It seems that I'll never finish felting with raw wool. The curls are such fun, and completely different, there are so many different nuances – from completely white, over sun-bleached beige to brown and almost black. At least, when it comes to Wensleydale-wool.
While staying at Skals Folk High School in July, I taught different ways of felting raw wool. We started out with seating cushions, and when we had made enough of those, I placed some wool for a couple of bags with curls. We were pretty happy about them, and several students made themselves a small bag with raw wool. With the leather strap attached, they turned out so lovely.
Back home at Filtværket, the bag manufacturing has continued, as I'll be bringing them to Ovnhus Kunsthåndværkermarked 26-28 July.
Felting with raw wool is really dirty, practically grimy, as dust, lanolin and other kinds of dirt are released. It has an agricultural smell to it, but luckily the wool is washed during the felting process, where it is processed with soap water.
Here, the grey-brown curls have been placed and covered with the lighter carded wool. You could say the bag is felted inside out.
When we use the white locks from Wensleydale, it's practically transformed as the greyish, dirty wool turns shiny and almost completely white.
A leather strap is attached, and some get a button, others a snap fastener as closure. Which is the better option?
I haven't settled on a price yet. It's always difficult to put a price on craftsmanship. You can't set up a timer and measure precisely how long it takes to make a bag or calculate an exact expense for materials. It takes time to experiment and arrive at just the expression you want. So what is fair? And what are customers willing to pay? That is something time will show, but I'll introduce them at a price of 650 DKK. They will soon be added to the webshop.
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