This year I learned a new technique for wet felting using a ziplock bag.
You need wool roving, ziplock bag (we used a large bag), dish soap and water.
Gently pull the roving apart in small pieces and layer it in your ziplock bag.
Do several layers changing the direction you lay the roving for each layer.
This will be the background of your piece.
Next I had the children choose the colour of roving they each wanted to
use and had them pull a piece apart and place it on the background
colour.
In the pictures above I had them dip their piece of roving in water first,
I won’t do that again as it proved to be unnecessary.
Once all the pieces are in the bag, spray it all with water and squirt some
dish soap in the bag. Seal it and then let the children rub and rub and rub.
Flip it over and keep on rubbing. Pass it around and let everyone have a turn.
As you rub, the agitation, the soap and water helps the wool felt together. Be
sure you rub the edges too otherwise you’ll be able to pull it apart when you
take it out.
As an adult it took me about 15 minutes of constant rubbing to finish the
felting project. So it may take all day with children helping depending on
their interest.
To test if it is finished, open the bag and gently tug on the wool. If it
doesn’t pull apart then it is done but if it does then close bag again and
keep rubbing.
When you think it is finished take it out of the bag and gently rinse it
under running water then lay flat to dry.
This is the only photo I have of the the big group project
(framed on the wall in the top left corner of photo).
