Zebra

  6' 1"x 4' 8"   Four fleeces (Briar, Rumbles, Blanca, and Beezus)   This rug started out in the meadow.  Grown for a full year on our sheep. In spring, the sheep are sheared.  The wool fleeces are skirted, hand washed, picked, carded and hand-dyed.  These fleeces are then laid out in a big, fluffy mound.  Water and soap are sprinkled over top, while gently smoothing the wool down by hand.  Once it's partially matted down, we free-handed the zebra design loosely on top with wool (we sketched out about 10 full-scale prototypes on paper)  The whole mass is smoothed,  rubbed and rolled for many hours until felted.  The "wrinkly stage" at the start is a bit scary.  It's amazing to watch the wool eventually transform into a smooth piece of felt  Approximately a 6 inch border is lost due to shrinking(picture a pure wool sweater thrown into the washer!) Keeping our zebra  design stable through the felting process was tricky. The felting process wants to distort and blur whatever design is lai