Felting Series, Part 3: Wet-Felted Jingle Balls

{Ok, so I totally spaced on this post last week. Let me assure you this is normal for me .... but I'm workin' on it}

So, this week, as promised, I have a new Felting Tutorial for you! If you are new to Sunny Sweet Life, make sure to check out this sweet little Sheep Tutorial and this Cupcake Tutorial, both needle-felted using wool roving.

I LOVE felting and I want to share this wonderful craft with everyone in the universe!!! If you decide to give it a try, make sure to send me pics so I can post them here on my blog!

These are such sweet, natural toys for babies or toddlers. They are 100% natural and safe, made simply of wool and a little jingle bell inside which gives a gentle sound when rolled or shaken.

Supplies

This week, you will NOT need a felting needle or felting pad. In fact, all you need are these few things:

1. Wool roving (you can use just one color, or a bunch of colors)

2.  Small plastic or metal jingle ball

2.  Dish soap

3.  Hot water

4.  Optional: a ziploc baggie

5.  Optional: a textured surface such as bubble wrap

Let's Go!!!

1. First you will lay out a little bit of your wool roving and wrap the bell in it. Once you've wrapped some of the wool in one direction, you'll want to wrap it the opposite direction. Alternating the direction of the wool like this will help the fibers stick together.

2. Continue rolling your wool into a ball, tightly, until it is about twice as large as you would like the finished ball to be. When you start felting, your ball will shrink quite a bit!

3. When you have your ball, it is time to add a little soapy water. Just a sprinkle! I like to fill a small bowl with hot water and a couple drops of dish detergent; for me, that's more convenient than running the faucet the whole time.

4. Pass the wet ball back and forth between your hands gently, until the wool fibers start to stick together and become more firm. Once they do, you can start rolling the ball in your hands more and more until it becomes pretty firm and then...keep rolling it more and more vigorously.

You can even pop your ball in a ziploc baggie and start rolling it vigorously against a textured surface.

5. When your ball is nicely felted, rinse with cold water and either set aside to air dry or pop it into the dryer for a quick spin.

6. Finally, you can leave it au natural or needle-felt designs using a felting needle.  Here are a few examples. I made these for a craft swap last fall:

I sure hope that tutorial made sense! :) Please let me know if you have any questions!

Come Back Next Week for Needle-Felted Garden Fairies!