Discover the Beauty of Wet Felting

Transformation - Dying and Becoming - Metamorphosis…

Change is the natural state of the Earth. Transformation, dying and becoming are the processes through which Mother Nature gains renewal and harnesses energy. The leaves of fall decay and enrich the soils that feed spring’s flowers. As we work to live in alignment with the seasons, we harness the energy that permeates the natural world and thus, facilitate our own transitions. Just as seeds that have lain dormant grow roots and push upward through the warming earth at this time, so too do we experience a warming and a renewal as the sun’s rays grow warmer. Embracing this yearly metamorphosis is living in alignment with nature’s sacred dance of rebirth. 

We wanted to offer a simple spring wet felted project that is both beautiful and purposeful. The effort to work the felt between your fingers is a grounding and useful meditation as we welcome spring forces into our lives and homes. Enjoy!

Felting Garden Treasures: Wet Felted Tulips and Butterflies 

Supplies

• Wool Fleece (from your local yarns store)
• Olive oil bar soap (health food store) we used The Soap Company’s version (it makes your hands super soft afterwards)
• Very warm water in a large bowl - I use big metal bowls when I teach wet felting.
• An old towel dry your hands after and during the process (also if you have children helping you may want a couple of towels :)
• A wooden egg, an egg shaped stone - we like using a base that has a little bit of texture to hold the wool on in the first step.  The weight feels good too.

Directions

There is no right or wrong way to do this and the more you work with it the more you know how wool felts with warmth and agitation. It is the same action that happens when your beautiful woolens make it into a hot water wash in the washing machine by accident. Heat plus agitation equals felting.

These are our suggestions:

1. Arrange your materials in advance.
2. Fill a large bowl half full of warm water. For adults, it works best to have the water as hot as you can handle. If there are children helping, the water must be much cooler. You can reheat your water with the kettle mid-process if it gets too cold.
3. Wrap your egg or stone tightly with a thin one foot length of wool fleece. The tighter you wrap, the better it goes. Continue to pull the wool tight as you wrap. The little barbs in the wool catch to each other and hold on to the egg. Feel free to use multiple colours.  
4. Gently dip the wrapped egg in the warm water, then cradle it in your hands.
5. Get your hands very soapy and pat the egg gently till it begins to shrink.
6. The tighter the wool gets the harder you can work on it; slowly increase pressure. By the end, you work very firmly to felt the inner wool.
7. When you feel you are done, rinse in hot water and dry with the towel as much as possible
8. Use very sharp scissors to cut the top open in a cross shape - this creates four petals for the tulip. Just go a little ways down the egg, just far enough to squeeze the egg out.
9. If you want to make a butterfly, cut further down the lines to open the felt further.
10. Felt a body with an antenna for the center and stitch it in place.
11. Enjoy creating gardens full of treasures for young and old alike.