Wet Felting Eggs Tutorial

I am excited to share with you my second tutorial. I first want to make it clear that I am not a felt making expert. I am actually not an expert at any particular craft form but I love to try new things . A number of years ago I learned how to make felt with the age old techniques of wet felting. There are a number of good books and on line tutorials on the subject . These are some of my favorite books on wet felting ( not needle felting or fulling knitted articles) . I am going to show you how to make an egg although the same technique could be used to felt over any hard object that can withstand hot soapy water and friction. You will need a few things : an egg shape ( I use hard plastic eggs from the dollar store but you can use wooden ones or stone eggs ), wool roving , liquid soap ( I use dish soap) , hot water and a place to work ( I use the kitchen ). A wash board or bamboo mat for the friction rub is helpful but not essential. Some people use bubble wrap for this but I don't find that very environmentally friendly.

Not all wool is feltable. My favorite quick felting wool is merino sliver from my favorite Canadian wool company, Fleece Artist of Nova Scotia

Now lets get started. The first step is to fluff up the wool roving and wrap it around the egg in layers. Try to run the layers in different directions . I usually use about 5 layers.

Now cover the egg with some hot soapy water. I use a one part dish soap to two parts water mixture. Gently squeeze the wool egg / soap / water object and press together the fibers so that it doesn't all fall apart at this stage. When it is all warm and soapy you can start to very gently rub the egg with your finger tips .

You will start to feel the wool fibers binding together as you rub . This step is called soft felting .

The next step is fulling which binds the fibers together in a stronger union making it more durable . Some people call this hard felting. I do this by rubbing the soft felted object on a wash board or a bamboo mat. You can continue to use your hands for this step but it takes more time and my hands already feel like leather from all the hand washing I do. You don't need to be gentle on this step and it usually helps to have some music on. I am listening to the Across the Universe soundtrack.

You are almost done. Now rinse out the soap and you have yourself a wet felted egg. Place it somewhere warm to dry . A little warning is that some cats are fascinated with these soft felted things and I have had a few eggs and other felted objects demolished over the years.

After it has dried you can cut it open with sharp scissors if you want to put a little chick or bird inside .

This is a great activity to do with your children and is also excellent therapy for anyone with arthritis in their hands. The finished eggs can be embellished with embroidery , wrapped yarn needle felting or anything else your imagination desires. I will leave with a few pictures for inspiration.

Please leave a comment after this post and next friday I will be drawing a name for a felted gift. Hope you all have a heart felt weekend. ps Valentine's Day is only 6 days away.

Comments

[uglyagnes]

I saw these on flickr, and they are adorable. I need to get myself a washboard...

[mary]

These are so beautiful Margie. I am coming to know my crafting limitations though and know I would not have the patience for this. Isn't that terrible?

I have seen your chicks on Flickr and they made me ridiculously happy!!

[Crystal]

Awsome tutorial! I think I might do some felting this weekend. ;)

Your birds are so lovley!!

[kathy]

I love your chick!!! It made me ridiculously happy as well. Your crafting is spreading happiness across the country!

[Elsita]

Wow Margie! Thank you sooo much for this tutorial!
This is a great thing for me to do with Natalie, I know that she will love it. The results are so sweet! They all make me happy!
Gracias!
Elsita :)

[heleen]

This is so cute!! I'm going to make them too..The kids in my class will love it!! Thanks for the great tutorial.

[Michelle]

must. make. cute. eggs.

[Michelle]

must. make. cute. eggs.

[lucette]

Your felted eggs are stunning. And I do like your collection of crewel and needlepoint. I too have a weakness for these pieces as I know how much time they take to make.

[Louise]

Thank you so much for posting this tutorial, it's exactly what I wanted! As soon as I finish writing this, I'm off to the kitchen to wet felt an egg.

[Tina]

This is so timely for me! Thank you! Just made my first one with some wool batting. We'll see how it dries up. My first wet felted thing too! I used my husband's bamboo sushi mat. Hope he doesn't mind! I got into a good rhythm for rubbing it on the mat. I cupped the egg is both hands, with one at the top of the egg and one at the bottom. Then cupping it such loosely, I rolled it over the bamboo mat, rubbing and rolling as I went along. It felted up pretty quickly once I started to do that. When I was just rolling without cupping the top and bottom, it wasn't attaining the correct "egg-like" shape. Now I want to try some with my pretty colored roving! Must feed my children first.

[Megan]

Fun! I think I've found a great project for the kids!

[Amanda]

Hi! I found your tutorial and tried to make an egg last night. Unfortunately, while the outside of the egg was felted, the inside when I cut it open was not. Do you know why this would have happened? Did I not rub it long enough? Thanks!

[Sarah]

Thanks for the instructions. This is exactly what I was looking for.