Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Hollyhock Doll Tutorial

There was a time when every little girl knew how to make a hollyhock doll.  I remember making them and holding hollyhock doll dancing parties in my backyard.  I especially love the turbans they wear.  When I took Little Frida on her walk, I noticed the hollyhocks were in bloom, so I snapped off some blossoms to make dolls. The finished dolly is only three inches tall and only lasts for the day you make it.  (Side note; in the old days, country folks would plant hollyhocks on the side of their outhouses.  That way, when ladies came to visit in the summer time, they wouldn't have to ask the mortifying question "Where is your privy?")

Materials:  One hollyhock blossom about half-way bloomed, one bud with some color just peeking out, some tiny fern-y leaves if you want your dolly to have arms 

Equipment:  None for a basic model, scissors and tweezers for a fancy doll with arms

 

Peel away the sepals (I think that's the right word) from the bud.

Using scissors, trim away the green stem.  If you were to stick to tradition, you'd pinch this part off with your fingernails.

Slip the bud onto the other blossom.  With gentle pressure, it should fit very nicely.  If you are making these out in your backyard, your dolly is finished.  If you want a fancy doll with arms, continue reading.

Take some tiny, fern-like leaves, maybe an inch and a half long.

Take the scissors and make slits where you want to insert the arms.

Use tweezers to insert the arms.

Make enough to have a party.  The one on the right looks like an opera singer.  We'll put her in charge of entertainment!

Felted Solar System

This is a really fun wet-felted project.  It would be a nice science fair project to make with a child.  I've had success doing this with groups of 15 children, each making thier own planet.  The key to working with larger groups is to give a few reminders to work slowly and gently with the wool when they first start to felt.

Materials:  Styrofoam planet kit (I bought mine at a Michael's store.)  It comes with 10 styrofoam balls sized to suit the planets, and two styrofoam rings - one for Saturn, one for a stand which goes under the Sun.  The kit also has wires to assemble the project.)  You will also need  wool roving in a variety of colors with which to cover the planets, the rings and the sun.

Equipment: Warm water to which a squirt of liquid soap has been added.  Access to a sink. Terry cloth towel, 12" length from the leg of pantyhose.

Method: Before you begin, look at the directions on the side of the box the kit comes in.  It will give the order in which the planets are arranged and some color ideas.  I also looked up some images of the planets on the internet.  Armed with this information, choose a color and pick up one of the styrofoam balls and wrap the wool roving around it.  The styrofoam has a texture which makes it fairly easy to make the fiber stick.  Wrap in the manner of  winding a ball of yarn.  Two or three thin layers is sufficient.  Dip this shape into the warm, soapy water.  Gently, gently toss this ball from hand to hand for about a minute.  This is the only tricky part of the project.  If you are too vigorous at this point, you will get a lumpy "brain" texture instead of the nice, smooth surface you want to achieve.

When you feel the wool has started to felt, you can begin to roll the ball between your palms, in the manner of rolling cookie dough.  When you are pleased with the smoothness of the surface, take it to the sink and rinse using alternating hot and cold rinses.  This rinses out the soap and causes the wool to "full" (that is what the slight hardening of the felt is called). Blot the wet planet on a towel and allow to dry. Here are before-and-after pictures of some Mars:

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (I still consider it to be a planet, thankyouverymuch) are made like this, in solid colors of your choice.

I created Earth (haha) with blue and green wool. The larger planets - Saturn, Jupiter along with the Sun, require an extra step.  Wrap the styrofoam with the color or colors of your choice.  Looking at color images on the internet gave me some good ideas for colors and patterns which would best depict the individual plantes.  After the wool is placed on the styrofoam, use a portion of pantyhose leg to secure the wool on the ball.  This is much more easily done with two people.  One person stretches the section of pantyhose (which has been knotted to form a pouch) leg wide open and the other person carefully places the wool-covered styrofoam ball, endeavoring to keep the wool in place as it goes in.  Make a knot to enclose the ball, taking care that the knot is not too tight to undo later.

