How to make a lot of felt balls at one time

If you're like me, the fun went out of hand-rolling balls around the tenth ball.  And getting a needle through them took an awl and a pair of pliers.

So I came up with this method.  It lets you make a lot of balls quickly, and they are soft enough to push a needle through with your bare hands.  You still have to spend the time rolling your fiber into good pre-balls.  If your fiber balls are cock-eyed, your balls will be too.  Make your life easier by rolling your fiber like a ball of yarn.  Rotate your ball while you roll it so you don't end up with an egg roll, which will give you an egg-shaped ball.


You'll need two styrofoam egg cartons, tops and side flaps removed.  Or one carton that you fold in half.  Puncture the bottom of each egg cup. Keep the lid hand for setting your carton on to catch spills.

















Place a rolled ball into each egg cup.
(You might be thinking, "Wow, that fiber looks like crap!"  Well-spotted! because it is! and I have a ton of it.  It's alpaca thirds--can you believe it?  Like I said: crap.   Felt balls are about all I've come up with to do with it.  I'll get to how to evaluate your fiber for different uses at another time.)

Place your second carton on top of your first, or fold you carton in half if you're using just one. You can also use the lid in this stage if you want to.
















Submerge the carton in hot soapy water. Let it sit for about a minute.

Then take it from the water and shake it in the sink side-to-side 5 times. (It will spray water.) Rotate the carton a quarter turn and do it again.  Do this for four turns.

Don't over-shake at this point!  You are getting the balls into their basic shape and it's important to shape them from all directions before you get too energetic.

Take the lid off and fold in any wandering fibers.

Replace the lid (you have to use the egg carton now), turn it all over, and soak in the water again.  Repeat the steps above.

Now add an up-and-down shake (like maracas) to your sequence.












Repeat your sequence a few times, just until you have formed your balls. They should be bouncing in the egg cups by now.  They will be large and soft.  Check that they have felted on the outside: that's what matters.  (To check for felting, use a pinch test: pinch a bit of the outside between your fingers. If it pulls apart, you're not ready.  If you pinch up a piece of felt, you're done.  This is NOT the normal pinch test!  We'll get to that some other time.)












Gently squeeze the hot water out of each ball and place them in cold water to shock them.


















Put your pre-felted balls into a basket and continue making balls until you have as many as you want.  Remember to keep your hot water HOT and soapy and your cold COLD. You can keep your pre-balls at this stage for a long time.  If you aren't going to finish them within a few days, spread them on a towel to air-dry so they don't get funky.

When you're ready to finish:

Soak all the balls in hot water for a few seconds.  Let the excess water drain off, them put them in the COLD dryer and run them on air only (no heat!) for about a minute. Then take them out.

This is your chance to snip off any tails and correct any eggs. Pinch your eggs between your thumb and finger on the pointy ends and rub them hard for about ten seconds. This is to encourage the fibers inside to work together in that direction. It might work, it might not.  At least you've tried.  And what are a few eggs when you're getting so many done at once?? You'll find a use for them.

Put everything back in the dryer and run on HOT for half an hour.  When you hear them bouncing, they're done! if you want them to be. Now they're soft and felted.  If you want them smaller, soak them in hot water and run them in the dryer some more.  The more you felt them, the smaller and HARDER they will get.  If you want smaller balls, you might be better off just rolling smaller felt pre-balls and doing another batch.