets wet, and the lanolin helps keep it all in good order.
We have to remove that from the fleece before we felt it (it and shed skin scales attract insect mites, etc.,) otherwise we're just trapping dirt in the layers of the fleece felt, and to remove the stink. No getting away from it, an unwashed fleece smells and it's not a good smell.
I don't know how they've washed the wool before they've made these insulation batts.
Our farmers are very careful now with organophosphates (why we have had an enormous rise in the issues with ticks) but that's not true of the whole of 'Europe', and I don't know where they have sourced the fleece.
Organophosphates are most definitely not stuff you want on your hands or in your air. From handling a fleece from a sheep that was dipped a bit before shearing my hands broke out in the most horrendous dermatitis that left my skin cracked and bleeding, and just touching one of those fleece now has my skin so swollen that I have had to have a ring cut off. It's not fun stuff to be around.
On the other hand, having written all that, I'm interested to know whether the stuff can be safely felted
See when you have a go ? come back and let us know how you got on.
It's easy enough to felt something. Get hold of either some bubble wrap or the kind of bamboo matts that used to be used as table mats or for rolling sushi. Even a bit of old net curtain will do.
Find a squirty bottle of some kind, shave some soap off a bar (we go all posh and purist and only use the finest olive oil castille, or glycerine soap but honestly, any bar of soap that's used beside the sink or in the bath will do) and put some hot water in the bottle. Shake it well until it dissolves. You should have a greyish looking liquid. Squirt that or shake that all over the fleece. Roll it up in the bubble wrap/bamboo mat and roll and roll and roll it backwards and forwards, pressing firmly the whole time.
Open it up and turn the fleece 90˚ and do the same again.
It might need more soapy water, but if it's going to felt, that ought to do it.
Measure the piece you're going to try first, and mark it in some way (I stitch through a length of coloured yarn at one side and corner) so that you can see if it felts more in one direction or the other, and measure when you're done. Good felting will really shrink the batt. Poor felting will hardly move it.
Best of luck with it
M
Cheers, Janne.
No, I wouldn't felt that stuff. Not saying that it won't felt, because we can and do felt some acrylic, but this is just too much of a mixed bag for me to be happy doing it; certainly not doing it and claiming that it's 'organic' or ecologically friendly.
M
Many products bear the words Organic, Sustainable, Ecologically whatever.
Ever seen Organic Wildcaught Sardines in Tomato sauce?
In a very ’sustainable’ looking brown paper cardboard box ( metal tin inside) ?
Load of BS. Marketing.
One company of the wool insulation claim they source special wool that is specially suitable for insulation.
I say they buy wool of a grade unsuitable for fabric making. Rejects.
Would be stupid not to!
Use everything. Waste not.
If you want to make your own wool felt, would it not be better to contact a wool processing factory and buy proper material, cleaned, carded and ‘ready to go’?
Ever seen Organic Wildcaught Sardines in Tomato sauce?
In a very ’sustainable’ looking brown paper cardboard box ( metal tin inside) ?
Load of BS. Marketing.
One company of the wool insulation claim they source special wool that is specially suitable for insulation.
I say they buy wool of a grade unsuitable for fabric making. Rejects.
Would be stupid not to!
Use everything. Waste not.
If you want to make your own wool felt, would it not be better to contact a wool processing factory and buy proper material, cleaned, carded and ‘ready to go’?
We once managed to pick up half a dozen eggs from "Free range, vegetarian chickens"
I have on several occasions having seen a sign for free range chickens... on asking for the free chickens I get a funny look and told no they do not give their chickens away but they do sell the eggs.
Chicken ( +hens and cockerels) are omnivores.
Best eggs ( and meat) if they can run around, eat bugs with a side dish of seeds and greens.
Can you mix the fluffy under feathers and wool and felt it?
Best eggs ( and meat) if they can run around, eat bugs with a side dish of seeds and greens.
Can you mix the fluffy under feathers and wool and felt it?
You can, but even those fluffy under feathers have miniscule quills, and you'll feel them in your felt.
It can be used to bind feathers into something like a hat or brooch though.
Feather boas get away with this because they're glued and sewn together....in a kind of weave....so that the quills aren't scratchy.
M
It can be used to bind feathers into something like a hat or brooch though.
Feather boas get away with this because they're glued and sewn together....in a kind of weave....so that the quills aren't scratchy.
M
thanks for the tips and replies from every body... I was imagining that the insulation I had in mind was just pure wool, I never knew it was glued up or treated. perhaps not such a great idea after all. I'm guessing thick wool felt carpet underlay is much the same way?I make felt, and to be honest I wouldn't use this stuff. Well, maybe for a sit mat, but remember that it's been processed and treated to be insulation.
The manufacturers/installers claim that it's 'pure wool', and 'ecologically friendly', but even the stuff made in Europe which isn't usually mixed with plastic fibres is treated with Borax.
Borax is good stuff, just not in our lungs or on our skin. It does protect the wool from moths and fungus though.....but neither insecticides or fungicides are good things in our lungs or on our skins.
There's one other caveat. For wool to felt it really needs those little scales left on the fibres. Pure New Wool, the stuff you can wash without shrinking is made by removing those little scales. I don't know if they've removed the scales from the insulation so that it doesn't mat down. Pack wool into something and it'll felt anyway, roll it up and it's pretty much guaranteed to felt a bit. It does that, it's natural.
It only doesn't do it on a sheep because the sheep produces something in it's sweat/oil called suint.
Suint naturally cleans the hair and wool when it gets wet, and the lanolin helps keep it all in good order.
