Wet Felted Eggs and a Chick

I had purchased a bag of wool roving from Etsy, last fall to try some wet felting. I made a few acorns that I wasn't impressed with. I decided to give it another try when I saw how a tutorial on wet felted  Easter Eggs from here. It was a lot of fun, and I love how they turned out. They would be a lot of fun for older children to make, but my three year old wouldn't have the patience to complete it. This is a how I created mine.

First I decided on what color wool roving I wanted to use.  This is a bag of miscellaneous size pieces and colors of wool. It is perfect for little craft projects like this. I also taped the opening and the little holes in the end of a plastic Easter egg as to keep the water from collecting inside the egg and it taking forever to dry.

Next, I loosely wrapped the roving around the egg like a burrito. Try to fluff the wool and not have any thick edges. Then it was time to dunk it into some warm soapy water. (You can use dish soap or hand soap) The wool feels like a loose mess, I really thought it wasn't going to work. I gently rotated an it from hand to hand and after a few minutes the wool began to take shape. I guess gentleness is the key in this step, so your eggs doesn't turn out with lots of visible creases in the wool.  I dunked it again in the warm water and gently began to squeeze, while still turning the egg. After a few minutes you will feel the wool fibers tightening and becoming more solid.

At this stage, I dunked it on cold water. This shocks the fibers and makes the felting process stronger. I alternated between cold and warm for a few times till all the soap was rinsed out and the felting process felt complete. There seems to be no exact science to wet felting, everyone seems to do it a little differently. I was happy with my results.

After I did the two eggs I decided I need a chick to go inside. I found this tutorial and loosely followed it. Here is my little chick.

After my eggs and chick had dried overnight, I added the final embellishments. I cut the plastic eggs out of the wool using a zig-zag pattern to create a cracked egg look. I stitched around the opening with embroidery thread. I am not great at hand sewing.  Once the chick was dry I cut its wings out and added the beak and feet out of orange craft foam and orange embroidery thread. I would have preferred felt, but I didn't have any on hand. I stitched on the eye with black embroidery thread.

One could always add some candy inside the egg or some other treats and have a really cute and unique Easter gift.