Wednesday, May 16, 2012

DIY How to make city style felted bracelet

I have recently received beautiful wooden beads as a gift. They are of a cylinder shape and dark tan color. I don't have anything like that in my beads collection and I felt instantly inspired to create a summer themed piece of jewelry or a light and bright accessory using these beads.

The color combination of pure white and brown is my favorite. Accessories in white and dark chocolate look stylish and classy. They go well with business or casual outfits.



To create a bracelet we will need felting wool in white and brown and wooden beads. We will also need a piece of bubbled plastic wrap paper, soap and clear water.



I first start with felting a white bracelet. On a bubble wrap piece of paper I lay out pieces of wool to form a rectangle. The rectangle will later turn into the bracelet. Since the wool will shrink I make the rectangle about 30% bigger that the original size.

Once the rectangle is formed I wet it with clear water and add soap. Once the piece is all wet and soapy I cover it with the rest of bubble plastic paper and start the process of felting. I stroke and rub the plastic helping wool fibers to bind and felt.

When the wool has felted well I rinse my bracelet in clear water and let it dry completely. With a piece of brown wool I make a felted bead by rolling a wetted and soapy piece of brown wool between my palms.

Once my bracelet is ready I needle down brown wooden beads. The color of wooden beads matches the color of the brown felted bead nicely!



The bracelet turned out to be very soft, thin and light. It's made of all natural materials and is very pleasant to wear. The felting technique is very eco-friendly as to felt an item one just needs some water and a bit of soap. No chemicals are used in the process of felting. To wear the bracelet one simply has to fasten the brown button.