Felt balls

Fairy mobiles using felt balls at the top of the mobile.

These felt balls are a mix of needle felting and wet felting. I have tried making wet felted balls before, but they didn't turn out very well, and had huge cracks in them that I couldn't fix. But today I tried a combination of wet and needle felting, and they turned out great.

You will need:
* Wool roving, or carded sheeps wool
* Felting needles. I get my needles from Cobweb Cottage. They have a great source of information on the different needles and what they do.  When I started out, I only had one size, which was a thick needle. When I first found Cobweb Cottage, I was confused about the needles so just bought a set of 4 different sizes and I have learnt so much just from using them and getting the feel of them.
* A pad or sponge to work on. Car wash sponges are nice and thick to use, if you are just starting out.
* Dishwashing liquid
* Latex gloves
* Hot water

I get a lot of wool from my mum, who uses it for spinning. Mum cards and dyes her own wool, and spins it.  She often gives me the left over bits that she can't use for spinning.

Get a handful of wool.

Roll into a ball, as tight as you can make it. The ball will shrink in size substantially (about a third) by the time you have wet felted it, so allow for shrinkage.

Using a coarse needle (I use size 38) place the ball on your felting pad or sponge and begin stabbing the needle into the wool. Use an up and down motion rather than side to side, otherwise you may break the needle. Keep rotating the ball around so that you needlefelt the whole ball evenly at the same time.

Once the fibres begin to mesh together, use a slightly finer needle, such as a size 36. Keep stabbing and rotating the ball around so that it felts evenly.

I find that the sizes of needles are a bit like the gears of a car.  The size 38 is first gear, and is great for bringing the loose fibres together.
Size 36 is like second gear. Once the fibres have started felting, the larger needle becomes a bit more harder to use. Switch to 36, which is slightly smaller and is better for making your felting firmer as it can easily get into the already felted fibres.
Size 32 is a fine needle, which is great for finer details and finishing.





One thing about felting, is that the more the wool is felted, the more resistant it is to the addition of new wool, or to join on to another piece.  To add on more wool, such as if you have used one base colour for the shape of the ball and you want to add another colour, make sure you do so while the fibres are still loose, so that they will mesh together.

Keep stabbing using an even up and down motion, rotating the ball around, to mesh the fibres together.

Once you have needlefelted the ball firmly, it is time to wet felt it.  This process causes the ball to shrink even further as the fibres felt together. You may want to wear rubber gloves for this, to protect your skin from the hot water, and if your gloves have a bumpy surface, it also provides a bit of friction.
Squeeze a little dishwashing liquid onto your ball.

Put a little hot water onto your felt ball, and begin rubbing it into and around the ball. You want to create friction, as the friction in wet felting is what felts the fibres together. You only need a small amount of water to get the fibres damp and activating the dishwashing liquid. Press firmly on the ball as you rub and rotate it around, to felt it evenly.

The ball should start becoming more compact and smaller. Keep pressing firmly, rolling and rubbing. You can wrap it in bubble wrap to help provide a bumpy surface, and roll it around.

When it is nice and firm, rinse under hot water to wash out the soap.  This could take a few minutes. The hotter the better - hence gloves, to protect your hands.  The hot water felts the wool even further and finishes the process.

Place on a teatowel and leave in warm place (if possible) to dry.  This could take a few days to fully dry, depending on the weather and humidity.

One of my balls began forming a crack in it.  I took it back upstairs to my craft room and pulled out my needle felting needles and foam pad. Using a fine needle (size 32), I began stabbing around it and over it, to close up the crack. Then I wet felted it all over again, and the result was excellent - I could no longer see the crack!

When dry, use the felt balls as you wish to create a range of toys or home decor...

I used a needle and strong thread to make these fairy mobiles. The needle passed right through the middle of the felt balls, and I was able to do a couple of stitches in to the ball, top and bottom, to prevent the ball from sliding up and down.

You can find my other felting tutorials here...

Needlefelted fairy mobile