Whew, I was beginning to think that I would NEVER get my largest ArtL!nks vessel felted and fulled!!!!! Over the last week or so I have been giving it a rub and a roll every time I had a spare minute and yesterday afternoon I finally decided enough was enough and decided to declare it finished!
Working any uneven spots on the mohair layer with my felting mouse
I don’t have a lot of time this morning to blog about yesterday (preparing for my session this afternoon with Borris Active Retirement) but thought you might enjoy a couple of photos showing what I was up to at this final stage of shaping the vessel.
You may recall that I laid out this vessel with the intention to have the mohair layer for the outside, as things progressed, I far preferred the inner layer of white merino as I like the subtle colour variations where the mohair fibres have felted through the white. Because of the soft and less structural nature of mohair (as opposed to a vessel felted purely from merino or another fibre) I decided to stiffen the mohair then turn the vessel inside out exposing my favourite side. I think that I will need to leave the vessel dry on the exercise ball for at least a week but hopefully by then the PVA will have dried sufficiently for me to remove the exercise ball and see if this last experiment stiffen has been a success or not!
Sponging on diluted PVA to stiffen prior to turning right side out
Nicola Brown Fine Art Textiles 
It’s been fun to watch your progress on this, Nicola! Can’t wait to see the final result! I have tried to find a felting mouse to no avail- where did you find yours? Thanks and have a great day!
Good morning Nicola,
Oh my lands, don’t let that beautiful vessel roll over you or Rex! Have you contacted the people at the Guinness Book of World Records yet? Can’t wait to see the whole vessel (and also hear how the PVA worked). Wish I could see (and feel) this in person. You should be so proud of your accomplishment…Absolutley amazing.
Big hugs,
Dawn
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I’m really interested in this and wonder if you made a circular template first and put the ball inside? I think you must have from your flick photos. I did the same, but mine was’t quite as huge, and it was very tricky to get what you might call ‘the side seam’ into the smooth round shape. I kept putting it in the tumble drier for short bursts with the ball still inside it. It was about ‘football’ sized.
I also stiffened with PVA as the weight of the felt was making the sides sag. Mine was inspired by the Burren made last year after a March visit.
I love your stone wall inspired bowl too.
Hi Jackie, Yes, I made a circular template and only inserted the yoga ball when I cut into the felt to remove the resist. I always pull the wool tightly around the template when I am laying it out and felting, this means that the seam is almost invisible if not totally. I still have this largest vessel on the yoga ball, need some time to get it off!!!