felt :: feurte canada‘s mission is to unite, inform and inspire Canadian feltmakers while building a national identity around feltmaking through our website, events and exhibitions.
The Gentle Roller is a new device for an ancient craft - a wet felt rolling machine invented for fibre artists of the 21st Century. The Gentle Roller is a break-through in the exhausting and repetitive process of hand rolling, helping you to create better felt or nuno felt — without hard work.
With its oscillating (forward and backward) action, The Gentle Roller is the only true replacement for hand rolling.
This compact, safe, and attractive tool will complement your studio and work quietly beside you, freeing you for more important activities like planning your next piece or enjoying a well-earned break.
It may be compact in height and depth but we haven't scrimped on the important dimension - we've delivered you a large roller platform. The smaller Gentle Roller comes with a roller width of 1100mm (43 inch) allowing you to comfortably handle 36 inch wide fabric. The larger roller width of 1400mm (55 inch) will easily cope with 48 inch wide fabric. Both machines can also be used for multiple items at once if you work with narrower pieces plus they come with an optional fulling drum and optional second drive rollers for increased efficiency.
The Gentle Roller - wet felt rolling machine has numerous patented features including the drive roller and oscillating drive covered by:
Australian Patent Application No. 2017368450
European Patent Application No. 17876105.2
USA Patent Application No. 16/464,754
International Patent Application No. PCT/AU2017/051308
A short video below gives you a quick insight into how the Gentle Roller works. (No glossy production tricks - just real footage of the very first Gentle Roller from our 'crowd funding' era.)
There are also six video sections further down the page which demonstrate the diversity of the Gentle Roller: from the finest chiffon and paj silks, to heavy wall art and carpet runner to jackets made with a resist.
The Gentle Roller
All prices include air freight to your door for most major capital cities world-wide. The new 2020 model (V3) Gentle Roller is coming soon. Check the range and pre-order now to save.
Many wet felt rolling machines are simply unsafe. Among other failings, they require pressure screws, with the threat of injury, or require guarding to protect the user. Not the Gentle Roller. It is designed with your safety in mind.
Your real skill is in the lay out and design of your felt project and The Gentle Roller won't take away from the artisans work.
It removes the tedious. and sometimes painful. manual rolling process and gives you more time to concentrate your efforts on your creative work.
Many felt rolling machines give you no control other than "on/off" and are rather rudimentary. Not so The Gentle Roller. Through its easy to use control panel The Gentle Roller is as nuanced in its ability, as you are as a felt maker.
Rolling is tiresome and yours may vary from hour to hour. The Gentle Roller ensures every roll is the same as the last, and the unique drive system eliminates slippage or movement of your felt pieces.
It is also the only felt rolling machine with a unique Fulling Drum to take a lot of the work out of fulling your items.
A felt rolling machine doesn't have to look like it belongs in a garage or, worse still, look like it is operated by men in white laboratory coats - surprisingly most do!
Not The Gentle Roller with its colourful body and streamlined design.
No its not an Ikea pack, but it requires a few screws (provided) to fully assemble your Gentle Roller.
Videos created to demonstrate how The Gentle Roller can be used for textured surfaces.
Videos created to demonstrate how The Gentle Roller can be used to create extremely light weight nuno felt.
Videos showing The Gentle Roller making heavy layered items such as wall art, a carpet runner, and heavy garments.
Videos showing how The Gentle Roller can be used for items made with a resist.
Videos showing how The Gentle Roller can be used for unusual shapes, such as a hooded scarf, or a semi-circular collar scarf.
Some background into the history of The Gentle Roller
Watch the Inventor and Muse discuss the key features of The Gentle Roller.
If you are just browsing and would like an introduction, here is our explanation of felt.
To produce felt is a two part process; the making of pre-felt and the fulling. Here is our explanation of fulling.
