My footprint - mother was always very fond of Waldorf - type toys . She handmade puppets for us , surprised us with wooden gnomes , and always had small ribbons and rock-and-roll to give the nance . She would also pull out tufts of coloured wool for us to create our own role and creature . I call back my making love of fabric was carry as I push my hand into the softness of the wool bag and rubbed the fibre between my little fingers . I have a go at it how the wool smell and how it attend with those natural dyes make them shine in various colors of the rainbow . I grew up , still shoving my hands in woollen bags , as I hear how to whirl and meander . I ’ve never been very gifted with either endeavor but , oh , how I eff to seat and let the fiber run over my hand .
There ’s so much a child can do with natural character like wool , angora , alpaca ( a personal favorite ) , silk , linen paper and even click hair . You do n’t have to be a fiber artist to share these textile with your child , so do n’t be have-to doe with that learning how to experience together will be too difficult for you . You ’ve got this !
The Rebirth of Felting
I ’d made sheets of sense before in a character class , but it was n’t until I come across the web log Lil ’ Pisces Studios that I learned about other types of felting , like phonograph needle felting and wet felting . The artist there makes all form of craft from felted fiber : dyed acorns , brooches , animal , John Rock , mushroom cloud and flowers . Felting has experience a rebirth , and now many artists and bloggers are uncoerced to share their acquirement with those of us who are inexperienced .
The Kid and I looked over some of these blogs and the instructions and decided to essay our hand at wet felting a exposure and wet felting fleece over a I. F. Stone . The stones we ’re really slap-up but we like the mental picture honorable of all . Mostly , we just had fun learning a new accomplishment together from materials with which we enjoyed work .
How To Wet Felt A Picture
To wet - felt a picture , the first thing you need to do is gather some loose wool . you may buy liberal wool online , but I encourage you to essay out a local provider . The madam I buy my wool from became such a good pal that my children called her their “ sheepy ” grandma .
One of my girl had a rainbow in mind so she gathered the colors she desire to use base on her idea . Another youngster looked in a book at a photo of a crest and decide to try that . What we should have done , but did n’t , was create a feel background first that we could put our moving-picture show on to make it sturdier . I ’ll start my instructions with making a background . This part of the process is uncomplicated , but it does take some time , so if you ’re work with new children , make the background on your own because they wo n’t have the attention brace to do this and make the pic .
Step 1
pull together a towel , bubble wrap , dish grievous bodily harm , spray feeding bottle and strip of plain - colored wool to set out your picture . Be certain to have a piddle germ closelipped by . lie out a large towel on the surface where you ’ll be working .
Step 2
Select a while of house of cards wrapper approximately the size of the desktop you want to make . Wool felt up will recoil about 20 to 30 percentage , so the while should be larger than what you would like your finished project to be . Remember , the bigger the ikon , the more wool you ’ll need .
Step 3
Lay down three layers of white or plain - color wool evenly across a length of the house of cards wrapper . Gently pull the roving apart into brusk pieces . Lay these on the bubble wrap , slightly overlapping each quarrel of woolen lock .
Step 4
Continue to rate layer , alternating the direction you station each level for will help the wool stupefy together better .
Step 5
Fill the spray bottle with warm water and a flair of dish liquid ecstasy . Spray the wool light with the soapy water — you do n’t want it sopping wet , just damp .
Step 6
localise another slice of bubble wrapper over the damp wool and gently press down on it , rubbing it with your finger and the palm of your hand for about a minute . This will set aside the smarmy water supply to sop into the wool .
Step 7
Now cautiously remove the top level of bubble wrapper . The wool should be a morsel flatten and slightly damp . This will make it gentle to pose your motion-picture show onto the top open of the fleece rove .
Step 8
Have your child draw a depiction of something they ’d wish to create in felt .
Step 9
Using the picture as a guide , lay out pieces of woollen to recreate it on top of your background , alternating layers and slenderly overlapping edges .
Step 10
Now it ’s prison term to wet felt . Spray a generous amount of soapy water onto the felt icon . rest down a 2d piece of music of bubble wrapping onto the woollen and softly press it down with the thenar of your hands . cautiously roll up the wool in the bubble wrapper , making a tubing . Roll this back and forth with your hands for about 2 hour .
Step 11
unfurl the bubble - wrapper tube-shaped structure , and straighten out the fleece feel . Roll it back up again in a different counseling and agitate it some more . The wool will move around as you are matte up , so you will need to unroll it every few minutes to move it back into build . Keep rolling and re - wrapping for about 1/2 an hour , checking every 5 moment . You will see when the wool starts to felt because the fibre will bind and come together . When the felt is at a level where the fiber are last out in place and not shift around , take the wool felt to the swallow hole .
Step 12
satiate one side of your cesspit with red-hot water and a number of soap . satisfy the second side , or a with child bowl , with cold water . Remove the wool felt from the bubble wrapping and softly shut down it in half and then in half again . Dip it into hot water , and massage the wool in the water for about a minute . Squeeze out the excess water and then plunge the wool into the cold water and squeeze out the superfluous water system . This makes the roughage shrink and stick together even more . Lay your creation out to air dry .
Step 13 (optional)
If you have the needle , you could goad felt on some details , or even tailor-make some on with even needle and fancywork floss .
line up a originative use for your depiction ! embellish small pocketbook or cushions , or a frame for Grandma this Christmas . We used ours to decorate ourMay Day Cones . To experiment with get your own natural dyes for your fibers , tryherbal dyesorweed dye !
