How To Needle Felt A Wool Bead

Hello all, I thought I would make a post about how I make a wool bead :) First I will start off saying that I am awful at taking pictures, so I will add new ones when my hubby can take them, but for now these will have to do :)

First I start off with some wonderful wool roving, This one pictured is from a wonderful fiber artist on http://www.etsy.com/ TheArtsatEaglesFind, she has a wonderful quality wool that is so very nice for felting. I will feature more fiber on my blog soon!!!

Next a pull a little bit of the roving off. I use a thin section that is about 22 inches long, that I then bend in half with the two ends touching.

Next I take the piece of doubled wool roving and roll it between my hands, like you would when playing with clay to make a long rod. This felts the wool too, and makes it a little easier to work with.

Now I like to lie a felted wool sweater onto the table, so that I have a large surface to work on. I use a 38 guage all purpose felting needle to make beads.

Next I take the end of the wool, and tightly roll it up in a little ball.

This is only about an inch of the wool roving rolled tightly into a ball. Now I take my felting need in my right hand while holding the little ball of wool in my left. I lie the little ball of wool on the sweater and start felting. This is a process of moving the needle up and down through the wool. The needle has tiny barbs on it that catch the wool on the in and out and cause it to kinda tangle all together.


I continue to wrap the little ball of wool with the remaining "tail of wool" and continue felting it to itself. Remember to hold tight, so that when you are finished you end up with a nice solid bead.

When you get to the end of the roving strip it will be all over the place!!! I just hold the little pieces back with my finger and felt slowly!!!!

Hopefully when I am all done I have a wonderfully tight felted little wool ball that will make a perfect bead!!!!

The size of bead that you end up with will depend on the type of wool you use, how tightly you hold the wool, and how much wool you use.

Day Two

Here it is day two, and I open my blog to find that I have been tagged by Kris from http://www.paintedkreations4u.blogspot.com/ Well lets see if I can't give it a go

HMMMM? 5 Things that someone might not know about me?

1. Okay this one I thought was just an early pregnancy craving when I was pregnant with my ds, but it turns out. . . Im just a little weird. I love . . . apple slices dipped in mushed avacado.

2. I stop and pick up turtles out of the road and move them to the other side. And have caused traffic jams in doing so.

3. I recycle toilet paper tubes.

4. my husband would kill me for writing this one. . . but. . I wear sexy underware. . . everyday. (It's good to be a girl!!!!)

5. I alway have to close the cupboards, always . . . even if I am just going to open them again in seconds. I have to close them, and I will close other peoples!!!

Now the hard part will be to tag others. I will come back and edit this so everyone knows who got tagged.

If you have been tagged, you need to write on your blog. . . 5 things someone may not know about you and then it is your job to tag five people who have not yet been tagged!!! Good Luck!!!

1. Jan at http://www.coffeyhousecollection.blogspot.com/
2. Tammy at http://www.rockriverstiches.blogspot.com/
3. Allani at http://www.messy-art.blogspot.com/
4. www.izile.blogspot.com
5. Ashley at www.wollypollydoodle.bogspot.com

Welcome To Wyatt's Magic Wagon ~ Where Imagination Comes to Life!!!

Blogging is a new adventure for me, so please bear with me as I learn the ins and outs and the do's and don'ts!!!

I guess to start, I should introduce myself. My name is Mandy, I grew up and live in the Midwest. I married my high school sweet~heart, and I have one, wonderful three year old little boy. I am a stay at home, work at home momma. Academically, I am a certified Reflexologist, and Herbal Consultant.

I am an artist, I love just about any medium, wether it be painting, sewing, or sculpting. I love to alter art, mostly vintage photos, but I will try just about anything!!! I would have to say my most requested items are my super wooly sheep and my goblins and elves!!! Oh and I just love working with wool!!!! Felting is very close to my heart, so organic, so amazing to watch it form into something (more on that later, this is supposed to me an introduction!!!)

I have a website http://www.wyattsmagicwagon.com/, and I also sell my things on Etsy at http://www.wyattsmagicwagon.etsy.com/, and on ebay under the seller id wyattsmagicwagon. On Etsy I belong to a wonderful group of very talented artists called Old Farmhouse Gathering, so if you venture that way, please type OFG into the search, we really are an amazingly talented group if I do say so myself!!!

My mom has just started a boutique on Etsy too. She is also an artist. Right now she does a TON of custom orders for childrens clothing, her feedback numbers are low because she is new to Etsy, but believe me you will NOT be disappointed with her work !!! http://www.auntienoodlehead.etsy.com/


I LOVE being a mom, I know some moms say this, but really I do. I love the good, the bad, and the ugly!!! We plan on homeschooling, Waldorf style!!! (I am sure that I will write tons on Waldorf and what that style means for our family)

Our family is what other people call a "granola" family. Some say crunchy, some say chewy, I think we fall somewhere in the middle.

We recycle, compost, grow organic, eat organic, we cloth diapered our little guy(and still do but only at night, because he has learned to use the toilet durring the day), I breastfed until Wyatt was finished, which ended up being about 18 months. I carried and still cary him in a Moby wrap, (AP is very important to us, but more about that later!!!)

Okay this is why I needed a blog I guess, in my down time I can talk like no one else!!!! Please check back often. This is just the begining!!!!

~Dance in the light of the moon~