By Jennifer Carson
Looking for a fun craft to make with the kids or an easy to make, but beautiful, gift for a friend? Learning to wet felt a small vessel is quick and easy. You just need a few supplies, many of which you already have in your home!
A glass form—I used a small glass bowl with tall sides and an empty yogurt container
A couple pieces of bubble wrap about 12” x 12”
A piece of netting, about 18” x 18”
A spray bottle
A couple drops of dish soap
A couple of ounces of wool roving
To get started, lay out one piece of bubble wrap on your kitchen counter. Place your glass form in the middle of it, upside down. Pull a length of your roving from the skein. Pull a length of roving from that and place it on top of your form.
Continue to pull lengths and lay them on your form in a crisscross fashion. You want each layer to go in a different direction than the one underneath it.
Continuing layering your wool strips up the sides of the glass form. Add more layers of a second color if you choose!
When you’ve got your form nice and covered with overlapping strips of wool, fill your spray bottle with hot water and a couple drops of liquid dish soap. Spray your wool. Cover it with your piece of netting, then pat it down. Spray and pat until the whole thing is wet. Give it a little squeeze with your hands and make sure all the wool is wet.
Hold the netting tight with one hand and start to felt your fibers with the other, moving your finger in small circles at first. If you feel a little resistance, spray a bit more. When the bottom of your vessel starts to get “soapy,” begin felting the sides, again with small circles at first. Don’t forget to rotate your form so that you are getting all sides. Eventually, you will begin using your whole hand to felt your vessel. Spray with more soapy water if needed.
Once you have the sides wet and lightly felted, remove the netting and pull the dry, unfelted fibers toward the bottom of your vessel. Wrap the netting around the vessel and grasp it with one hand on the top. Spray the vessel and continue felting with your free hand for 5 minutes. Dunk in a sink full of hot water, squeeze excess water out, spray and continue felting for a couple of minutes. Dunk in a sink full of cold water, squeeze excess water out. Take your felting off of the form and turn inside out. Place back on the form, spray with soapy water, and felt again for a few minutes.
Read related article: Handmade Wool Dryer Balls
Wrap your vessel in a piece of your bubble wrap and roll it back and forth for a couple of minutes. Remove your felted vessel from the glass form and squeeze excess water out. Lay a towel on the floor or counter and throw your vessel onto the towel about 50 times—this helps “full” the wool. Now, you can either stuff your vessel with a plastic bag to help it keep it’s shape while it dries, or you can put it back on the form and let it dry.
When dry, embellish how you want. I used embroidery floss and beads, but you could also needle felt a design on, too!
Jennifer Carson is a local artist and author who enjoys creating beautiful items for home and family. Browse over 60 sewing patterns for both handcrafting and machine sewing to inspire you online at thedragoncharmer.com.
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