Little Felted Chick

Being the season of new life we decided to create a sweet little baby chick.

This craft is a wonderful introduction to felting. These chicks whip up quick and are a very do-able activity even for little hands. If you have never wet felted before this process will delight you! It is wonderful how easily the wool felts beneath your fingers. 

To create you will need:

yellow wool roving

orange and black felt

glue

wooden or plastic egg

soap 

hot water

To begin:

If you are using a plastic egg fill it partially with dried rice or beans and seal it with duct tape.

If you are using a wooden egg it's ready to be used as is.

Wrap your egg tightly in thin layers of roving. Be sure to

alternate the direction of the layers with each new one added, until your egg is fully covered. 

 You want you egg to be hiding completely in the wool with no bare spots. Don't worry how bulky it looks. The wool will shrink a lot during the felting process.

If you are doing this next part with little hands, I recommend popping the wrapped egg into a (cut off) foot of a pair of nylons and tie a knot at the top. This keeps it all together and keeps it from sliding apart.

 Now it's time to felt all that wool together!

Squirt a good squeeze of dish soap onto your egg and dip it in a bowl a very warm water.

Begin to gently squeeze and pat your wool egg, dipping it into the water after every few squeezes or so. Go about this with care as the wool will shift easily. 

After about a minute of agitating the wool by rubbing and squeezing it,  you will feel the fibers knit together nicely and the egg shrink.

Once it feels fairly tight, run it under cold water to shock it and get the soap out. 

Let it dry and it should be good to go!

Cut out two small circles for the eyes, a diamond for the beak and two little feet out of felt.

Attach them with glue and admire your sweet little chick!

I think she made herself a new friend.

Have a wonderful day!