Stabbing my Fingers All in a Day's Work

If you know me well enough, you know that nail polish is a waste of time for me.  My hands are forever caked with paint or clay, my palms regularly in a state of fresh cut or newly scabbed from furiously cutting glass for my fused glass jewelry, and now I can say I've got tiny little prick marks all over my fingers.  I wear my messy, wounded hands with pride, as to me, it's a sure sign I've been delightfully creative!

My son and I started our first felting project today.  When we were at the Maker's Faire, we were entranced with a booth which had the cutest little egg men made of the colored wool.  We purchased a kit ($18 for 2 needles, instructions, squishy base, and wool)  and eagerly began the process.   We began with choosing our base color for the egg and rolling it into a loose ball.  Then, we took the two felting needles that came with the kit and attached them to a wine cork for "double-the-poking."  We took turns poking away at the wool while the needles entangled the threads and made the wool denser. We shaped as we went, trying to get a thick oval shape. Not as easy as it sounds, but my standards are low, so we did our best!

It was when we started to get the smaller pieces with the eyeballs that things got painful.  As we poked away, we started to gain confidence and pick up speed.  Next thing you know, we are both bleeding from the fingers and out come the bandaids!

The entire egg probably took about 40 minutes or so, broken up into two parts as we took a break from it to heal our chubby digits.  LOVE IT!  I can't wait to do the next one, and I love the fact I found a cool craft my son enjoys as much as I do!

"Edgar"

A giant felted rat from Maker's Faire