Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Craft #10-Day 10-Felted Finger Puppets

Today we set up our materials on the kitchen counter, next to the sink. Carter was thrilled to see a measuring cup full of liquid (dye-free liquid dishwashing detergent) and a bowl to pour it into! He cheerfully added the hot water to the dishwashing detergent and stirred. We picked out the color of felting wool we wanted to use and I attempted to wrap it around his pointer finger....he was not having it. It was time to improvise...I had Carter watch me wrap the felting wool around my finger and dip it into the soapy water. I showed him the finished product. He still was not interested. Back to the drawing board!

I grabbed a stick from our collection and wrapped the wool around it. Carter was happy to dip the stick in the water, however it was very difficult to try to remove the wool. I looked around my kitchen trying to find something to use that was similar in size to his little toddler finger. I opened the cupboard and saw straws! I taped two of the straws together and we were back in business.

While dipping the wool-wrapped straws in the soapy water, we also kept squeezing until the fibers seemed to stick together. The supply list included a washboard. This was not something I had. Again, I searched my kitchen and decided the broiler pan would also do the job. Carter rubbed the wool-wrapped straws back and forth on the metal ridges of the pan to strengthen the felt. After rinsing off the puppet, we set it aside to make more puppets. We placed the puppets in front of a fan to let completely dry for a couple of hours.

Carter and I discussed what animals our felted finger puppets would be. We chose to create a lady bug, butterfly and a lion. I cut out the wings, antennae, and lion mane out of store-bought felt. I did not have fabric glue, so we decided to try out white craft glue and tacky glue.We attempted to use white craft glue to attach the felt on the puppets and it did not hold very well. Tacky glue definetly worked better. I would make sure to have fabric glue next time. I drew on eyes and used some of the black unspun wool for our lady bug spots.

Adventures in the backyard-The Lion, the Ladybug and the Butterfly.














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