Wool Felting Tutorial

Here's a picture tutorial showing how to use Wool to add color to Dreadlocks through 'Felting'..... I created this tutorial for a couple people at another dreadlock community, and thought I'd try my hand at posting it here. I know there's another post in the memories about wool felting, but I put pics with my tutorial to expand on the general idea of how it's done.


Now onto the tutorial

Here's what you need:
(I found all my supplies at the craft store in the Needle Crafts section, and also online.

I purchased much of my wool from

http://www.achildsdream.com/handwork_supplies/felting_crafts/felting_wool.htm]

A Child's Dream Come True


First, you need a felting needle:




These are very, very sharp so be careful when using....




and

You need to choose your wool.... there's Alpaca (which I love), Lamb's wool, etc.




There's many colors to choose from, and you can find it organically dyed with plant-based dyes....



And onto the steps of 'Felting'....

 

and a few pics of my locks (before I dyed them black for a couple upcoming weddings i'm attending and a bridesmaid in):

 

That is officially gourgeous!

 

that is bootiful! so i suppose it's permanent? do the needles come in specific gauges?

 

They do come in different gauges.... i think the most common are 38 gauge and 40 gauge....

I believe it's permanant, as I havent figured out a practical way to get the wool out after felting it in. I have a couple weddings I have to attend soon which I'm a bridesmaid in, and I ended up just dying over my locks with the wool in them to cover up the color. The wool and my hair took the dye uniformly, and you cant tell I ever had the colors in them at all.

 

I think the felting into your dreads looks absolutely awesome that's extremely clever!

 

I have tried felting my dreads with felting needles, but I guess I'm just not patient enough! I have felted wool with them and had no problem. I think I may try this on some of my skinny parts.

 

Woow, that's beautiful! And what a fantastic tutorial. Very well put together =)

How's the washin go? I always thought wool wasn't the best thing to get wet.

 

The washing part of it has been no problem for me.... I just wash my dreadlocks like I always have, and take extra care to squeeze all water out of them after rinsing. I'd imagine that if you didnt get all the water out, they'd feel heavier then normal locks, and be more prone to mildew. You just have to take special care to let your locks dry thoroughly through, and then you wont have to deal with issues of mold and mildew. I have'nt experienced any problems whatsoever when washing. They wash up just like my unfelted dreadlocks.

 

i posted the link to this up on the other forum because it's so fucking cool. only after i posted, did somebody so rudely tell me you already had lol anyhoo, thanks for the tips and the cool pix!

 

Don't worry about them.... sometimes I think some people just live to be rude to as many people as possible

I posted the tutorial to Knotty Know How and Knottylocks because I'm a constant lurker on both sites. I also posted it to another great community on Livejournal, called 'Get Up Dread Up'..... here's the link if you want to check it out: http://community.livejournal.com/get_up_dread_up/

You might need to join in order to read it or post, i'm not sure..... All I know is that I am soooooo addicted to all three sites

 

right on! i'm always looking for other sites to get me through my work day. i'll check it out. tnx mama.

 

i checked out that link. how do i post a topic (i signed up) under that dread community?

 

that looks beautiful
i never thought of felting wool into dreads but i have used felting needles to tighten a friends dreads. ill have to try this on another friend, im sure shed love it.

 

Very nifty.

I was just thinking about this the other day when someone posted thier dread pics and it looked like there was some wool fun going on.

Looks like you need some fairly decent dreading going on before the felting would take. (as opposed to newer, looser, dreads) Anyone have thoughts on that?

 

A couple of the other communities I frequently lurk around have members that start other people's locks using backcombing in conjunction with using a felting needle on 'em. The folks posted pics of locks they've started, and even on day one they looked uber-mature and tight. One of the sites is www.dutchdreads.nl and then also I've seen it mentioned at www.tribe.net in the the dreadlock tribe. I've never used a felting needle on freshly started locks, but I know that felting is suppossed to tighten everything up.