Dip this nylon-covered ball in soapy water and rub with your hands for three or four minutes.  After this, you will notice that some of the fiber starts to "migrate" out of the nylon.  At this point, untie the nylon stocking and carefully peel it away from the wool.  Dip the now uncovered ball into the soapy water and continue to rub until you are happy with the surface texture.  At the sink, rinse with alternate hot and cold water as above. More before and after Jupiter pictures:

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I just happened to have a lovely stripey roving to make the rings for Saturn.  I realize that they aren't exactly in the correct placement that the real rings are in, I'm happy with the effect.  The wool is wrapped round and round, as is the stand that holds the Sun.  They are felted in the same manner as the planets.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I lost the styrofoam ball which was supposed to be Venus.  I used pink roving to make a solid wool sphere.  I was a little careless when I felted it.  The result was the dreaded "brain".  The rippled look is still O.K. for a planet.

Consult the box for the final assembly instructions.  If you have any trouble remembering the order of the planets, use this mneumonic device - My Very Educated Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pizzas.

P.S. Jupiter turned out to be my favorite. 

Memorial Day Felt Poppy Tutorial

When I was a girl, there were veterans selling poppies to commemorate Memorial Day.  I haven't seen any for sale in quite a few years, so in the spirit of remembering our fallen heroes, here is a felt poppy how-to.

Materials: Small amount or black and red wool fleece, liquid soap, thread, pin back

Equipment: Bowl to hold water, sewing needle, 2" styrofoam ball, scissors, access to a sink

Method;  Take the black wool fleece and form a small ball in the manner of winding a small ball of yarn.  Dip this ball into the soapy water and toss the ball gently from hand to hand for a minute or two.  Do not handle the ball too vigorously at this point or you will get a lumpy brain instead of the felted bead you want to achieve. When the wool has felted, you can start to roll the ball between your palms like when you are forming cookies.  Rinse the ball at the sink alternating hot and cold water.  Set this aside.

Now take the red fleece and wrap the styrofoam ball, again in the manner of winding a ball of yarn.  This is fairly easy to do because the styrofoam has a texture which grabs the wool.  You want to end up with three thin layers of wool on the ball.  Dip this in soapy water and, like the black fleece ball, toss from hand to hand for a minute or two.  When the wool seems to have felted, you can roll the ball between your palms.

Take your scissors and cut around the "equator" of the ball.  Gently peel the two halves from the styrofoam.  Cut the black bead in half.

Now affix the black bead to the red felt circle.  You can use a needle and thread or, alternately use tacky glue. Sew or glue a pinback to the reverse side. If you'd prefer a five petal poppy, snip five times evenly spaced around the circle.  What's nice about this project is that you end up with two poppies - one to wear and one to share.

Wool Bunny

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Here's a sweet little spring bunny made with wool fleece and pom pom makers.  There is a small amount of wet felting involved, too, in making the ears, eyes and nose.  There is a tradition of making pompom animals in Europe and South America. This little critter is made in that tradition.  School-aged children can make this if given help with the sharp scissors and the sewing parts.

Materials: Less than an ounce of bunny-colored fleece, small amount of black for eyes and pink for nose, sewing thread and yarn to match body color (not pictured)

Equipment:  pompom makers from the craft store (read the directions that come with the forms, you will be using wool fleece instead of yarn, but the technique is the same), sharp scissors, a 3" doll making needle, a sewing needle, warm water with a squirt of liquid soap, a 12" square of bubble wrap (not pictured) and access to a sink.

Method: Divide your bunny-colored fleece.  You will need one-third of it for the body, one third for the head and tail pompoms and one-third for the wet-felted ears. Take the fleece for the body and split it in two.  Cover each half of the largest pompom form with the fleece.  Take the time to cover the form evenly.  Clip the two sections of the pompom form together and use the scissors to cut the fleece as indicated.  Cut an 18" length of the yarn and tie the center of the pompom with several knots.  What a pretty pompom!

