Felting means fun for local woman
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ST. IGNATIUS — On a cold, dreary winter’s day, several dozen curly-haired sheep stand knee-deep in a snowy field, peacefully munching on bales of hay. It’s not an unusual sight in Montana, but what is uncommon is what’s happening to the sheep’s wool in owner Judy Colvin’s felting studio.
Six years ago, Colvin began learning how to turn wool from her Bluefaced Leicesters into felt, and now she can make “just about anything” out of homegrown, Montana-made felt.
“The sky is just the limit with felt,” she said. “You can just do whatever you like, and that’s the fun of it.”
From felt-covered soaps, scarves and decorative hangings to hats in all shapes and sizes, Colvin turns out all sorts of beautiful, unique items in her Bitterroot Fiber Arts Studio — so named because she and husband David lived in the Bitterroot before moving to the Mission Valley about 18 years ago. The Colvins have around 40 sheep, most of them Bluefaced Leicesters, which are the main crossing sires for hill breeds in the United Kingdom, Colvin said. The sheep were imported to the United States from Canada, and there are only about 600 of the breed in the country.
“They improve fleece on anything you breed them to,” Colvin said. “They have really beautiful wool.”
After hiring someone to shear her sheep — “That is a real backbreaking job,” Colvin said — she skirts the fleece, trimming the edges and unwanted parts off, and then sorts all the wool according to quality. Next, the fleece is rinsed and sent off to be carded; when it returns, Colvin hand-dyes the wool, and then it’s ready to be made into felt.
Unlike many felters today who use a knitting and shrinking technique, Colvin has stuck with traditional methods. She pulls out pieces of material from a large bat of wool, carefully layering the fibers in all directions. Once she has several layers of wool fiber, she covers it with a thin mesh fabric and sprays warm, soapy water on the wool. Colvin then rolls up the material to stick the wool together, and before long, she has the makings of a new piece of art.
“The fibers become entangled, and it’s felt,” Colvin said. “That’s really traditional felt.”
The wool fibers have pinecone-like exteriors that spread open when treated with soapy water, Colvin explained, causing the fibers to grab on to each other and form a fabric.
“Once it’s entangled, it just can’t come apart,” she said.
Basic felting is a fairly simple process — Colvin can make a hat in just a day. And although “it looks like such a mess at certain times during the process,” there really isn’t any step she can’t walk away from and come back to later, she explained.
Of course, Colvin has found there are plenty of ways to make more complex felted items. One technique she uses is called nuno felting, which involves putting fine felt fibers through silk fabric to create an interesting look for scarves or other clothing.
“I enjoy everything I do,” Colvin said, and she enjoys sharing her love of felting with others.
She occasionally teaches felting classes, and her students get the chance to buy some of her coveted wool for their projects.
“I kind of look at my wool as pure gold,” she said, smiling.
More information about Colvin’s classes can be found on her website, bitterrootranch.net.