We have to remove that from the fleece before we felt it (it and shed skin scales attract insect mites, etc.,) otherwise we're just trapping dirt in the layers of the fleece felt, and to remove the stink. No getting away from it, an unwashed fleece smells and it's not a good smell.
I don't know how they've washed the wool before they've made these insulation batts.
Our farmers are very careful now with organophosphates (why we have had an enormous rise in the issues with ticks) but that's not true of the whole of 'Europe', and I don't know where they have sourced the fleece.
Organophosphates are most definitely not stuff you want on your hands or in your air. From handling a fleece from a sheep that was dipped a bit before shearing my hands broke out in the most horrendous dermatitis that left my skin cracked and bleeding, and just touching one of those fleece now has my skin so swollen that I have had to have a ring cut off. It's not fun stuff to be around.
On the other hand, having written all that, I'm interested to know whether the stuff can be safely felted
See when you have a go ? come back and let us know how you got on.
It's easy enough to felt something. Get hold of either some bubble wrap or the kind of bamboo matts that used to be used as table mats or for rolling sushi. Even a bit of old net curtain will do.
Find a squirty bottle of some kind, shave some soap off a bar (we go all posh and purist and only use the finest olive oil castille, or glycerine soap but honestly, any bar of soap that's used beside the sink or in the bath will do) and put some hot water in the bottle. Shake it well until it dissolves. You should have a greyish looking liquid. Squirt that or shake that all over the fleece. Roll it up in the bubble wrap/bamboo mat and roll and roll and roll it backwards and forwards, pressing firmly the whole time.
Open it up and turn the fleece 90˚ and do the same again.
It might need more soapy water, but if it's going to felt, that ought to do it.
Measure the piece you're going to try first, and mark it in some way (I stitch through a length of coloured yarn at one side and corner) so that you can see if it felts more in one direction or the other, and measure when you're done. Good felting will really shrink the batt. Poor felting will hardly move it.
Best of luck with it
M
I made some felt from the fluff that accumulates inside the tunble dryer, that worked good and the fibres were real short. Theres next to no sheep round here, when I lived up north you could gather any amount off fences and that even if you did have to remove the clinkers off of it. I wanted to maybe make thick felt combined with sheepskin for inner soles its nice to walk on. My old pair of boot liners just wore out, I think they were a mix of coarse wool and recycled mixed fibres. The offcuts from those made excellent drum beaters
Visit a charity shop and find a wool pullover. If it's not "Pure New Wool", then it'll felt. Just boil wash it and it'll shrink down thick and firm.
Cut your insoles from that.
I'd offer you fleece but it's bagged and stashed at the back of a cupboard that I really, really need two clear days to empty and tidy and sort out.
You could ask on the forum and see if anyone has any fleece available ? It's pretty easy to wash clear even if it is stuff from the briars and barbed wire.
M
Cut your insoles from that.
I'd offer you fleece but it's bagged and stashed at the back of a cupboard that I really, really need two clear days to empty and tidy and sort out.
You could ask on the forum and see if anyone has any fleece available ? It's pretty easy to wash clear even if it is stuff from the briars and barbed wire.
M
Toddys idea is good, I've made some boot insoles out of several bits of an old moth eaten wool blanket.
I cut three insole shapes for each foot then got a multi needle felting tool for a few pounds from my local sewing and knitting craft shop. Needle felted them together using an old sponge to rest the work on. Works well. Made some thrifty cosy insoles. You could also put some fleece between the layers to make them realy comfy.
I cut three insole shapes for each foot then got a multi needle felting tool for a few pounds from my local sewing and knitting craft shop. Needle felted them together using an old sponge to rest the work on. Works well. Made some thrifty cosy insoles. You could also put some fleece between the layers to make them realy comfy.
Oh good idea and needlefelting doesn't shrink the piece as much as wet felting does, so you don't need to oversize much to begin with.
I use the big car washing sponges....four for a quid in Poundland last time I bought them. Pretty sure places like Home Bargains and B&M's have them too though.
M
and needlefelting doesn't shrink the piece as much as wet felting does, so you don't need to oversize much to begin with.I use the big car washing sponges....four for a quid in Poundland last time I bought them. Pretty sure places like Home Bargains and B&M's have them too though.
M
is that anything like the industrial method?
I saw a how is it made video a while back where there was like a row of sharp needles that moved up and down like a sewing machine and made the woollen fibres fusion together. Is that process anything like back combing hair and deliberately knotting it together? Does the felt get denser the more its needled? Is it feasible to make flat sheets of felt dry with needles then deliberately shrink it down like dachstein mitts? Then cut out the shapes you want
Yes you could do it that way and yes needle felting does compact the material. That's why I use 3 layers on my insoles. Two makes them a bit floppy and thin so they are not as effective and tend to ruck up.
You can make anything with needle felting.
This is some work by willow at the wilderness gathering. So you can see that any thickness or shape is possible with needle felting.
You can get the ready prepared wool from craft shops or on line. I got my needle felting wool from coldharbour mill near me in Devon. Much cheaper. Or you could use a fleece and use natural wool like willow does from her own sheep.
You can make anything with needle felting.
This is some work by willow at the wilderness gathering. So you can see that any thickness or shape is possible with needle felting.
You can get the ready prepared wool from craft shops or on line. I got my needle felting wool from coldharbour mill near me in Devon. Much cheaper. Or you could use a fleece and use natural wool like willow does from her own sheep.
(Those are 'souvenirs' from your partners? The bones )
When you boil the felted wool to finish it, how much does it shrink? 50% ?
)When you boil the felted wool to finish it, how much does it shrink? 50% ?
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