Quick and easy to make, this St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock is a great way to decorate any space so that you’re ready for the festivities! St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and we have a quick and easy craft to get you in the Shamrockin’ spirit! These Shamrocks can be used as decorations for a St. Patrick’s Day themed party or just to brighten up any room. You can hang them using ribbon, attach them directly to any surface using some adhesive, make a key chain and much more! We are showing you how to make one size, but you can change the measurements below to make larger or smaller Shamrocks. What You'll Need: Stiff Felt Sheets - 12” x 12” Ruler Rotary cutter or fabric scissors Hot glue gun and sticks Ribbon (optional) Instructions: 1. With your Stiff Felt Sheets , rotary blade and ruler , cut 4 strips measuring 1 inch wide by 12 inches long and 4 strips measuring 1 inch wide by 10 inches long. You should have a total of 8 strips. T...
Here at The Felt Store, we've noticed there are a lot of questions that customers frequently ask us and we thought it would be a great idea to share it with everyone just in case you may have similar questions. Here we have a two part F.A.Q. list that we will always add to in the future so stay posted for more info!
What are common uses of Felt?
One of the beautiful things about this
ancient material is the multiple uses and functions that it has. Felt is
constantly being re-invented within a wide range of disciplines.
- Musical Instruments (e.g. drum beaters,
piano hammerheads)
- Optical (e.g. Polishing wheels, cloths)
- Printing (e.g. engraving blankets, roll
covers)
- Boot Liners, Insoles
- Chalk Board Erasers
- Pool and Poker table covers
How is Felt made?
There are two major felt making methods:
1) The Wet Felt method is the old classic
way whereby natural fibers like wool are interlocked and matted together
through a process of felting and fulling (milling) by exposing the wool to
heat, motion pressure and moisture in the form of hot steam and water. In that
process the natural scale structure of the wool fibers open up and allow for
fiber entanglement. Such interlocking and shrinkage is continued until a
desired density is achieved.
2) The Needle Felt method in contrast is
a dry process (no water and steam) that does not require natural fibers like
wool in order to interlock. The interlocking of fibers is achieved through a
mechanical up and downward motion of metal needles with barbs that transport
and push the fibers together into a matted form.
Watch our Felt Making video for a better understanding of how felt is made.
What is Felt made of?
Felt can be made of many different fibers or one specific fiber. The main component of high quality Felt is wool, this may be 100% wool or a blend of wool and a variety of other materials depending on its quality
and required use. Felt made of a blend of fibers may contain reprocessed wool (e.g. old sweaters), recyclable fibers (e.g.
cotton), viscose/rayon (a wood fiber, or sometimes polyester. Felt may also be made from other synthetic fibers such as acrylic. This type of felt is typically used for arts and crafts projects.
What is the difference between the Industrial
Felts?
Industrial Felts are usually not dyed and
retain their natural colours, ranging from a light beige to dark browns and
grays. Because industrial felts are made of natural wool there are times when color
variations or blemishes in the felt may occur. For example, the white is often not a pure white, but an off
white, which may have some blemishes. The grey industrial felt at times may
vary from grey, to greyish brown, to having a blue tint, etc. It all depends on
the batch being created. This variation cannot be guaranteed in the production process as it is dependent on the natural bails of wool to create the felt. This may vary greatly from roll to roll.
White wools are higher quality wools and
are more resilient than grey wools. It is hard to specify the uses of each felt
quality because the function is dependent on the required density and
thickness. The following is a list of recommended uses:
Use: Is suitable for oil retention in
installations where the felt is not compressed, for feeding low viscosity or
light oil, and where unusual strength and hardness are required. Washers,
bushings, wicks, door bumpers, polishing blocks, and parts where wear and
resistance to abrasion are required, are typical uses.
F-3:
Colour: Grey
Wool Content: 85%
Use: Recommended for vibration mountings
and the same general purposes as SAE F-1 and where a felt of slightly lower
quality is satisfactory.
F-5 & F-7
Colour: F-5 White/Beige, F-7 Grey
Wool Content: F-5 95%, F-7 80%
Use: Recommended for dust shields,
wipers, grease retainer washers, wicks, vibration mountings, and in uses where
a resilient felt is required.
F-10
Colour: White/Beige
Wool Content: 95%
Use: recommended for grease and oil
retention where the felt is confined and compressed in assembly. Also
recommended for dust shields under less severe operating conditions where F-5
and F-7 are not required.
F-15
Colour: Grey
Wool Content: 55%
Use: Recommended for sound deadening,
chassis strips, spacers, dust shields, pedal pads, dash liners, and mechanical
purposes where abrasion and wear are not important factors.
F-26
Colour: Grey
Wool Content: 40%
Use: Is a cheaper low density felt
recommended for non-mechanical applications when retained between other
materials. Other uses include padding, packaging and in some cases sound
absorption.
F-50
Colour: White/Beige
Wool Content: 95%
Use: The same quality as SAE F-1, bellow
1/8th thick
F-51
Colour: Grey
Wool Content: 92%
Use: The same quality as SAE F-3, bellow
1/8th thick
F-55
Colour: Black and Grey
Wool Content: 80%
Use: The same quality as F-7, bellow
1/8th thick
Is there colour variation between Felts?
We encourage customers not to rely on
screen representations of our felt colours. Different computer monitors vary in
colour calibration. Please contact us and we will provide you with desired
samples or if you are looking our designer felt, please purchase these samples online. Further more, craft and designer felt colours rely on different
qualities, therefore varying amongst each other. Dye lots amongst the craft
felts may vary slightly, while Industrial (natural) felt colours change
according to wool blends and mixtures.
Comments
Post a Comment