How to Make Felt Beads

Although you can buy a variety of colorful beads at your local bead store, sometimes it's fun to try your hand at making your own. One of the quickest and the easiest way to make beautiful beads in a variety of colors is to use the technique of felting. To make felt beads, all you need is lose, unspun wool known as wool roving, dishwashing liquid, and a needle to make the hole in the bead. Here how to make felt beads.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wool roving in the colors of your choice Dishwashing liquid Ice cubes Two metal pans A long needle Make felt beads: Gather your supplies

1. Gather your supplies.
   
   Wool roving is usually sold on cards at stores that carry weaving supplies. If you don't have one locally, there are various sites online where you can buy it in a variety of colors. The long needle is used to make a hole in the felt bead so it can be strung. The remainder of the supplies you probably already have in your home.

2. Prepare a pan of detergent water.
   
   Add a tablespoon of dishwashing liquid to one of your metal pans. Heat water on the stove until it reaches around 180 degrees Farenheit. Pour this into the metal pan until it's about half full. In your second metal pan, add a layer of ice cubes along the bottom followed by ice water until the pan is half full.

3. Prepare your wool roving.
   
   Pull off a section of wool roving from the card and dip it quickly into the warm water. Since the water is almost to the boiling point, do this quickly without coming into contact with the water with your skin.

4. Shape your bead.
   
   Now that your wool roving is wet, start shaping it into a round bead shape by rolling it between the palms of your hand. You'll notice some shrinkage of the wool so the resulting bead will be smaller. Keep forming it until it forms a nice bead shape. Immediately dip it into the cold water and continue rolling it between your palms. Repeat the process, alternating between warm and cold water until the bead feels firm.

5. Allow the bead to dry.
   
   Allow your bead to dry at room temperature. When dry, use your long needle to pierce the felt to create a hole from one end to the other for stringing.

Tips & Warnings

• By choosing shades of wool that match your clothing, you can make felt beads for all of the clothing in your closet. You can take this process a step further by dyeing your own wool roving to create custom colors. You can also decorate the finished beads with paints and other embellishments to turn them in to one-of-a-kind works of art.