This week, I’m having a sale on art batts for the first time in almost a year. Not only are art batts fabulous for spinning, but they are also great for felting and even framing and hanging on the wall. You’ll get 15% off all the art batts and other fiber between now and Monday night. You can see everything in the sale right here, and the coupon code will be applied automatically.

About Art Batts

Art batts are my favorite fiber preparation to spin. I know lots of people just spin top or roving, but the texture and softness and variety of art batts are so much more fun!

Everything in my art batts is soft enough to wear next to the skin. I make them using soft merino or Polwarth wool as well as a variety of luxury fibers like baby alpaca, baby camel down, bamboo, sari silk, mulberry silk, and even muga silk. Some of them also have kid mohair locks or Teeswater locks for fabulous texture.

That means that as you spin, you have the fun of feeling and seeing all the different colors and textures playing together. You also have the option of adding a touch of sparkle to your art batts. The locks and sparkle are just on the top of the art batt, but all the other fibers are blended in multiple layers throughout the batt. I use a special method that keeps the colors bright and distinct but nicely blended at the same time.

Spinning Art Batts

If you are a brand new spinner, I would recommend working your way up to art batts. I suggest starting with wool top that has a longer staple length. I always recommend Polwarth for this because it’s both soft and easy to spin. Next you’ll want to move on to spinning merino top. Merino is the softest sheep’s wool there is, but it also has a shorter staple length than any of the others. Once you are comfortable spinning merino by itself or with a little silk blended in, you should be ready to start spinning art batts. I have a tutorial on how to spin art batts here.

Felting Art Batts

Lots of felters use my art batts for wet felting and nuno felting. Here’s an example from Paige, a fiber artist in North Carolina who used my Purple Iris art batts to make this beautiful project:

For felting, you want to be sure that there is enough feltable fiber in the art batts, so I include the percentage of feltable fibers in the “Batt Facts” section of each listing. I recommend using art batts with at least 70% feltable fibers so that the felting process goes smoothly. Most of my art batts have at least that much feltable fiber, but it’s good to double check.

What kind of fibers felt? Well, the fiber from wool-bearing animals like these:

• Sheep (unless it has been treated to make it superwash)
• Angora Goats (the fiber is called mohair)
• Angora Rabbits (the fiber is called angora)
• Alpacas
• Llamas
• Camels
• Musk Oxen (the fiber is called Qiviut)

What fibers don’t felt? Pretty much everything else, including:

• Silk
• Bamboo
• Cotton
• Soy Silk
• Banana Silk
• Pineapple Silk
• Linen
• Flax
• Superwash wool

The list goes on, but suffice it to say that I create my art batt “recipes” with felting in mind, so the vast majority of them have more than 70% feltable fibers. If you are interesting in learning about wet felting, here is a great tutorial from Nicola Brown in Ireland.

There are so many more awesome tutorials on YouTube for wet felting! Nicola Brown also has a tutorial for making a felted bowl right here that I want to make and use as a yarn bowl.

Framing Art Batts

If you are looking for a beautiful conversation-starter to hang on your wall, consider making your own “fiber painting.” You’ll need an art batt or two, a pair of scissors, and a regular photo frame with glass. I usually find these at thrift stores. While you could felt them first, I prefer to keep the texture more three-dimensional. Here’s a large one I made for our home from two Eowyn’s Mantle art batts:

Here’s a step-by-step photo tutorial I made for how to make your own fiber paintings.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me. I’m always happy to share what I know.

A Note on the Timeline

We make the art batts when you order them so they are fresh and fluffy. I usually have them made and shipped within a week. However, if there is a run on art batts (there’s a phrase I bet you never expected to hear), I might need a few extra days to get them carded up and shipped to you.

On a Personal Note

I hope you had a great Easter. We have a houseful of wonderfulness right now with a visit from our oldest daughter, our son-in-law, and our grandson who has now officially moved into toddlerhood. I love this stage where babies look like wind-up toys when they walk, don’t you?

Meanwhile, we have the privilege of being directly in the path of the eclipse next Monday. When we had the partial eclipse last fall, the thing I found most fascinating was the way the shadows looked completely different from normal. I found that even more interesting than the sky! I wonder whether the same will be true on Monday. If you get a chance to see it (with eclipse glasses of course), let me know what part you found the most beautiful, eerie, or interesting. Have a lovely weekend!