Using the next size smaller and the smallest size of the plastic forms, make two more pompoms.  Leave yarn tails long so they can be used to tie the pompoms together.  Tie the head and body together, thread the yarn in the long doll making needle and run the yarn tails through the body.  Now take these four strands of yarn and tie the tail pompom on.  Make the knots sturdy.  The trick here is to have the pompoms tied together tightly enough to look like a bunny, but not tight enough to make it too bunched up.  Trim the yarn tails so they are not visible. Use the scissors to trim the bunny flat.

Now it is time for wet felting.  You will need to make a small sheet of felt to make the ears and wool beads for the eyes and nose. Take the bubble wrap and lay out some wool with the fibers laying north to south.  The next layer is East to West.  Repeat these layers.  I laid out six layers in all.  Sprinkle the fleece with warm soapy water.  Pat the wool to insure that it is wet, but not dripping.  Lay another layer of bubble wrap over your now-wet wool and rub.  The bubble wrap causes just enough friction to cause the wool to felt.  After just a bit, your fleece should turn into felt.  When you are sure that it will hold together, take it top a sink and rinse it, alternating hot and cold water.  You should feel the wool get harder when you do this.  Blot off the water with a towel.  Let dry.

Make the wet-felted beads for the nose and eyes.  Take some fleece and form a little ball, like winding yarn into a ball.  Dip this into soapy water and roll it between your palms, in the manner of making cookies.  The wool should form a ball the size of a small marble.  For the nose, roll the bead in such a way that an ellipse shape is formed.  The eyes should be round.  Cut ear shapes from the flat felt.  Sew the ears, eyes and nose into place.  As you stitch, make sure you go deeply enough into the pompom to have the stitch run through the center of the pompom in order to secure the sewn-on parts.

Happy Spring!

This Chick is Easy

Here's a little wet-felted chick just in time for Easter.

Materials needed:  Less than half an ounce of suitably colored wool roving, orange felt ( I only had rayon felt on hand) size 6/0 glass beads for the eyes. Small amount of liquid soap.

Equipment needed: Needle, thread, strong, sharp scissors which can snip all the way to the end of the points, warm water and a bowl in which to hold it.

Tale a piece of the wool and roll it into an egg shape.  Dip this into the warm water into which you have added a squirt of liquid soap.  After it is wet, take some more wool and wrap it around loosely, almost like making a ball of yarn.

Dip this into the water again so it is wet, but not dripping. Toss this little ball from hand to hand for a minute or two in order to start the felting process.  This is the trickiest part of the project. If you rub it or handle it too vigorously your shape will turn into a felted brain with ripples and convolutions.  The aimhere is to have a smooth oval shape.  After you fell a felted "skin" has formed, you can handle the shape more, rolling it between your palms.  After a little bit, you can start to roll the shape in order to form a neck.  The shape should start to get smaller and harder.  You will end up with a chick shape after just a few minutes.  Take it to a sink and rinse out the soap by running hot and cold water alternately.  You will feel the wool get firmer as you do this.  Squeeze out the water and roll and form the shape back into the chick shape.  

From the orange felt, cut a diamond-shaped beak and a triangle with a notch in it for the feet.  Insert a threaded needle in the back if the neck and bring the point out where you want to attach the beak.  Give the thread a gentle tug to make the knot disappear.  It only takes one stitch to sew on the beak.  Run the needle back to where it entered.  Now insert the needle and have it come out where you want the feet to be sewn on.  That takes only five or so stitches.  Knot the thread and cut it.  Thread the needle with black thread and sew on the beads for the eyes.  Create  a little tension so the beads sink into the felt.

Now for the wings.  Don't call PETA!  Figure out where you want the wings.  Take your scissors and snip to create the chick's wings.  You're done!