We had an incredible journey into the land of wool! Students were so excited to felt that the were standing while I gave directions. (Mind you it was at 8:00 in the morning!)
A couple of weeks ago my other teaching partner and I went to our local fiber arts fair. This is a great place to get dyed wool and roving pretty inexpensive and locally grown! I met a wonderful person who raises sheep right down the road and I plan on using her for more purchases. We are even trying to get our transportation director to raise a couple of sheep so we can have more wool.
You just have to tell the fiber artists that you are an art teacher and they will spill the beans on an easy way to felt with kids. LOL 1st, I tried the bubble-wrap method. It worked pretty well, but then I stumbled across the zip-lock bag method. Totally awesome. Check out this website for great directions!
http://kleas.typepad.com/kleas/2007/05/tutorialfelting.html
Ok, enough of my side stories, the students were told the process of how the roving was prepared then we went to town. Following Kleas directions, the students pulled their wool created their designs. I gently put them into the ziplock bags, added hot soapy water and then they pinched and smashed to their delight! When I rinsed the finished felted projects they just slid right out onto each child's tray. So here they are! it was all the rage! Everyone wants to felt now! It was such a fun day! Just Awesome!
Butterfly
Flower
Heart
Waterllily
Very nice! I've wanted to try a project with felted wool and just haven't gotten to it. It just might be the boost I need at this time of year. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSo nice - BUT - I am allergic to wool, so no felting for me. Any problems with kids with wool allergies?
ReplyDeleteHi!! and THANK YOU for sending me a message so I could be sure and see these beautiful pieces that your students made. i am so thrilled you had success with this project (not everyone does...i believe they use wool that is not meant for wet felting). I am about to revisit this project myself with my preschool class to make their gift for mother's day.
ReplyDeletei am completely smitten with the water lily. they did great!!
Kristin,
ReplyDeleteWe were told the best for wet felting is icelandic. Some of our wool is Merino - not the best. I have various kinds- the ones the fiber artists sell dirt cheap- if it did not felt as well I then needle punched it a couple of times. ;) But almost all did extremely well for their first time.
Phyl, no problems with kiddos yet, The beauty of using a ziplock bag is they barely touch the wool. All the felting is contained in the bag. The roving is so fine that there was no itching. I told them to really think out their design first. I wanted to start simple but some went very detailed. Then they chose their wool.
I love this! I am not an art teacher, but I think I will try this with my kindergarten class. Thank you!!!!
ReplyDeleteMrs. Wills Kindergarten
Great lesson! We do wet or needle felt in our class almost every year and kids love it! It's so different than they are used to.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny,I just finished watching a video on the process of finishing a felt wall hanging Liinalommi. Hard work and a long process.
ReplyDeleteYour students did an amazing job.The colors are beautiful.
The Flower is my favorite.
Wow!!! These are great. I've been wanting to try felting with my class for a long time now - maybe you gave me the push to jump into it!
ReplyDeleteWe love using felt, the form of the waterlily is extremely good! :)
ReplyDeleteI love this project! I would like to take your class this day because I have no idea or enough gumption to start felting.
ReplyDeleteActually just picked up some felting books from the library today! Apparently felting is on the mind for art teachers at the end of the year! I was surprised how versatile felt is. One of the books I got had methods for teaching felting to young children printed in the back... I can't think of the title and author right now but I'll put up a post on my blog tomorrow with more info. Happy felting!
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