Some people have been asking about a course on felting raw wool in Copenhagen.
Unfortunately it's not easy to find such courses, because there's not a lot happening when it comes to felting in Copenhagen, not with raw or processed wool. Some will claim that felting is not in fashion anymore, but I disagree. There are still a lot of people, who don't know about felting. I regularly meet children and young people, who have never encountered felting during their school years, even though this has been considered for the curricula in the subject of Crafts and Design. If you haven't ever tried it, you won't know just how much fun it is.
Felting is both a friendly and sensory process, where the path from raw material to finished product is remarkably short. It involves wool fibres and soap water, and that's all. The tools are your hands, and only fairly basic equipment is needed.
When felting with raw wool, things are even simpler. It almost feels like the sheep is taking part, when you are processing its coat to make some lovely items, such as warm seat cushions.
However, it does smell a bit like an agricultural show, and the water ends up pretty dirty, and therefore not all places are suitable for doing raw wool workshops.
With a helping hand from the green department of Copenhagen Municipality, I was put in touch with Nature Workshop Kløvermarken, and at the end of January, we held the first course on raw wool. It was such an amazing time that we'll be doing it again 18 March at 10-16. There are still a few spots left, which can be found in the webshop.
The Nature Workshop is a lovely place, a real gem, where local daycare centers and kindergartens can spend time in nature with the children. It really is wonderful, and periodically the place is open for visitors in connection with different events. These can be found on their Facebook page.
It was a beautiful January day; the sun shone brightly, and we frolicked with the wool both inside and outside.
When felting with raw wool, there are several things on the agenda:
You have to learn about the different sheep breeds, as their wool have different characteristics. Some will felt easily, while others need a lot of help or won't felt at all. Furthermore, they all have different colours, and some breeds have the loveliest curls with which you can't help falling in love.
The wool has to be placed evenly to make a smooth surface, to which you will often have to add more fibres to ensure everything binds together well.
You have to stroke the wool with water and soap to make it felt, and then it has to be fulled to make it shrink and create a dense backside, without flattening the furry side.
Finally, it has to be washed, as this kind of fur can conceal a lot of dirt.
A short overview in the process can be seen in our video from Filtværket, which can be viewed at the top of this post.
Here you can see our latest raw wool pelt, which is from a Spælsau sheep. These photos show both the front as well as the felted back, illustrating how the raw wool has mixed with the lighter and much finer merino wool.
Please let us know if you are interested in more raw wool courses. Once you've gotten to grips with the technique, you can start creating your own designs, which allows you to make bags, collars, hats, or sophisticated, furry hems.
Futhermore, you can get in touch with fellow felters through the Danish felting association, Grima. Here you'll find people teaching, as well as courses and events about felting.
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