12 Mar What About The Micron
Is the Micron number important?
In a nutshell…..yes. It’s actually very important. The micron number was a mystery to me too. But not anymore. And once you understandit,it will makea lot moresense to all your future projects in wet or needle felting.But first. What is a micron? Micron is short for micrometer. And to say it moreunderstandably. There are 1000 microns in a millimeter. Or10’000in a centimetre. So,a micron is simply a measurement to determent the thickness of each individual hair strand. If you would like to see how wool is measured, then watch the short video.
Human hairs approximately 70 microns. Give or take plus or minus 20. We all came across someone with lovely thick hair, and somebody with very fine hair. Now that you know what micron means, it will be easier to understand the importance of it .In theory, any hair can be felted. But here is the problem. The thicker the hair, the harder it is to get it to felt. If you take your own hair for instance with a micron of 70.You’ll be glad it won’t felt every time you wash it.
Every furry animal has hair that potentially could felt. But we discovered a long time ago that sheep wool does a particular good job. But of course, not every breed of sheep produces the same thickness or softness of hair. Hence, why there are over a 1000 distinct sheep breeds. Some for their meat and others for their wool. With so many different breeds of sheep, we need to know the quality and thickness of their wool. If you are like me and you buy wool on a website, you have no idea what you are buying. After all, you can’t touch the wool, which would help you to determent if the wool is suitable for wet felting. This is where the micron number is your most valuable knowledge. As far as I researched this topic, the lowest count for merion wool was 10.9 microns. And Merino wool, from the Merino sheep, is one of the finest on the market. The wool of this breed also keeps growing. It’s not like other sheep that grow a certain length of hair. The Merino sheep is therefore a special breed indeed.
Wool that fine,is very rare and extremely expensive. Such wool is often used for sportsunderwear.The merino wool I use isan18 micron. Which is just perfect for wet felting. It felts veryquickly. Higher numbers like 19-25 are perfectly fine for wet felting. But keep in mind that ahigher number may result in scratching your skin if you plan to wear your felt piecesnext toyour skin.Just think about it. The thicker the hair,the harder it will find it to migrate through your wooland become part of your felt. Therefor it will stick out and tickle your skin. The thicker thehair, the scratchier it will be.In other words, high micron count, thick hair.Fine merino wool is therefore not suitable for needle felting.Because all you do is stab air. It is very hard to get hold of such fine wool to hit it with aneedle.Because that is what you do in needle felting. You push hair up and down with thehelp of a felting needle
This is where coarser wool is much better and easier to work with. It is also much tougher and stronger. The hair stand is much thicker and the chances for your needle to hit the hair is much higher, therefore a faster result then stabbing fine hair. I am not a needle felting artist. But if you are, then look for a high micron count when you buy wool. But back to wet felting. The low micron number is important for a fine smooth outcome. But it’s not the only conclusion. Some sheep breeds also have very short staples of wool. This will further hinder your outcome. Longer hair is desirable for wet felting. Short hair will find it easier to escape through other strands of hair. Imagine it like plaiting short fine hair
It’s very hard to get a nice plait with short hair because you have nothing to hold the hair in its place. So it’s one thing to buy the right micron count, but is the wool strand a nice length? I suppose this is where experience comes in handy. Often wool suppliers will send you a small sample of their wool if you’re not sure if it’s suitable for your project. Don’t be afraid to experiment with wool. Make samples and document your outcome, process. We all learn only from mistakes unfortunately. Never what we did right. To finish off, I want to say this. Use a low micron count for wearable items. But also, be aware that it ’is not going to be very strong felt. Often these garments are helped using the Nuno felting technique. Nuno is where you add silk to your fine wool to make the cloth stronger. But I’m going to park this here for now, as otherwise I will go down a rabbit hole. I hope this was useful to you. If you would like to add anything, feel free to contact me with your thoughts and suggestions
