Nature Crafts: How to Make Felted Acorns
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Create colorful home decor using wool roving and acorn caps. This beautiful nature craft is fun to make and adds a great touch to your home. How to make felted acorns!
Winter in New York can be pretty tough. The squirrels are very aware of that. By this time of year, all that is left of the Fall acorns are just the caps. What a great opportunity to create from nature! This is Suzy from Suzy’s Sitcom, and I’d love to share with you my latest project, how to make felted acorns!
On one of my latest walks, I found a huge stash of acorn caps. I’m sure that the acorns were a welcome meal for many of the local animals, who then tossed aside the caps. While they may have not had a use for them, as a hardcore crafter, I immediately saw a craft project waiting for a place to happen.
The result? Felted Wool acorns!
How to make felted wool acorns
This is a simple project using colorful wool roving. Wool roving is a bundle of fiber. Rovings are produced during the process of making spun yarn from wool fleece, raw cotton, or other fibers. Roving’s main use is for spinning, but can also be used for felting.
What you need:
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How to make felted acorns:
1. prepare your work table
Wash and dry all acorn caps before starting. I found an oak tree and then just checked out the ground. Seems that squirrels munch out, then just toss the cap aside. They apparently are not crafters.
If you cannot find acorn caps locally, you can purchase them in bundles at your local craft store.
Prepare a bowl of warm soapy water.
2. Felt the Wool
Why does wool felt?
Wool tends to mat together when it gets wet or agitated. This tendency can be frustrating as in accidental sweater felting, or you can take advantage of this fact and create something amazing! Felt can be shaped, made thicker, cut, and sewn. It lasts for a long time, resists water absorption, and is incredibly versatile.
Begin by tearing off a small piece of wool roving.
3. Create a ball of wool felt
Dip the piece of wool roving into the soapy water. Squeeze it and then begin rolling the wool between your hands, creating a ball. Continue to roll it back and forth between your hands. The ball will begin to become dense as the fibers begin to felt together. Roll it until the ball is as solid as you would like.
If there are some cracks in the ball, pull off a tiny section of roving, spread it apart, and lay it over the cracked section. Wrap any excess roving around the ball, dunk it in the soapy water and continue rolling.
Place the damp felted balls onto a paper towel and allow them to dry overnight. For this project, I used as many colors as I had in order to create a rainbow of colored acorns.
4. add clear coating to the acorn caps
Add a coating of Mod Podge to the acorn caps in order to seal and protect them. Allow the Mod Podge to dry before going to the next step.
5. assemble the felted acorns
Use hot glue to attach the acorn caps to the felted wool.
Create a display of colorful felted acorns! What a beautiful way to show off lovely acorn caps. This nature craft is sure to add a touch of whimsy to your decor.
Love Nature crafts?
If you love to create with nature, SuzysSitcom offers plenty more nature craft projects!
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These are so cute? Where do I find wool roving?
Thanks!
Hi Laurie!
We’re so glad you like this project. You can find wool roving at craft supply stores like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. You can also find it on Amazon and Walmart.
Happy crafting!
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry
Thank you for sharing. Your directions are excellent.
You are so welcome, Donna! We’d love to see photos of how your felted acorns turned out.
Best wishes,
Carrie
Ideas for the Home by Kenarry