How to Make Felted FlowersDid you know that you can take raw fiber and roving to felt pretty flowers? Yup! All you need is the basic wet felting know how. And Supplies, of course! The cool thing about felting flowers is that you can make them any color combination that you want. You’re not limited to the flowers found in nature. Also check out Part 1 of the new Felting Techniques Series: |
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(This page contains affiliate links which simply means that if you click through and buy or sign up, this site will get a small commission, at absolutely no extra cost to you.) What You Need:
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| Lay the towel on a table and place a small piece of bubble wrap on top, bubbles down. Begin by drafting (pulling) small, thin pieces of your main color. In this case, I used white merino wool. Lay these pieces out in a roughly round shape, overlapping the fibers at the center. Add other colors for decoration. | ||||
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| Now, sprinkle your fiber with hot, soapy water. Just a squirt or two of soap will do. You want the fiber to be thoroughly wet. Place your hands on the flower, gently push down and move your hands carefully back and forth a little bit to make sure the water completely penetrates the fibers. | ||||
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| Once it is all wet, place another piece of bubble wrap on top of the flower. Sprinkle some water on the bubble wrap and start rubbing it with your hands in all directions. Do this for about 5 minutes, carefully peel back the bubble wrap and add more soapy water. Put the bubble wrap back on top and work with your hands for about another 5 minutes. At this point, your fiber should be starting to hold together. | ||||
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| Now, you want to roll up the bubble wrap and with your hands, roll the whole thing back and forth, back and forth for about 5 minutes. If the plastic is too slippery, you can wrap your roll in another towel. | ||||
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| Peel back the bubble wrap and pick up your flower. It should be felted and holding together. If parts are still pulling apart, you can work those areas between your hands. Add a bit more water and throw your flower on the table. That’s right, throw it! This will cause the fibers to shrink and harden a bit. Just throw it 20 or 30 times. Now you should be able to stretch the petals out sideways (horizontally from the center) which will make them wrinkle and ruffle. | ||||
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| Rinse your flower in cold water to get all the soap out. All that’s left now is to gather up the back, center portion (where the stem would be) and secure it with string, yarn or a twist-tie. That’s it! | ||||
| What do you do with your felted flower? Well, you can attach a pin to the back and wear it as a brooch or make a barrette out of it. | ||||
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| Where do you get roving? Ebay or Etsy are good sites for wool or alpaca. My friend, Stephanie has fabulous merino roving at Lunabud Knits. Also, one of my favorite vendors, Dharma Trading has a nice variety. Of course, the best place is a fiber festival if you’re lucky enough to have one in your area. I also found some cool felting kits: | ||||
| GREENERY COLOR SAMPLER Felting Wool HAND DYED Roving Fiber ideal for all NEEDLE, SOAP and WET FELTING by LIVING DREAMS |
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Want to learn more about Wet Felting?Here are some great books on Felting. |
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Quick & Clever Felting
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| Also make sure and check out my Tutorial on How to Make Felted Soap | ||||
