How to entangle felt qualities and the site?
In the whole process of felt-making, we had a feeling, that we are missing something. Some agents, which would give us a point we can be heading to. We felt lost in the process. Therefore we visited our site. We started to think about how we can react to site pros and cons using the various properties of our woollen felts.
01 – An initial sketch of the site with our observations.
The wilderness of our site is drowned out by a hum of human activity, including sounds of loud traffic and machines working their way through rock and soil. The wilderness cannot soothe us with its pleasing sounds. As a reaction, we want to explore the sound insulating quality of wool using the dry felted headphones, each of different densities. The echoes are diminished.
The site´s significance is in the human intervention in the form of terrain modulation – terraces, which are combined with steep edges. In reaction to the steepness of the site and the impact of the elements, the soil is deteriorated, washed out, it is revealing the entangled roots of plants. In combination with the rainwater, which doesn´t holt in the soil it creates rough conditions for any plant to grow.
03 – Terraces and steep edges of the site.
The primary ability of raw wool is the retention of fluids, multiple times its weight. The strength of woollen felt increases when the fibres are more entangled and dense. We tried to find the proper density to reach strong felt, which also has retention abilities. We observed that wet felt is not so strong against forces as dry felt.
04 – Experimenting with sound insulating, water retention and strength.
The owner of the site wants to let the wilderness be in charge. On the other hand, he is using the site with its huts and terraces for leisure. To react to elements – rain, wind, sunshine, and rough conditions on-site we experiment with the waterproof and translucent capability of woollen felt while preserving its strength. We use the application of heat from different sources. The best results are reached with the application of contact heat and pressure.
05: Experiments with heat, water repellency and translucency
We are led to think, that the abilities of woollen felt mostly rely on its density – entanglement of fibres. We react to the site using patches of different felts where needed, creating one entangled fabric. The properties of the felt are observed, but the main question is still there – how can we entangle more with the site?
Authors: Diana Bevelaquová, Klarisa Ach-Hübner. Midterm reviews (5.11.2021), FABUT WS 21/22
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