Friday, August 14, 2009

dreads

This is how i am making the dreads for the monkey.
I have a bowl of hot soapy water, my roving pulled into strips, bubble wrap and a towel.
First i will lightly wet my palms of my hands and carefully pick up the roving and gently rub my palms of my hands over the roving backwards and forwards. I will do this all along the length of the roving. I will repeat this step rubbing harder each time until the fibers start to mat together.
onto the next step.

Having gotten the fibers now stabilized i am ready for some more vigorous felting to happen. I lay it onto some bubble wrap, bubble side up and lay the semi felted fiber on top. fold over the bubble wrap over the roving and roll the top of the bubble wrap backwards and forwards matting the fibers together. Let me warn you, this takes time! and you get a good work out on your arms in the process, What a bargain!

When it is done to your satisfaction, rinse it under cold water until soap is gone. squeeze out the water,
take it to a towel, fold the towel over the now made dread and press out the excess water. Put aside to dry naturally. This is a close up of the felted roving.



This is a close up of the roving before felting

2 comments:

  1. Superb dreads! I bet there are a lot of guys and gals out there who wish it was as quick to dread their own hair!!!

    Can't wait to see ole' monkey all made up - it's fabulous! Thanks for showing us how to make the dreads!

    Hugs! Vikki xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL! i had visions of their head being sandwiched between 2 layers of bubble wrap and squished!

    ReplyDelete