wet felted trivets

I waited to post this project because two of the boys decided to give their wet felts to their dad for Christmas.  I think they were more excited about their dad opening their homemade gifts than they were about what Santa would bring as they left the studio.

I gave each student a large freezer bag to start.

I asked them to create their roving work on top of the bag, as a way to remind them to not let their artwork get bigger than the bag since it would ultimately have to fit inside of it.

They laid their first roving horizontal, the second roving vertical, and the last roving horizontal again.

This created their wool base.

13 year old

They then took bits of wool roving to create their pictures. At this point it did not matter what direction the roving was placed on the base.

Very carefully each student placed their roving inside the baggie.  If anything moved in transit, they took a moment to fix until they were once again happy with the placement of all their colors.

We carefully then added warm water with a drop of Dawn dish soap, pressed it gently into the wool, and released any air from the bag before sealing it close.  Each student then gently scrubbed their wool until the fibers began to adhere to each other. (1-3minutes)

I told them to pretend they were giving their wool a back rub.

9 year old

Once the wool was beginning to meld together, the students began the rolling process. They would roll up the baggie and then, like rolling out cookie dough, roll the baggie back and forth 50 times.

Unroll the baggie with the wool in it, turn it once clockwise, and repeat the same process over again until all four sided had been rolled 50 times.

(During this process you might have to open the baggie and flatten out the wool piece.)

Then they flipped the baggie over and started the rolling process all over again.

7 year old

At this point, the wool was felted and taken out of the bag. I gave them a quick rinse in hot water, then cold water, then hot water once more and left them to dry.

Once dry, we blanket stitched a grey piece of felt on the back and voila! They had trivets to use at home.

All three works were given as gifts to someone important to them.  I can't wait to hear their loved ones reactions when they opened these sweet little felts when we start back with classes in the new year.