DIY Felted Stones

Post by Rebecca of Not So SAHM

Making felted stones was pretty high up on our summer bucket list, but despite having all the supplies in hand, we just didn’t get around to making it happen. But I’m so glad we finally pulled it together because everyone absolutely loved both the project and the result. There is something about the interplay between the hardness of the stones and the fragile softness of the wool roving that makes for an incredibly interesting process. And don’t be intimated — we aren’t super experienced in textile crafts, but this was really quite easy for the kids to do with a little adult supervision.

Here’s what you’ll need to make our DIY felted stones:

• Wool roving for wet felting (we purchased ours online here) — an ounce of a few colors each is plenty to make more than a dozen stones
• Smooth river stones — you want to pick stones that are about the size of your child’s palm and without rough edges
• A piece of tulle (we had a roll of tulle netting, so that’s what we used; but, a square shape would be the easiest. The tulle isn’t necessary, but it helps protect the fragile roving until you get a good felt going)
• Bowl of hot soapy water (use dish soap liberally — we found the more suds, the easier it was to felt)
• Cool water, to rinse

First, have your kiddos help pull tufts of roving a few inches longer than your rock. Lay them in a row just slightly wider than the width of your rock. Repeat layering in an alternating criss-cross pattern layer by layer. Three to four layers worked well for us. You can work with one color or mix a few together — we tried both!

Submerge the wrapped stone into the bowl of hot soapy water and hold it there until it stops bubbling. Remove it from the water and carefully start packing the wool around the stone, pressing and turning as if you were packing a snow ball. If the wool starts to get dry, dip it back into water and continue. Check periodically to make sure that your tulle isn’t getting incorporated into the wool.

You’ll see that the wool starts to felt together, but still looks a little lumpy and uneven. That means you need to roll it back up in the tulle and keep packing.

When the wool fibers appears to have a good hold on each other and the covering has evened out, you are ready to start the rubbing process. Keeping the stone wrapped in tulle, dip it back into the soapy water. Remove it and squeeze out some of the excess water. Start rubbing the stone back and forth in your hands — just like you’d rub a bar of soap. Continue to rub, flipping it around to get an even felt. Once it feels less fragile (you’ll get a good sense of this by the second or third stone you make), you can remove the tulle and simply rub the felted stone in your hand.

You want to continue for about 5 – 10 minutes, re-submerging it when it starts to dry out. Once you feel like it’s sufficiently felted, rinse it in a bowl of cold water or under running cold water for a bit. Squeeze gently and then place it on a paper towel to dry overnight.

Thanks to The Land of Nod for the Plush-a-Saurs and Quartz Floor Bin!

Rebecca is a mom to two young kiddos and, in her spare time (ha!), likes to pretend she’s a back-up dancer, craft cocktails, and run long distances. A relatively recent SAHM, she blogs family-friendly activities, DIYs and celebration fun at Not-So-SAHM.