Last week we looked at roving and how to buy it. This week we will start wet felting with kids.
Wet felting is the process of
using hot, soapy water and friction to stimulate layers of perpendicularly placed roving to
bond together and become felted.
Children of all ages treasure feeling wool slowly meld to become
an object – it is quite magical.
The natural fibers have such a rich texture that children become engrossed and tend to spend an amazing amount of time wet felting amazing creations.
Younger children will enjoy the process of feeling the felt in their hands, while school-aged children often focus on a tangible object they want to sculpt.
LET'S GET MAKING
To Prepare the Roving: Pull off layers of roving and roll it into a ball, pull off another layer of roving and wrap it in the opposite direction around your tiny object. Continue wrapping layers at 90 degrees angle to each other until you have an object about 2 inches in diameter.
To Prepare the Water: When I am felting on my own, I make my water as hot as possible. When I am felting with my girls, I make the water as warm as I think they are comfortable with. Mix in a generous squirt of dish liquid with the water. I have used many different varieties of dish soap from Dove to Meyers and Green Works and they all seem to work fine.
Getting Wet: Dunk the wrapped roving into the soapy water. Gently squeeze and shape. Shape into any shape you want. The roving will slowly begin to congeal and become smaller and harder. Repeat dunking, squeezing, rolling, squishing, and adding roving until you achieve your desired size and shape.
Rinse: Rinse in cold, clean water and let dry. Drying usually takes a day or two.
Kira's unicorn - she is so proud that she made her creation all by herself. First Kira wet felted the pieces and then sewed them all together.
The act of felting tends to make this art-form more about the process than the outcome, especially for young children. Even so, there are few useful techniques that are fun for kids to learn:
Making felt balls
Using a mold
Creating flat felt
We will cover all of these projects over the next few weeks...
Ultimately, your children will never have cleaner hands. Ever.
IT'S FUN TO SHARE
If you have projects that you have already made, please add a link in the comment section so we can all have a look. And if you're motivated to make something inspired by the series, please send pictures to [email protected]. By becoming a fan of Curly Birds on facebook you'll be able to join in the fun.
Facebook: Behind the scenes shots and first to see new projects. You can also upload your pictures to the Curly Birds facebook page.
Pinterest: I will be continuing to update my Felting Pinterest borad with tutorials, ideas, and inspiration. Follow along with felted projects and ideas.
