Wet Felted Ball Jewelry

Wet felting is a fun way to create some jewelry for yourself or to give as a gift. It’s unique and very green!

Materials:

• Wool roving in assorted colors
• Bowl of clean water
• Liquid dish soap (do not use antibacterial soaps)
• Jewelry findings: eye pins, wire earring, coin bracelet blank, and tools to use
• Fiber or feathery yarn to coordinate with wool roving colors
   

Instructions:

1. Take a small handful of the roving and roll into a ball. How much roving you use will determine how big your finished wool ball will be so experiment with different sizes. The wool balls used to great this jewelry ranged from 1/2" to 2”.
    
2. Drizzle a little liquid dish soap into your water, and then drizzle the wool ball with this soapy water. Begin to roll and toss your wet wool ball in your hands. This movement causes the wool fibers to bond or “felt”. You’ll feel the wool ball become more solid as your play with it in your hands. Balls this small usually felt within a few minutes.
3. Once felted, rinse the balls in clean water and set aside to dry.
    
4. For earrings you’ll need 2 small wool balls. Dip your eye pin into glue then insert into the top of one of your wool balls. Repeat for second ball and then attach wire earring findings to the eye pins. You can also use flat back earring findings to make earrings.
    
5. For bracelet you’ll need five 1/2" balls and six 1/4” balls. Glue the larger balls to the coin blanks on the bracelet. Adhere the smaller balls in between the larger ones.
    
6. For necklace you will roll and felt a 2” ball, as you feel the ball felting you’ll begin to smash the ball flat creating a pendant. Measure out your yarn for necklace size and knot at center. Glue this know to the top of the wool ball pendant. The knot off for necklace.

Learn more about Maria and see her other projects here.