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. If you work with narrower pieces, you can make multiple items at once.
Plus The Gentle Roller comes with a unique fulling drum (optional) and accessory 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
Your skill is in the lay out and design of your felt project and the care you take with your work. The Gentle Roller won't take away from these artisan skills.
The Gentle Roller removes the tedious, and sometimes painful, manual rolling process. It gives you more time to concentrate your efforts on the creative aspects of felt making.
The Gentle Roller can handle all types of felt from the finest, light weight nuno and sheer delicates to heavy eco sheep fleece rugs.
Whether your passion is functional wearables or playful pieces, flat wall art or sculptural 3D's, The Gentle Roller is the felter's friend.
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 touch pad control panel you can adjust the speed, the forward and reverse rotations and the number of rolls.
Use the standard defaults or take full control and discover that The Gentle Roller is as nuanced as you are as a felt maker.
Rolling is tiresome and your effort 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 reducing the work of fulling your items.
A felt rolling machine shouldn't look like it belongs in a garage or needs to be operated by men in white laboratory coats - surprisingly most do!
The Gentle Roller with its colourful body and streamlined design will take pride of place in your studio or workshop.
Most wet felt rolling machines are simply unsafe. Among other failings, they require pressure screws and drive chains, with the inherent threat of injury, or require guarding to protect the user from the machine.
Not the Gentle Roller. It is designed with your safety in mind.
A short video below gives you a quick insight into how the Gentle Roller works. It's not a glossy production - 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.
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.
The Gentle Roller
Click the Shop Here button to see the current model range including all accessory items.
We've made various improvements for 2019 starting with a multilingual display which includes English, French, German, Spanish and Italian languages.
An enhanced fulling drum with better styling, built in carry handle and an improved locking mechanism.
An improved drive roller/fulling drum security lock.
Your drive roller or fulling drum stays in place with this simple but clever end lock that also ensures you've placed your drive roller or fulling drum correctly.
We've included the popular hook and loop elastic straps and the appropriate fulling bags free of charge.
More Accessories
Additional accessories include secondary all-purpose drive rollers and super-soft drive rollers.
Yes, we are always careful in handling your Gentle Roller but the same isn't always true for transport companies.
The packaging is double boxed with extra padding and easier to handle than earlier models.
We haven't changed our commitment to our customers or our service levels.
In addition, the most popular GR1400FD and GR1100FD have all the new features mentioned at no additional cost!
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.
