Felt Bead Necklaces!
Last week we watched Johnny's two nieces for a few days in a row and instead of plopping them in front of the T.V. we did all kinds of arts and crafts! They had seen my craft room on a previous visit and thought it was the most magical place in the world, so I wasn't surprised when they asked to hang out in there when they arrived. They taught me how to finger knit and then asked me about my pile of roving, and I explained a bit about spinning yarn and felting. They seemed really interested in wet felting so we decided to make felt beads for necklaces.
I only had purple/brown and blue/white but that worked out just fine. We tore off little pieces, got them wet and added a little soap, and rolled them in our hands until they became nice little beads. For the bigger ones we rolled them on a sushi mat for extra friction. We even made flat ones that looked a little like agate with the help of a felting needle.
They finished their beads the next day and did such a good job! This is such a great craft to do with kids of nearly any age because it's super easy but can get quite fancy, and it's just messy enough to be super fun but since it's soap and water cleanup is a breeze.
We dumped out my jars of embroidery thread and they chose colors to thread the beads onto.
I used a huge needle to thread the beads, and since it was a little tough I used the floor for leverage. I didn't let the girls do this part since that needle was super sharp.
They chose gold and silver for the thread and it looked great! I'm thinking about making a little kit to sell in my shop because I was so taken with the necklaces. Check out the finished products:
So much fun! For the rest of the day they started learning crochet, and the next day we sewed little felt sandwiches and turned them into necklaces and bracelets, plus they chose pieces from my stash for me to make into fascinators for them. They are so creative and I just let them run amok and was amazed at what they could do. Needless to say my office was a complete mess afterwards, I really wish I had taken a photo. If that doesn't count as a proper christening I don't know what will!
Awesome idea. If I skewered the balls with a knitting needle or kebab skewer and then dried them do you think that would work? or would they fall apart? My kids would love to make these and they could thread if the holes were premade.
ReplyDeleteThat would totally work, but I think you'd actually have to felt the beads around the stick, which makes them a little more difficult for smaller hands, at least as round beads. Cylindrical/ cat-eye shaped beads however could be made easily by rolling the wet felt around the stick then rolling it back and forth in their palms or on a sushi mat to felt them. You must have so much fun teaching at a Montessori school!
ReplyDeleteSo cute!! They found a new love...it's Y O U!!
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