Friday 15 October 2010

How to make felt beads tutorial

Now don't get me wrong, I am no felt pro...not yet anyway. I first got into making felt because I was looking for how to make felt beads on the internet.

I did find out how to make felt beads in the end using the tried old method of rolling a sausage of fleece till it begins to stiffen then to cut it up into even size portions and roll them into beads that way.

But I have developed a new technique which i find less finicky and I can make beads whilst sitting in front of the telly. So I can watch the X Factor guilt free! Excellent!

Step one:

If you have any old projects that you don't like any more, some felt that came out too thick or too fuzzy and all those little scaps of half felt left over from cutting out shapes for other projects, don't throw them away! Cut them into tiny pieces like below.


When i'm working in front of the TV I like to have a bar of veggie soap in a bowl with a dash of water and a paint brush handy to wet and add the essential soap to my bead



Take a small amount of the cut up fluff and place it in the palm of your hand.



Wet your brush and rub it over the bar of soap like you would a shaving brush, then dampen the fluff on both sides.



Then genlty and slowly begin to roll the bead between your hands to form a ball. Do not apply too much pressure or speed at this time, the bead will need a little time to start to bond together properly.



Continue to roll, in no time the bead will start to feel a little more solid, now start to layer some fine bits of fleece over the bead in your chosen colour.



Do bare in mind that what ever colour your bits of fluff are will effect the final colour of your bead, depending on how many layers of fleece you lay over the top.



Continue to layer your fine fleece over the bead and roll it in, applying more pressure and speed. If you apply too much pressure and speed too soon this makes the bead separate into sections. If this happens don't worry you just layer the fleece over the splits and roll gently.



When the bead has been well covered and feels firm it's time to rinse your bead. Rinse under warm water, squeeze the bead between your palms and repeat until no more soap is squeezed out. Roll to give the shape back to your bead then set aside to dry.

The great thing about this way of making beads is that you have no waste!

I hope this was helpful please let me know if it was.

3 comments:

Laura said...

Thank you! I can't wait to try this!

Unknown said...

I hope it works for you laura!

Mixed Kreations said...

Such a pretty bead and so perfectly round. Will have to try this. Just want to let you know that I am sharing a short post and picture with a link back to your very nice tutorial from my blog. You can find it here
Mixed Kreations
Hope you have a wonderful day.
Linda