MATERIALS LIST
Selection of wool roving or 'tops'
warm soapy water (dish soap works well)
bowl
a towel
SKILL RATING
This is a really easy, fun thing to try with kids. It's messy, and wet, but it's clean mess!
1. Fill your bowl with warm soapy water and clear a space to work in, maybe put the towel down so things don't get too wet.
2. Pull a length of roving out, roughly 20cm in length and tease it out to flatten it a bit. Lay it down on the towel and sprinkle a bit of the soapy water into the fibres so it's damp but not too wet. This bit of roving can be all one colour or you can overlay layers of different colours. Next, scoop up the damp roving and start to squidge it in your hands into a ball shape. Now, start rolling the ball around gently, between your hands, you can add more soapy water if it feels too dry or squeeze it out if it's too wet.
3. Keep rolling and rolling until you feel it start to solidify or 'felt'. You can add more roving as you go if it's too small, or even start with a much bigger piece depending on what size balls you want to make. Once a ball is formed, leave to completely dry, and that's pretty much it.
Small balls can be used as beads to make jewellery, larger ones can have eyes and antenae added to make toy bugs and insects.