I Can't "Resist Felting"

Ok, I'm sure by now you are a bit tired of hearing about felt....

But just one more post..ok?

I want to make a felted cat cave for TSK. He loves to burrow under the blankets and I think he would like the cave-like encapsulated qualities of a felted bed.

But first, I had to test the 'Resist Felting' process. It's a form of wet felting.

 A resist is used in felting to make three dimensional objects from a flat pattern. The resist can be anything flat that will keep the two sides of felt from felting together, i.e. it “resists” the felting process. I used some foam packing material that the previous owner of our house had left behind. (thanks Andre!)

Here are some photos of the process:

First I gathered the items needed. Soapy water, bubble wrap, roving, resist, and tulle. Laying out first layer of roving around the edge of the resist so there is fringe, then a layer horizontally. Cover with tulle, wet and gently rub in a circular motion. Turn over.

You repeat the above process, 2x per side in your inside color, and 2x per side in your outside color. Switching from laying horizontally to vertically. So each side has 4 layers. On the last layer I added a little design.

Next step is the rolling. In between 2 layers of bubble wrap, roll up with foam roller. Roll 30x, then rotate 1/4 turn. When one side is complete, turn over and repeat.

Carefully cut out a hole, removing the resist. Repeat the rolling process. Then you can start to shape it. Using soapy hands and anything with a round smooth side (ice cream scoop in my case) rub it all over, getting the crease out and making  it stand up.

Then set it on a rack to dry. TSK had to check it out, of course.

The finished product. I see I chose poorly in my colors (looks rather gourd like) but as a test it's fine. For the felted cat cave I would use heavier layers of roving to make it sturdier, and also larger with the hole on the side.

This is an image of what a felted cat cave looks like. Cute huh!

So all in all I think the test was a success. Like so much of wet felting it's a very physical process. And an arm and shoulder workout! I'm sure that's just a bonus.

What do you think? Would TSK like something like that? Would your kitty?