Well, the heat has driven me back inside. It's even too hot to paint fabric, so it's time to act on some of those jobs that needed doing to prep for future work.
Like......washing the rest of the fleece.
My sister has asked me several times over the last few months, so I'm going to do some 2D bears. I thought the texture of the wool would be a nice change from cotton or ultrasuede. The plan is, after the shape is fixed I can tart up the bears with hand needle felting. I've thought about this long enough so today was fleece washing day.
It only took about an hour but it will take a few days to dry outside.
When I opened the bag where I had stored the main portion of fleece since February I was greeted with the overwhelming scent of barnyard and lanolin. Rather nice, for a former country girl, but I didn't want the air conditioning to pick that up and have it linger for a few days. So into the washtub.
The WHOLE thing.
I knew it would be heavy and fragile. I placed a piece of chicken wire (left over from the bunny trials) on the bottom and placed the fleece on top. After a couple of washes in cold soapy water and about 5 rinses till the drainage ran pretty clean, I decided that was enough.
I used the chicken wire to lift the water soaked fleece onto a spare oven rack placed over the washing machine. I manually squeezed out a lot of water using the chicken wire to aid with turning.
The whole, not quite so drippy, mass was carried outside on the oven rack and laid out on a towel.
So there it will sit now for a few days to dry.
After it drained all night I ran it through a spin cycle to get the remaining drips. I didn't spin it before as it was so unwieldy and I knew I wouldn't be able to get it balanced in the tub without it separating into chunks. And now it's sitting on a drying rack on the back porch.
(I must remember to wash that oven rack before I bake hubby's cookies.
At least my hands are lovely and soft.)
Like......washing the rest of the fleece.
My sister has asked me several times over the last few months, so I'm going to do some 2D bears. I thought the texture of the wool would be a nice change from cotton or ultrasuede. The plan is, after the shape is fixed I can tart up the bears with hand needle felting. I've thought about this long enough so today was fleece washing day.
It only took about an hour but it will take a few days to dry outside.
When I opened the bag where I had stored the main portion of fleece since February I was greeted with the overwhelming scent of barnyard and lanolin. Rather nice, for a former country girl, but I didn't want the air conditioning to pick that up and have it linger for a few days. So into the washtub.
I knew it would be heavy and fragile. I placed a piece of chicken wire (left over from the bunny trials) on the bottom and placed the fleece on top. After a couple of washes in cold soapy water and about 5 rinses till the drainage ran pretty clean, I decided that was enough.
I used the chicken wire to lift the water soaked fleece onto a spare oven rack placed over the washing machine. I manually squeezed out a lot of water using the chicken wire to aid with turning.
The whole, not quite so drippy, mass was carried outside on the oven rack and laid out on a towel.
So there it will sit now for a few days to dry.
After it drained all night I ran it through a spin cycle to get the remaining drips. I didn't spin it before as it was so unwieldy and I knew I wouldn't be able to get it balanced in the tub without it separating into chunks. And now it's sitting on a drying rack on the back porch.
(I must remember to wash that oven rack before I bake hubby's cookies.
At least my hands are lovely and soft.)
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