By Show Me Step by StepPublished
Based on a video by Shayda Campbell.
Felt acorns are one of the easiest ways to try needle felting. You roll a little wool into a ball, firm it up with a barbed needle, and glue it into a real acorn cap from the yard. Shayda Campbell shows the whole thing in under five minutes on her YouTube channel. Her finished acorns fill a bowl on the coffee table in deep green, cranberry, cream and soft grey. They also hang on the tree.
Pick up caps on a fall walk. Oak trees drop plenty in September and October, and the caps often sit apart from the nuts. Look for whole caps with no cracks. Some still have a little stem, which is handy for tying on a hanger. Shake out any dirt, rinse them, and let them dry on a tray for a few days. A low oven (about 200F for an hour) dries them faster and kills any bugs hiding inside. No oaks nearby? Craft stores and online shops sell bags of caps.
Roving is wool that has been cleaned, dyed and combed but not spun into yarn. That loose, fluffy texture is what lets the fibers tangle. Any color works. Natural browns and greys look like real acorns, while jewel tones look festive. A small bag of mixed colors makes dozens of acorns.
A felting needle has tiny barbs along the tip. Each jab drags fibers down and knots them together, so the ball gets smaller and firmer. A 36 or 38 gauge needle is a good all rounder for this project.
Felting needles are very sharp and barbed, and a poke hurts. Shayda holds the ball in her fingers, but a foam felting pad under your work is safer while you learn. Stab straight in and straight out, keep your eyes on the needle, and wear leather finger guards if you have them. Grandchildren can help pick caps and colors and do the gluing with a low temperature glue gun. Keep the needles for grown ups.
A finished ball feels hard when you squeeze it. It does not squish, and most of the loose fibers lie flat. Expect the ball to shrink to about a third of its starting size. Start with more wool than you think you need. It is easier to felt a ball down than to build one up.
New to this craft? How to needle felt covers the basics in more depth. Pair your acorns with a Thanksgiving centerpiece or a pinecone wreath, and hang them next to pinecone Christmas ornaments on the tree.
10 steps · about 5 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Your felt acorns start with real acorn caps. Gather a handful on a walk in the woods or under an oak tree in the park. Pick caps that are whole and dry, in a few different sizes. Shayda likes the ones that still have a little stem on top, because those make the cutest ornaments. Rinse off any dirt and let the caps dry completely before you start.
Tip
Bake damp caps on a tray at about 200F for an hour to dry them and drive out bugs.
Pick a color of wool roving. Roving is unspun wool, so it pulls apart easily in soft tufts. Grab a piece about the size of your palm and tease it off the main bundle with your fingers. Do not cut it. Torn ends blend into the ball much more smoothly. The tuft will look far too big, but felting shrinks it a lot.
Tip
Natural grey and brown look like real acorns. Deep green and cranberry look festive.
Roll the roving up on itself, tucking the edges in as you go. Keep it as tight as you can. If the ball is getting too big, pull a little wool off the end. You can also roll it between your palms to round it out. Hold on to it once it is rolled, because a loose ball springs back open fast.
Tip
A tighter roll means less jabbing later, so squeeze firmly as you go.
Hold the ball and start jabbing it with your felting needle. Go straight in and straight out. The barbs on the needle grab the fibers and tangle them together. Turn the ball a little after every few jabs so you work every side. It starts fluffy and soft, then slowly begins to firm up. Work over a foam felting pad if you can.
Tip
Never twist or bend the needle in the wool. That is how felting needles snap.
Set the acorn cap on top of the ball to check the size. At this stage the ball will be much wider than the cap, and that is normal. Felting tangles and condenses the fibers, so the ball keeps shrinking the longer you work it. Use the cap as your guide and check the fit every couple of minutes from here on.
Tip
Keep each cap paired with its own ball, since caps vary a lot in size.
Keep jabbing and rolling the ball. Shayda spends several more minutes on this part. The ball gets smaller, rounder and harder as you go. It is done when it sits snugly in the cap and feels firm when you squeeze it, not soft and squishy. Most of the loose fibers will lie flat on the surface by now.
Tip
Ball too small? Wrap a wisp of roving around it and felt it in.
Even a well felted ball has a few stray fibers sticking out. Give it a little haircut with a pair of small, sharp scissors. Snip close to the surface and turn the ball as you go. This tidies the shape and makes the color look richer. Make a few balls in different colors before you move on to gluing.
Tip
Embroidery scissors with short, pointed blades give the cleanest trim.
Heat up your hot glue gun. Hold the acorn cap upside down in your fingers and squeeze a good blob of glue into the hollow. Fill most of the inside so the ball has plenty to grip. Pull off any glue strings before you add the ball. Work one acorn at a time, since hot glue sets fast.
Tip
A low temperature glue gun is kinder to fingers and still holds wool well.
Push the felted ball into the glued cap and hold it for a few seconds. Hot glue and raw wool bond almost instantly and the join is close to permanent. Wipe away any glue that squeezes out at the edge. If you like, you can felt the bottom into a point now for a more classic acorn shape. Shayda keeps hers round.
Tip
Line the cap's stem up with the top of the ball so the acorn sits straight.
Your felt acorns are done. To make an ornament, tie a loop of twine around the stems of two acorns, or glue the twine ends into the caps. Hang them on the tree or a cabinet knob. Shayda also likes them loose, piled in a bowl with pine cones and greenery as touchable coffee table decor.
Tip
Make a batch in fall colors now and add red and green ones for Christmas.
Keep going
How to Smooth Cut Glass Edges by Hand With Wet Sandpaper
How to Make Felt Acorns With Real Acorn Caps
E6000
E6000 Craft Adhesive, Clear (3.7 oz)
The industrial-strength craft glue that bonds glass, wood, ceramic, metal, fabric, and concrete. The one adhesive most craft projects reach for.
OLFA
OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat
The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.
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