Spot On Needle Felted Beads

Jazz up your jewelry, wardrobe, or scrapbooks with these Spot On Needle Felted Beads. These needle felting instructions from Lindsay Obermeyer are easy to follow...and this is a great way for beginners to fall in love with needle felting!

Materials:

1 package each of Clover's Natural Wool Roving in Chocolate, Mint, Moss Green and Off White
1 Clover Needle Felting Claw & Mat Cleaner
1 Clover Needle Felting Mat (small)
1 Clover Pen Style Needle Felting Tool
1 1" biscuit cutter

Instructions:

Put your biscuit cutter on the mat and press it slightly into the surface to keep it stable. Pull a tuft of the roving . Gently roll it into a ball shape and stuff it into your biscuit cutter.
Using your needle felting tool, begin punching down the roving. Move from the center to the edge of the circle and back. I hold the biscuit cutter with one hand while punching with the other. Once you have a fairly uniform surface, lift up the biscuit cutter and flip it over and felt from the other side using the same process. Continue until the bead is flat like a pancake and about 1/4 inch thick.
Remove the biscuit cutter form. Hold the bead in place with the claw in one hand and continue felting with the tool along the edge of the bead to firm up the sides.
When the bead feels dense and firm, pull a thin tuft of a contrasting color and lay it across the surface.
Remove one of the needles from the needle felting tool. Punch down in the center of the tuft to begin attaching it to the bead. Twirl the tuft of roving around the needle and continue punching it into place.
It will soon form a dot. Continue punching around the edge until the dot it is round and dense.
You now have a bead! You may add another dot to the flip side if you wish.
Glue your new creation on a pin. Thread it onto a cord. Add it to a jacket zipper. There are many possibilities!