Felt jewellery
Print instructions & templates
Fashion a bobbly bracelet or a novel necklace with colourful woollen felt balls you've made yourself.
You will need:
combed, unspun wool
liquid soap
embroidery needle
toothpick
bowl with hot water
a towel
wool or string
A long long time ago, Zoe was walking across a hot and sandy desert. "Come on, you lot!" she said to her camel train. Only another two days of walking and they'd be at Paradise Oasis.
On and on went the sand - hotter and hotter burnt the sun. Zoe was hot and thirsty and tired and felt a bit like a sausage in a fry-pan. Any minute now she would start to sizzle! Her shoes were rubbing against her sore feet and she could feel the blisters on her toes. If only there was someone to complain to, but the camels just kept plodding on and didn't seem interested.
Suddenly Zoe had a bright idea she grabbed a handful of loose hair off the closest camel and stuffed it into her shoes to make some soft padding. "That feels better!" She wiggled her toes and kept walking...
Hours went by; her feet were still hot and sweaty, and they rubbed back and forth on the camel hair in her shoes as she walked and walked and walked...
That night as she sat by her campfire toasting Turkish delight, she took off her shoes and to her surprise, the handfuls of camel hair had matted together over the day and turned into pieces of sweaty foot felt! Zoe had created fabric without weaving or knotting - what a great discovery.
From the Powerhouse Museum's collection:
This beautiful piece of jewellery is a wedding necklace from Nepal, known as a 'hara'. The pendants on the necklace include carved ivory, animal teeth, shells, nuts, coloured glass, semi-precious stones, coins and tokens.
Take a closer look.
Come and visit the Powerhouse Museum's exhibition Inspired to see lots of other fabulous jewellery.
Step by step:
1. Take a handful of wool and roll it into a loose ball. Make sure you have enough - the wool will shrink to less that half its size by the time you are finished.
2. Submerge your ball into a container of hot water (not too hot!) then gently squeeze out the excess water.
3. Put soap on your hands, then roll the ball very gently round and round. (If you roll too hard, your ball will be lumpy.) Your ball will get harder and smaller.
4. When the ball cools, dip it in hot water again, squishing gently so water gets inside. Add soap to your hands and keep rolling, a bit more firmly each time.
5. When your ball has shrunk and is hard, rinse all the soap out in cold water. Get an adult to poke a hole through the centre using the needle.
6. When the felt balls are completely dry, thread them on beading string or coloured wool. Tie a knot on either side of each ball to space them apart.
