Here's a quick and easy way of making some pretty felted Easter eggs. I wrapped a layer of wool roving around a styrofoam egg. The egg will give you a nice uniform shape and you’ll use less roving than if you felted the whole thing out of wool.
Materials needed:
wool roving in spring colors
styrofoam eggs
soap (I used dish soap)
old clean towel
bowl
access to hot and cold water ( I actually worked at my kitchen sink)
Start by fluffing out the roving and pulling out wisps of roving. Lay the wisp of roving on your work surface to make a mat of wool.
Lay the roving both horizontal and vertical to make an even mat, wider than the egg and about three times longer than the width of the egg.
Carefully roll the wool around the egg and fold in the side pieces, keeping the wool taut.
The wool fibers will be loose.
Next fill your bowl or sink basin with hot water and add a couple of drops of soap.
Gently dribble the hot water over the egg until all of the wool is wet. Move the wet egg back and forth from hand to hand, like playing catch. Handle the egg gently until the fibers start to pull together. Resist actually squeezing the wool around the egg at this point so that you don't get any wrinkles in the wool.
Add a drop of soap to your hands and continue to handle the egg until the wool starts to hold together more firmly. Now you can add a little more pressure to get the fibers to bind firmly around the egg. Once the egg is firmly felted, rinse under very cold water to set the fibers.
Lay the wet eggs on an old clean towel to dry. (Use an old towel in case some dye rubs off of the roving.)
You can make a whole batch of colorful eggs without using very much roving.
(note: if you can't find egg shaped Styrofoam at your craft store, I found these on Amazon.com.)
Happy felting!
