If you’re a gardener as well as a feltmaker then you will occasionally have problems with dry hands and fibres sticking to them just when you don’t want them to. I have tried using olive oil on my hands before working the felt which is okay but tends to make the felt stick more. Recently I’ve seen the following suggestion in a couple of places and thought I’d share it with you. Take about a teaspoon of sugar in your dry hand and add about a teaspoon of olive oil. Rub your hands together like you’re washing them. The sugar exfoliates and the olive oil really softens. I’m told it’s very effective.
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oh that is such a good tip, i’ll need to try this one! i’m trying to ‘rest’ my hands at the moment as i seem to rubbed holes in them with too much felting! i had the brainwave to roll felt beads on a textured chopping board but didn’t notice until too late that the texture was also having an effect on my skin! i also find after a lot of wet felting that my hands are very shiny and slippy which makes sewing and beadwork tricky for a while! oh how we suffer for our art
it’s all worth it though!
Hi Tracy, I too have problems with shiny hands and I did once rub so much skin off I had open sores. Now I protect them better and recognise the tingling which says ‘time to stop’. I often start a number of felt balls and then roll them all together under my hand with a reed mat beneath. Having a number of balls usually protects my hands from hitting the mat or at least that’s the theory
Thanks Angela, I live and learn – now I know what that tingling means
Still, it’s tempting to keep going and do ‘just one more …’! Best wishes Tracy