Kids Crafts: Felted Fairy Dolls (Waldorf-style)

Last year, Nana initiated us into felting. I've made a few felted items on and off for hobby since then. Wet Felting as well as Needle Felting.

With a limited budget to splurge on crafts/arts supplies, it seems a bit out of my range to buy good quality wool for my felting projects. Thanks to Nana, I had a stash of beautiful soft merino wool roving in wonderful colors to start with. And, since Fabric Depot has sale on and off, I manage to find enough to fit my frugal allowance and my urge to create hand-made things for family and friends.

Anyway, Nana gave Ana a Waldorf-style wool doll she bought from her friend to aid in a fund-raising drive to save Amur Leopards. Ana liked it so much that we decided to make some for ourselves, hoping that if we got good enough at it, we would try to have our own fund-raising drive for causes dear to our hearts... but, that is a long dream. For now.

I made a few and let Ana watch. Then, when she felt ready, I let her help me make a couple. I still supervise Ana closely for needle-felting. The head is a needle-felted woolen ball. The rest of the doll is simply wrapping up wool roving and tying with wisps of wool or thread or ribbons.



In Waldorf-style, we left the facial features out. It might feel a bit disconcerting for some, but, kids seem to accept it and appreciate it more easily, in general. I did add in the features for some later on to see if we liked it better.



If a few of the fairies look jaundiced, it's because the nearest color I had to flesh tone (dark or light) was this mild yellow wool roving. I didn't have undyed merino enough to custom dye it myself. After all, fairies (and people) come in all colors, so I wasn't too concerned.

The best part for Ana was of course the hair. It had to be long. Really long. And have some hair accessories.



We named each of the fairies. This is Gwanwyn, the Springtime fairy. She makes sure blossoms bloom in spring time. She loves to visit the gardens everywhere. You might find her in yours if you time it just right!



Here is Gwanwyn with bright eyes and a wide smile.



Here's Grisial, the Crystal Fairy (blue). She makes sure rocks have sparkling quartz and chalcedony inside, making the geodes special for anyone who finds them. And, Berl, the Gemstone Fairy (orange). She watches over minerals and other rocks that humans like to make into jewelry.



Of course, a fairy is not a fairy unless she has wings. So, I wet-felted just a couple of layers of wool and cut it into wings and needle-felted it in place.

For some of them, I used Pipe Cleaner (Chenille stem) skeleton to build around, especially if I wanted posable arms. Others seem more like scarecrow with no support structure inside and just wool roving tied up to represent long fluffy sleeves.