How to Make Perfect Felt Wool Beads or Balls

Craft the Perfect Wool Felt Bead or Ball 

A Collection of How-to Tips & Tutorial Links

Perhaps you are an old pro at crafting handmade wool beads or you might be a curious new beginner to the world of feltmaking. Either way, here you'll find my personal tips and links to a few excellent photo tutorials online. 

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First start with my article below to give you an idea of how the process works. It covers information about making both round and rolled (or sushi style) felted wool beads. 

Click here for my 9 best crafting tips on felting beads.

Below you'll find a simple list of things you'll need to wet and/or needle felt so gather those up. Then visit some of the tutorial resource links and get started crafting your own woolly balls. 

BASIC FELTING MATERIALS:

For wet felting techniques: wool roving, warm water, dish soap, a bowl or sink
For needle felting techniques: wool roving, felting needle or multi-needle tool, dense foam or brush base

TUTORIAL RESOURCES ONLINE:

Combo wet and needle felting tutorial by The Zen of Making

Needle felted ball tutorial by Simple Joyful Living

Wet felting tutorial by rosiepink

Free downloadable instructions by Made in Lowell 

Here's an alternative method using pantyhose and your washing machine by Handmade Felt Toys. I've made all sizes of felt balls many times using this technique. To get a more uniform shape, I needle felt them first into a loose round shape, then insert them into the hose and tie them tightly in place. This method doesn't always get the most perfect shaped result so be forewarned. It is a great way to make many, many felt beads in bulk quantities though.

Also, I wanted to mention that the wet felting technique for making wool balls is a great project for kids too. To make it even easier for very small children, use some pantyhose to insert the wound wool roving as in the washing machine method above and let them felt with their hands instead. Felt balls make great little animals when sewn together that the kids can decorate. Check out this adorable catepillar by JulietK as an inspirational example.

If you are at a loss as to what to make with your newly made beads, check out my flickr photo gallery for some ideas. Happy Felting!

Do have some sweet tips of your own or questions about the process? 
Please share in the comments or get in touch with me directly.

Looks like a watercolor paiting and little candy rolls to me - my recent nuno felted scarf creations

This is another one of those "I just had to share" moments. I took a few collage photos of my most recent nuno felted scarves. I thought that they looked like a bright, abstract watercolor painting in one and little candy or sushi rolls in the other. This is my silly interpretation of them, but it does make the photos more interesting (I think).


Nuno felting, or laminated felt, is the combining of silk or another fabric and wool. This is a new technique for me, although it has been around for years. I have a slightly different method for it than the one provided in the link above, but there are usually several roads to the same result when it comes to feltmaking or any other fiber art. You eventually just make a technique your own by developing your own style and the process of creation to achieve good results.

I didn't think that I would enjoy nuno felting so very much, but I really do! I had hesitated to try it since I had many other felting projects going on. I am very glad that I decided to branch out though and plan to develop more nuno felted pieces over time. As you can see, I'm already putting it to good use for some scarves in my Fall line of fashion accessories.

If you'd like to learn more about the process of nuno felting or laminated felt, here are a few instructional links to explore:
How to make nuno felt (on Rey Reynold's blog)
Nuno felt a purse (video on YouTube)
Nuno Felt (on kneek's blog)

You can also just do an internet search for "nuno felting" or "laminated felt" to find many more resources on the web.