crafting a poncho

One of the most common questions we receive at our vendor events, is how to you get the fibers in those ponchos to stick together.

Felting is an ancient art where fibers are layered together and with the application of water, soap and agitation the fibers naturally move and integrate, maximizing the value of their natural fiber scales to help the connect with each other. Follow our process.

For our ponchos, we always start with a piece of silk that has been ice dyed in our studio

To the silk, we select an alpaca fiber to be used as the base of our fiber painting

we then create the base palate with the alpaca fiber in preparation for painting

Once the palate is created, we paint with Mohair, silk and viscose fibers and apply soapy water to keep them in place.

When the painting is complete, we will cover the painting, and begin the felting process. More soap and water is applied and we will use our hand sanders to facilitate the felting process.

When the felting is complete, we will begin the fulling process by rolling the project around a pool noodle and rolling it. we will roll 100 to 200 times, unroll and then roll the opposite direction; We will repeat this process 4 or 5 times.

When all fibers are securely connected to each other, we will stop the rolling process, rinse to get all of the soap out, let it dry, Iron and prepare to be offered as a wearable art item.

Please follow the link to review our current collection of hand made wearable art.