Easter is coming up fast and I wanted to add some new decorations to the mix this year. I did some wet felting experiments that involved felting roving around plastic eggs wrapped with duct tape (to kept the wool from slipping off the plastic). I lightly felted the wool around the eggs by hand, then loaded them into a leg cut from an old pair of nylons and tossed them into the washing machine. (Check out this tutorial for all the details.)
The wet felted eggs turned out ok, but I moved on to another felting method that is considerably faster and more appropriate for televised crafting. The nice folks at Styrofoam sent me some foam eggs so I decided to try needle felting fiber onto them using colorful wool roving samples supplied by Rita, owner of Yarn Hollow here in West Michigan. (You can buy a six pack of wool from Rita here.)
Turns out I really dig this speedy needle felting project. The reality is that I don’t have time to patiently felt perfectly shaped eggs from scratch, so applying the felt to the foam egg was a major time saver. It also allowed me to make several eggs with very small amounts of colored roving. (The wet method requires a lot more fiber and takes 10 times longer.)
I used a Pen Style Needle Felting Tool by Clover that I picked up at my local craft store to quickly apply little bits of roving to the foam egg.
To needle felt these eggs, you simply add small amounts of roving and use the felting tool to poke the fibers into the foam until the entire egg is covered.
You can felt an egg within minutes, but it’s important not to rush too much because you want to avoid poking yourself with a barbed felting needle at all costs. It really hurts. Trust me.
Once you get your base color onto the egg, you can add stripes, dots or other fun embellishments to take your Easter eggs to the next level.
You can get a bag of assorted roving from Yarn Hollow by visiting Rita’s studio at 3041 Broadway St. SW in Grandville, Michigan or by e-mailing her.
And here’s a kid-safe egg decorating option for you. The folks at Wikki Stix sent us an egg decorating kit to try and my daughters gave it two thumbs up. These wax coated yarn “stix” adhere to both plastic and real eggs when you apply gentle pressure. While this is marketed for ages 3 and up, the sticks are fun for adults, too. : ) Click here to find out where you can buy a Wikki Stix kit. (The kits retail for $7.50.)
If you’re looking for more Easter ideas including the pattern for the Easter basket pattern shown at the top of this post, a felt bunny and and some super cute chick and bunny egg cozies, check out CraftSanity Magazine Issue 2. (You can download the PDF instantly for $3.99 by clicking the link on the upper left of this page.)
Here is today’s clip from WZZM’s “Take 5 & Company” on the Easter projects
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