DIY Network

Fun With Felt

Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza, cohosts of Creative Juice, provide instructions on creating fun felt crafts.

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	Create designer necklaces with colorful balls of rolled wool roving.
	You can form monster toys by making the balls or shapes larger and adding embroidered eyes and other features.

Get the ball rolling with felt crafts

By Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza

March 12, 2007 — Get hip with the traditional craft of felting. Create designer necklaces and boutique monster toys with colorful balls of rolled wool roving. Felting is so simple, and the results are so stunning.

So get creative and craft your own wearables and playtime creature toys.

Materials:

2 large glass bowls
hot water
dish soap (hypoallergenic is preferred)
felting wool roving in different colors
toothpick of needle
large needle or safety pin
2 clamshell jewelry findings
silk beadingcord and needle
Aleene's Stop Fraying fabric glue
round-nose pliers
magnetic jewelry clasp

Steps:

1. Fill a bowl with six cups of hot water and one tablespoon of dish soap. Working over a towel, form a wad of wool into a ball twice the size the finished ball will be.

2. Dip the wad into the hot soapy water, squeeze out some of the excess water, and begin rolling the ball in your hands. Don't use too much pressure at this point. Keep rolling for four to five minutes, dipping back into the soapy water if the ball cools or dries out.

   You can also roll the ball on a towel with the palm of your hand. If the ball becomes too wet and/or soapy, roll it on a towel to remove excess moisture. If the ball needs to be smaller, apply more pressure to lock the fibers closer together.

3. When the ball is the desired size, rinse it in the bowl of water, squeezing out the soap. Continue felting until there are enough balls for a necklace.

4. Poke a toothpick or sharp needle through each ball before it hardens. Allow beads to dry overnight (a cookie cooling rack works well for drying). Once the beads are dry, lay out the design of the necklace.

5. Using a small clamshell jewelry finding, thread the beading cord through the loop of the finding, and tie a knot.

6. Thread a needle to the other end of the beading cord, and thread the felt beads onto the cord. Place small beads or charms between each felt bead for added effect. At the end of the necklace, unthread the needle and tie a clamshell jewelry finding to the end of the beading cord.

7. Clip away extra cording and apply a small amount of fabric glue to the knots in the cord to prevent possible fraying. Close clamshells using a pair of round-nose pliers.

8. Attach a necklace or magnetic clasp to the necklace by threading each piece of the clasp onto a clamshell finding at each end of the necklace.

   Toys can be made the same way. Just make the balls or shapes larger and add embroidered eyes and other features.

(Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza cohost Creative Juice. For more information log on to www.cathiefilian.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)

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