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Felt Beads

By: Candie Cooper

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Materials Needed
Felt Beads:
- 1oz ball of wool roving
- bowl of warm water with a drop of dish soap
- dish soap
- hand towel
- mini scale (optional)

Embellishing the Beads:
- strong sewing thread
- small needle
- seed beads
- scissors

Stringing the Beads:
- Beadalon®49 strand flexible beading wire
- large upholstery needle
- Beadalon® flat nose pliers
- jewelry findings (i.e. clasps)

Felting:
1. Tear off a small piece of wool from the ball. Weigh each piece of wool if you want consistent sized beads. Use 1-2 g. of wool per bead.
2. Lay the piece of wool out flat in front of you. Begin rolling a tight coil/ball shape by tucking in the bottom two corners towards the center and roll over. Continue tucking the sides in as you roll.
3. Grasp the sides of the coil with your middle finger and thumb to keep the tight coil shape.
4. Dip the wool into the bowl of soapy water until it is completely saturated. Do not let go of the wool!
5. Add a small drop of dish soap to the wool and then with your other hand smooth the soap over the surface in the same direction that you originally rolled the wool.
6. Add some small drops of dish soap to the sides of the wool coil and continue smoothing the soap over the surface by turning the coil between your fingers. The surface fibers must be locked into place to hold the core shape. This step usually takes approximately 2 minutes.
7. Switch to rolling the ball between your palms. At first the ball will feel soft and squishy, but as you continue rolling it will shrink and harden. 1 bead takes approximately 10 minutes from start to finish.
8. Once the ball reaches your desired size, rinse it in cold water to remove the soap and allow to dry.

Embellishing with Seed Beads:
1. Anchor the sewing thread on the felt bead with 2 small stitches and one back stitch.
2. String one seed bead on the needle.
3. Stitch the needle back down through the ball and have it come out where you want the next seed bead to be.
4. Once you are finished with your design, anchor the thread in the same fashion as when you started.

Stringing:
1. Make a kink in the beading wire approximately 1 inch from the end of the wire for the large upholstery needle to sit.
2. Find the center of the felt bead and carefully twist the felt ball onto the needle.
3. Pull the needle and wire through the felt bead. If you have trouble, use flat nose pliers to grasp the needle and gently pull the wire through.
4. Finish the ends of the wire with desired clasps and crimp beads.

 

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