Redbear Farms

This year at Redbear Farms we celebrated Michaelmas by making felt balls.  These felt balls represented falling stars during this time of year when we are asked to imbue ourselves with courage.  We decorated them with ribbon and other things and dyed them with marigolds!  The kids of loved this and is appropriate for all ages.

To make the felt balls, take a smooth stone about the size of your hand and wrap it in carded raw sheep's wool.  Then with soap and hot water (as hot as you can stand without burning yourself) begin the felting process by gently patting and shaping the ball.  As it begins to felt you can rub it more vigorously, but it is important not to rub too vigorously too soon as this can cause misshapen clumps to form.  Add more wool if it isn't thick enough as you go along.  Once it has felted, rinse off soap with warm water.

Next, before you harvest the marigolds, soak the felt balls in water with alum and cream of tartar overnight  I use about a tbsp of each per large bowl of water.  Harvest about a gallon bucket full of marigolds and put into a large stainless steel pot with water.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.  As the water boils, you can work on sewing a long ribbon to your ball (squeeze all the water out first!) and other things such as a bell, or buttons, or patches.  When the dye is ready, dip the ball holding onto the ribbon into the pot, and voila - you have a golden felt ball!