so far its been mentioned in some posts that that is how you make the felted eggs - but how do you do it?

sorry if this is an old question!

:) easy.. just wet and messy :) and fun!

i could explain, but the easiest directions I have found are here:
http://mielkesfarm.com/felt_soap.htm

it's all about felting around soap, but it's the exact same concept. I use electical tape to close the opening of the plastic egg first, so it doesn't open in the middle of felting and ruin it all ;)

thanks for the directions! quick question - since plastic doesnt lather (lol) do i need to add soap? is that important to the felting process?

yes, soap :) what I do is get one bowl of hot soapy water, one of cold soapy water. I wrap my egg as shown in the pictures and drizzsle hot water until it gets the skin it talks about, then slowly rotate and squeeze, until it gets firmer, adding soapy water as needed... when it starts to firm up, I dip it back and forth in hot and cold to speed the process along :)

thanks!!!! i may actually try this tonite!

I totally stink at wet felting, but really want to try to make an egg. I am going to try this tonight when the kiddos are in bed.

See, wet felting and I don't jive. Plus I am lazy and want instant gratification. I wrap the eggs in layers of batting (one layer one way, one layer the next) until I get the thickness I want, pop them in a pair of tights, tie like a sausage and move on to the next egg until I have a whole "leg" filled. Then I put it in the washer with some soap and hot water and wash. Pop the whole thing in the dryer to dry and you get a slew of eggs. I dyed them with koolaid since I don't have any other dyes.
Sure, this isn't exactly Waldorfy but heck, I get my eggs!

See, that's why I love you Heather! That will totally work for me!! LOL! THAT'S what I will be trying tonight ;)

Just make sure when you put the eggs in the stocking that the wool doesn't slip around. Also, be sure to get the sausage link tight (don't leave space between the egg and knot) or the wool can slip and you get bald spots and thin spaces.
I totally admit to being a lazy crafter. I sewed my wedding dress in a day (including drafting the pattern). If a project takes more than a day, it isn't worth it to me. This is why I will never be a quilter!

Okay I am really embarassed to ask but do you remove the plastic egg from the inside :confused:

i use a little pair of scissors to cut a slit just large enough to get the plastic egg out. You can always make it bigger if you want afterward. Youi can cut the slit around the center like the plastic egg is hinged, lengthwise to make a box or kind of cut the top in a "broken egg" fashion and then you can have a little chick or something peeking out.

Don't worry about being embarassed! I have asked some pretty stupid questions and otherwise you wouldn't have known. You can also just leave the egg in there and put a bell in it before you felt it, kind of like a cat toy.

Thank you so much for your help :) now if I can just find some carded wool. I think I will make some phone calls to local craft stores this afternoon. This sounds like a fun project :)

I just noticed you are in PA. I got my wool batting from West Earl Woolen Mill in PA. I live in CT and ordered on a Thursday afternoon and it was here by 5 on Friday. The number is here on the board someplace becasue I posted about their quickness. It was really cheap compared to other places and has so many other uses for toys, dolls, wool balls, etc.

Cool~I found the address for it and it is about 50 minutes from here. I am half way tempted to go out there this weekend and make a day of it in Lancaster with the kids.
Do you have any idea how much is needed to do one egg? Then I will multiply that for however many the kids want to do. I have never done anything with wool before. I might want to make a few balls too. Would I just ask for carded wool? I don't know the difference between carded wool, wool roving, wool batting lol. Or are they all basically the same? If there is somewhere else I should be asking these questions, just let me know :thumbsup:

I am really new to wool and had no money so I got batting and it was fine. $5.25 a pound I think and they sell it in batts of 1, 2 or 2.5 pounds so I got 5 pounds so I wouldn't have to order again any time soon. You could do a lot with 5 pounds! It doesn't take much wool to make the eggs or the balls but I would personally buy as much as you can afford to right now because you will become addicted :muaha:

I made some this evening and I'm so excited! I started with just one, and the wool slipped and I had a big hole, so that first egg is going to be half an egg shell and I will needle felt a little chick to put inside. For the rest of them, to make sure that the wool didn't slip off, I needle felted the wool as I put it around the egg. I made 4 eggs and while I was making the fifth, the top of the egg slipped through the wool and made a hole. It looked like a baby bunting, so I needle felted around the hole to make it stronger but left the hole - when that one is done, I am going to put a wooden bead in the hole with a sleeping baby face on it to make a little baby for the nature table too. They are all in the dryer now; I can't wait to have them finished!

Great thread...I think we will do this and then koolaid dip dye them instead of "real" egg dyeing this year. Can you do it that way?

And it must be time for bed because I read the thread title as, "How do you FEEL around a plastic egg?" and I was very confused. :tee:

I used both koolaid and egg dyes. The Paas kit has 9 colors so it is pretty economical. I plan to buy a bunch of the dyes after Easter when they clearance them.