Felt Balls from Wool Roving

Making Felt Balls from Wool Roving

Making Felt Balls from wool roving ~ I had so much fun with this and it is so easy to do! I was shopping for felt wool so I could learn how to crochet and knit felt. And I saw all these funny looking wool that was not yarn. As it turned out, they were wool roving (though it is also mistakenly called 'roving wool') and the colors were so lovely, I just had to buy me some to have a go. So glad I did!!

I purchased this from an Australian seller Highland Cottage Crafts (ebayID: russtrees).

How to make a Felt Ball

1. Gently straighten out a clump you want work with. The wool roving is made up of fine combed fibers that can easily be pulled out.
2. Tease some out and make into a rough tiny ball. This is the start and is the core of your ball-to-be.
3. Keep teasing out small strands. Get as long a strand as you can. Not too thick per teased-out strand. Don't worry about them breaking.
4. Wrap that tightly around your core. Keep going in this way - trying to keep to a round shape till it is about Twice the size of what you want your final ball to be.
5. Hot water in a bucket. A tiny amount of mild soap. So little that the water hardly suds up.
6. Put on your ribbed rubber gloves.
7. Dunk your ball into the hot soapy water to soak it thoroughly.
8. Take the ball out onto the palm of your gloved hands and roll it between your palms. Don't squeeze it.
   Just roll as if you were making a round ball from dough. The ball will start felting (fibers interlocking and combining together).
9. Dunk it back into the hot water occasionally to keep it hot. Then roll between your palms again.
10. Soon your ball will start hardening (felting together).
11. When you think it is done, plonk it into cold water to finish the felting.
12. Wrap it in some towel to absorb as much water as possible. Do not squeeze it out of shape (unless you want to of course)
13. Put it on some absorbent towel to dry. That's it!!!

Additional Optional Tips

• It does not have to be round. You can make it any shape you want during the pre-felting process. And even after it has felted and while still wet, you can squeeze it into different shapes.
• To make holes (as for beads), after felting, while still wet, poke a hole through with a sharp object (e.g. a long nail)
• To add other colours - you can do this pre-felting as well as after the first felting. Just add different coloured wool roving in twirls or swirls.
  You can also do this after the initial ball is felted. Just add your other colours and felt again. (Dunk in hot water, etc. etc.)
• You can embellish (sew or glue on) your felted balls after it has dried - e.g. beads, crystals, buttons, metallic yarn, ribbons
• It does take a long time to dry!!