In the spirit of the season, Hazel and Merna are going to teach you how to make a felted pumpking lantern. You can make a whole bunch of these woolly jack-o-lanterns at a Halloween party or give them away as gifts.
You will need:
1. A large handful of orange (or any color) wool. Our Corriedale wool roving is sold by a handful of retailers (www.woolpets.com/shop.html) and in the Woolpets Etsy shop. It's lovely to play with and yes, we are biased.
2. felting needle
3. measuring tape or ruler
4. foam pad or sponge
5. a cup warm, soapy water
4. balloon
5. towel
6. tealight candle
Hazel and Merna are going to show you how to make a pile of orange wool into a pumpkin lantern.
Lay wisps of wool in a large circle so that it looks like the spokes on a wheel, overlapping until you have a solid, round base. Hazel and Merna's circle of wool is about 12 inches (30.5 cm) across. You will want to lay the wool out on a foam pad or sponge. Hazel and Merna asked me to leave the foam pad out of their tutorial because it is ugly.
Needle felt all over the surface but just enough to help the fibers stick together. Hazel and Merna figure this is what they will look like when they're older and need canes to help them walk. Merna already has a little limp that gets particularly irksome in the wet winter weather.
Blow up a ballon to the size of a grapefruit.
Place the balloon in the middle of the woolly circle and fold the wool around the balloon.
Pour a little warm, soapy water on the wool-covered balloon.
When the wool is saturated but not drippy, gently rub the surface to begin the felting process. Roll the woolly balloon around in your hands and begin to add pressure as you roll. Not too much pressure at first, or you will have a mess. This part can take some time and practice.
Hazel and Merna spent about 30 minutes rolling, throwing and punching the ball until it was 1/3 its original size. They poped the balloon with their handy canes (ok, felting needles) and pulled it out. Use your hands to pull and shape the wool into a ball shape. If you want the pumpkin to have a firm shell,put a round wooden ball inside of the pumpkin and roll around in your hands for about 5 minutes. This will help firm the wool up even more.
Once you have finished shaping the pumpkin, allow it to dry. Once it's dry, use scissors or a craft knife to cut out a jack-o-lantern face. Go crazy and get creative!
Put in a tealight, light the candle, turn off the lights and voila! Hazel and Merna are proud of their spooky lantern.
Remember to be very careful with your tealight once you have it lit in the pumpkin. Wool is naturally fire resistant but you really don't want to catch it on fire after all of your hard work. Please be careful and use common sense. Or even better, use an led tealight to avoid a fire hazard.
Have fun!
