Our morning today was spent with Marie-Therese Chaupin who also spoke with us yesterday about the different sheeps of Europe. Today we looked at products produced by these types of wool, some for interior purposes, some fashion, some accessories. All beautiful. It was very helpful to see the end product of the wool. It is interesting to note how oblivious I was to the processes involved. They always seemed so foreign to me. It was also extremely helpful to break down the processes in to steps,
1) Scouring,
Washing the wool. Has to be done slowly in order not to felt the wool. To hand wash (hot water is best to remove the grease from the wool). Cold water can be used - rain water is very good. You need to seperate the wool. The wool can be left to soak for a number of hours, removing all the grease.
2) Carding/Combing,
After washing the wool, it gets carded or brushed. The fibres are then left parallel and the short and long fibres can then be identified.
Combing (for wool tops) is a long process to seperate the long and short fibres.
3) Spinning,
Turns the fibre in to yarn.
4) Weaving/Knitting/Felting/Crochet
NOTE
* Teasel (a plant) - used to lightly brush fabrics (or to tease the fabric out lightly)- could create beautiful movement within fabrics.
The late morning and afternoon was then spent with Jeanne Goutelle, a trend forecaster and consultant. A fascinating job which I have always had an interest in. It was very helpful to discuss the role of the consultant. We brainstormed words as a consultant would do for a client.
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