Wet felting is the process of combining layers of wool fibres into one flat piece of felt fabric. Wet felting uses water, soap and agitation to interlock and matt wool fibres together. The resulting material can be cut and used for all sorts of projects.
The traditional method of wet felting requires both time and effort if you are aiming for a lovely flat piece of textile. But I wanted to felt around a form as a trial for something else I have in mind. And this turned out to be a far more straightforward affair.
Since Easter is fast approaching, I decided to try and felt a little owl using a wooden egg as my form.
How to make a Wet Felted Easter Egg Owl
I started by covering my egg with two layers of wool roving. Then dampened the wool with hot soapy water.
Even though I planned for the washing machine to do the hard work of felting I could feel the fibres start to tangle and tighten around the wooden egg when I rubbed it between my hands.
I added the detail I wanted using different colour wool fibres, spraying them all with soapy water and using my fingers to smooth them into place. I wore vinyl gloves throughout the process and thought the way they glided over the fibres without tugging at them made the process easier.
Once I was happy with my design I popped my little owl into the toe cut from a pair of tights and secured it with an elastic band. I then threw it into the washing machine with a detergent capsule and the kid’s swimming towels and ran it in a hot (60C) wash.
And here is the result. We think he is super cute and will be making him some little friends soon.
If you’d like some more inspiration for egg decoration please check out our Sgraffito, Pretty String Wrapped and Decoupage eggs.
4 comments
That’s so cool and cute!! It sounds rather easy to do, I might try it some day haha :)
Thanks Mona, we love to keep it simple and the washing machine definitely makes this an easy craft :_
Hi Sarah, what an adorable little owl and you made it look so easy to create. It does look in need of little owl friends after all it is spring.
xx
He really does need some little friends Debbie – I suspect we’ll end up with quite a few :)