Useful information about nuno felting

Nuno felting is a wet felting technique which incorporates other fibers in addition to wool. Some common fabrics used in nuno felting include cotton gauze or muslin and silk gauze, because wool felts into these fabrics very well. When you use other fabrics with felting, it makes a drapable, soft, yet durable fabric, and you don't need a large amount of wool as it can be laid in wisps and doesn't have to fully cover the fabric used. You can even have holes in the finished piece, such as the "cobweb" felt drape I made(photo above), using cotton gauze and wool.

Here's a link to a flicker site with some basic instructions and photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ray_chel/414476947/
The instructions use a cotton muslin, but using silk you can follow the same process. Be aware that along with time for laying out your wool and silk, there is quite a lot of time needed for felting too. If you don't have a flat surface long enough to lay it all out, you can lay out sections and roll up in the bubble wrap, then hand felt sections and roll the other direction. Once you have done the felting with your hands, you can follow the rolling up and rolling to felt. Also if you don't have the voile that is mentioned in the instructions, you can lay a piece of bed sheet on top of your wool and fabric layers. I've done that and it works quite well. You can also lay a piece of bed sheet on the bubble wrap, and draw the size of the silk onto it so it will be easier to lay out the bottom layers of wool in the proper place. The project will shrink so be aware of that also. If you have a large amount of the silk, you can always use a small piece to play with and test shrinkage so you'll know better how the larger project will progress. Notice that with nuno felting a washboard isn't needed, as the "throwing" will full the felt. When you are first working the wool and silk with your hands, pay attention to the edges, and push in any wisps of wool, rubbing with your fingers to felt the edges well. The instructions in the link are with wool on both sides of the silk, but you can do it with the wool on only one side if you wish. The wonderful thing as always, is the freedom of creativity, and seeing your creation once completed. Oftentimes the finished nuno felt will crinkle or bubble, and give a wonderful texture along with the color and design. You can also add fringe, beads, or other embellishments.

Happy Felting!