Felted Rainbow Rocks

The girls recently returned from a visit with their Oma and Opa with these beautiful, smooth river rocks.

We have wanted to try felting rocks and these ones felt just perfect ~ so we gave it a go!

Creating the felted rocks turned out to be easier than I expected and the results were lovely. 

They have such a nice weight and feel... thinking would make great gifts for little ones (or big ones ;). 

To create you will need

Rocks

Wool roving

Felting needle (optional)

Hot water

Soap 

~ To begin ~

Pull off a chunk of roving that is about three times the length of your rock.

Tear it into strips.

 Lay the strips side by side ~ slightly overlapping them. 

Pull off another chunk of roving and tear into strips. 

Lay the strips on top, going the other direction.

Be sure your layers are thick enough so that none of your rock will peek through.

Put your rock at the bottom of the roving and begin rolling it up...

folding in the sides as you go.

Soon your rock will look something like this.

Take your felting needle and poke it into the roving, focusing on places where it is loosest.

This part of the process isn't necessary, but seems to help keep it from falling apart when it hits the water.

Give your roving wrapped rock a generous squirt of dish soap and 

immerse into hot hot soapy water.

Gently toss between your hands, dipping back into the water and tossing some more.

After it seems to be holding together fairly well, begin to rub (and as my daughter says "pet") your rock, adding more soap and water as needed.

Finally when the felt feels tight and smooth (it seems to take about ten minutes or so), rinse it under cold water.

 Then lay it out in the sun to dry.

There you have it!

Our new little rainbow rocks found their way to our gnome home

and seem to find many other imaginative homes throughout the day!

"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

                                                    The lovers, the dreamers and me
                                      La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa".

With Love

~ Shanti ~