making felt

There is something so satisfying about taking a bunch of loose roving and turning it into felt. It is a magical process for students to experience, although it can be a messy one too. For me, the fact you need a pair of water wings due to all the water sloshing around in the room is a big hurdle to get over when deciding whether or not to take a wet felting project on in class.

That is until I found a technique that kept the water and soap suds contained in a simple Ziplock baggie.

Yes, there is a Santa Claus and his name is Ziplock Large Freezer bag.

10 year old

Combined with a bit of warm water and Dawn dish soap magic happens without drowning everyone joining me in the studio.  A few simple supplies and you end up with some really fun results and the students absolutely love the process from beginning to end.

Here's what you do, start with a base roving and have the students lay the first layer in strips horizontal, a second layer of roving strips vertical, and then a last layer of roving horizontal again.  Once finished, they can add all the color roving on top to create a picture.  

I have them do this part on top of the baggie so they make sure it will easily fit inside and zip close once they are finished.

When they are happy with their artwork, gently place it in the baggie and add just enough hot water with a drop of dish soap to soak the work and close it up.

8 year old

After you have added the water, have them gently "scrub" the work until they see the fibers start to hold together.  A few minutes work.  Once you see the fibers are holding together slightly, give them either a bamboo placemat you buy at the dollar store or a sheet of bubble wrap and them have them roll the two up together like a sausage and roll as if they are rolling cookie dough. 

I should mention you need to make sure you release the air out of the baggie before sealing it close.

They should roll it inside the mat or wrap for 50 times one way, then unroll it and turn the artwork in the once clockwise and roll it up again and repeat the back and forth motion another 50 times.   They should repeat this process at least two more times in each direction and then have you take a look at it.

9 year old

If when you pinch it you don't get any loose roving to stand up, this part of the process is finished.  The water should be completely absorbed into the work by now.  Take it over to a sink and rinse it out with cold water and wring it out, then hot water and wring it out, and then cold water one more time until there are no suds left.

You can submerge it in a water/vinegar bath also if you would like to protect the work.

10 year old

Then you just let it hang dry and voila!  A felted artwork.  With the above artwork, I then introduced embroidery and taught each student a simple running and stab stitch they could implement.  Amazingly no one stabbed a finger.   Even more amazing, I thought this would hold their attention for, ummmm, 30 minutes?  And they worked on this part of the project for well over an hour and some of them even chose NOT to take a short break on the playground and stay inside to continue stitching.

And do you know who enjoyed the embroidery work most of all?

The boys.    In fact they enjoyed it so much that I now make this a "go to" project when I have a boy heavy class list.

Although not wet felting, I had one 7 year old boy enjoy the process so much he asked me for more sewing projects and so he created this Monster to scare away bad dreams out of old sweaters I felted from the thrift store.

7 year old

I have since done this project in the more traditional way without the baggie and to be truthful, I think the kids enjoyed the above process more.  Although the traditional way did allow more freedom to create a larger work.

10 year old

I love this student's work and that she also thought to add the shadow and highlight to the vase. She had so much fun, she asked to keep going when we finished a bit early and so I brought down a small plastic basin I had purchased at the dollar store and let her have at it to create a couple of beads and a snake that had some pipe cleaner in the core so she could manipulate it when finished.

Which she promptly turned into a necklace

10 year old

Brillant!

All in all, I can't say enough about this project.  Kids love it and if you take my advice and stick to the baggie method, you won't even need water wings to complete.  I'm just thrilled with the end results all of these talented students produced.