Recently, felting - wool felting, has become a very popular hobby for both children and adults. Using wet or dry felting techniques, you can make a toy of any shape, color and size. It all depends only on your imagination.
Instructions
Step 1
You can buy wool for felting at a specialty art store. It is packed in small bags of 100 - 200 grams. Such wool is completely ready to work with it and does not require any additional preparation. Its advantages are that it has a huge variety of colors, as well as a pleasant texture that allows you to felle a high quality toy. However, such wool is not cheap.
Step 2
If you want to save money, buy wool from the market. But in order to start fooling out of it, you will need to carry out additional processing. Wash and dry the coat well. If it is not combed out, short and coarse hairs may fall out of it during washing. To avoid blocking the drain, never machine wash your wool. When hand washing, wrap the wool in gauze. You can paint the material by dipping it in pre-diluted food paint.
Step 3
For felting using the wet felting technique, in addition to wool, you will need soap (preferably liquid), hot water, a base for the frame (cardboard or plastic is suitable), beads, paints, pastels. Getting started, draw a blank of your future toy on cardboard. Then cut it out, wrap it in a thin plastic bag and carefully wrap it with tape so that the cardboard does not spoil the wool when it gets wet.
Step 4
Divide the wool into thin long fibers and wrap the carcass well in different directions. Rinse the resulting product thoroughly in your hands, tangling the fibers. Soak your future toy in hot soapy water. Start gently, but do not crush every detail with your hands. When you feel the toy is getting harder, rinse it under running water and then dip it back into the soapy water. The concentration of the soap should be higher. Start crushing harder. Be sure to iron the joints of the parts with your hands to make the toy stronger.
Step 5
After you have felled the toy, make a small cut in the torso and remove the frame. Wrap the product in a towel and let it dry. Stuff the toy with padding polyester and sew up the incision. Embroider the eyes and nose, mark the blush with pastels or acrylics.
Step 6
If you want to dry felted the toy, you will need felting needles (# 70-90 for the beginning, and smaller # 40-30 for finishing). Also use a thick and large sponge. Divide the wool into several fibers - for the body, head, legs, ears. Roll a ball from each piece in your hands. Place the ball on the sponge and start poking it evenly with the felting needle.
Step 7
To keep the legs and ears the same, play them at the same time, constantly comparing. When the details are ready, take a thin needle and weld them together, covering the joints with thin strips of wool. Sew on the nose and eyes, they can be made of plastic or beads.
