rothko roving
This is dry celery fiber over an undyed white. At this stage it reminds me of a Rothko whose work I admire deeply. I really enjoy this first stage of slowly pulling the fibers an laying them criss cross each other. It's slow going and very relaxing.
Here is the same fiber now wetted with warm soapy water. At this stage I roll it over bubble wrap and with bumpy tools to agitate the fibers so they will felt. This stage of rolling and rubbing takes a longer time. I start out softly to make sure the layout stays intact and so that the edges don't roll onto each other. After a while I can really get into rolling quickly and with a lot of pressure. I do a pinch test to make sure the fiber is ready to go on to the fulling stage. I stopped taking pictures at this point. I'll follow through with more another time.
Here's a picture of the felted drab khaki which I mentioned in the previous posting.
