I had a set of felted beads that I had made for demos for the book. Since it’s been over a year since I finished them, I thought it would be  good idea to use them for something. I had some barrette findings on hand so all I needed was a backing piece of felt. I did make one piece of felt at my felting retreat and that was it. I cut the felt up into barrette size pieces but it seemed too soft. So I soaked the backing pieces in half water and half white glue and let them dry.

 

So here they all are. I made 8 different barrettes, all slightly different although they all go together since the beads all matched.

 

This is a closer view of a spiral bead. These are made by layering your different colors of wool and then rolling them down. I also used the end bits as I thought it livened up the design a little.

 

I also had a few round beads. The trick to making these beads is using short fiber merino. It works like a charm and even though it’s a bit expensive, it’s worth the extra money. Short fiber merino felts so easily and doesn’t have a lot of hairiness so you get a nice firm bead in no time.

 

The bull’s eye beads are made by rolling up one color in a snake, then adding different color layers until you have as many colors as you want.

 

You can see that the layer underneath just supports the beads. I glued the beads down with a glue made specifically for fabric. It holds very well, dries clear and doesn’t take long to dry.

 

Here’s the back. I glued the barrette finding down as well. I ordered these online and they are the kind made in France which seem to be very reliable.

Do you make felt beads? If so, what do you make from them? I’d love to hear about different ways you’ve used felt beads and do add some photos to Flickr or in the forum if you have some.