Flowers for Free

A three legged dog head-butted me in the face while I was darting through the alley by my house, pruning sheers in hand.  Dharma would say the universe might have been telling me I'm a jerk.  Why?  I had my pruning sheers in hand because I've been collecting massive bouquets of lilacs, growing beside the road, and filling the townhouse with the sweet smell of spring.

I love fresh cut flowers (who doesn't?) but I hate, hate, hate spending the money.  I've read so many articles listing "a vase of fresh flowers" as the cheapest way to spruce up a room but, at $10.00 a pop (and that's Costco prices), with a bouquet lasting a week, maybe two, I can't bring myself to indulge.  I just can't.  I keep doing the math and calculating what kind of fabulousness I can buy if I saved $10.00 a week.  That's why I'm darting around the neighbourhood under the cloak of darkness.  Oh yeah, did I mention I do this at night?

Even with my sore nose (stupid dog), I'm happy.  Because look at all the lilacs . . .

In our bedroom:

 In my office:

 In the kitchen:

In the living room:

I haven't wanted to take them from the tree in our backyard, because I want it to stay all purdy for our view.  That's probably why the universe saw fit to punish me: we have our own lilac tree but I'm thieving them instead (not from anyone's property, though, so I'm not all bad).

And here's the bee I brought in with the lilacs.  Another sign, no doubt. Too bad, universe.  I win.

DIY Felted Wool Ball "Billy Buttons"

While making felted wool beads for my DIY felt wool bead necklace, the yellow wool beads I was felting started to really look like Yellow Craspedia (small, spherical flowers also known as “Billy Buttons” or “Woolly-heads”).  Inspired, I made some extra felted wool balls, pierced them with cloth covered floral wire, and made an arrangement in an inexpensive West Elm vase.  

Read on for my tutorial for making felted wool beads - perfect for so many DIY projects!

My FAUX Craspedia

REAL Craspedia
Via Bloomerism

More REAL Craspedia
Via That Windsome Girl

Supplies:

• Mustard yellow wool roving
• One bowl of hot, hot, hot as you can stand water
• One bowl of cold, cold, cold as you can bear water
• Cloth covered stem wire (I used 20 gauge)
• Dish soap or liquid hand soap

How to Make Felted Wool Balls:

The whole process for one ball should only take a couple minutes.  First, tear off a piece of your wool roving, like you would tear off a piece of cotton candy.  You want ragged ends.  Remember that your wool ball will shrink a bit during the felting process.  Try starting with the same approximate amount of wool I use in the photo below to create a ball the same size as mine.  Real billy buttons are about an inch in diameter.

Next, place a small drop of soap (I have used both hand soap and dish soap successfully) in your dry hands and also rub a tiny bit onto the piece of wool roving.

Then, roughly shape the wool into a ball before dipping it gently in the hot water – you want it a tad wet, not completely drenched.

Very, very gently roll the wool roving between your palms – like you would a clay ball.  At this stage, don’t squish the wool any harder than you would a baby chick.  Then dunk the roughly shaped ball into the cold water (this time you can soak it) and keep rolling. Then dunk the ball into the hot again, then the cold, rolling between dunks.  The change in temperature helps “shock” the wool fibres and is part of the felting process.  Plus, you want to rinse out the soap.

As your ball becomes firmer (and thus smaller), you can apply more pressure.  Your ball is finished when it is firmer to the touch and feels dense.  You can see in the next photo how much smaller my wool ball has become.

Leave the felted wool ball(s) to dry, for 24 to 48 hours.  The dry felted wool ball should have a slight bounce to it when dropped on a counter top.  I recommend making a few as a “test” before diving into mass production.

I've created a second post, with tips for felted wool ball troubleshooting, and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have in the comments below.

Once your felted wool ball is dry, simply pierce it with the end of the floral wire and twist & wiggle the wire into the felted ball until it almost pops out the other side.  Your ball should be dense enough to grip the wire.  I flung my finished “Billy Buttons” around and no felted balls went flying.  If you're nervous, you can always add a dab on clear glue on the end of the wire.  Then bend the wire as you please, making some droopy flowers or more rigid ones.  Bend the wire gently – you don’t want any kinks – just soft bends, the way a flower stem would natural fall.

And, voilà!  DIY felted wool billy buttons, as cute as the real thing!

Over the years, some readers have tried out this tutorial with great success!  Take a look at DIY billy buttons by Max & Me, Go Haus Go, and Dream Green DIY.  I also made a second set, using white wool roving to make faux "dandelions".

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