Other than June 23rd, 1979, the closest to my heart that a wedding has ever been happened on March 9th, 2013 in Aiken•SC it was the marriage ceremony of my first born son Daniel to the love of his life Katie. Since the wedding ceremony and reception is traditionally planned and carried out by the bride and her family, I took on the rehearsal dinner and a couples shower with joy and anticipation!
I had wanted to make felt ball flowers for some time. I was also curious about paper flowers and wondered how I could incorporate them into the mix.
I was very familiar with felt balls from my days working at Ornamentea.
I used 2cm wool felt balls to make a flower that looked much like a Craspedia, commonly called Billy Balls.
this is the look I was going for:
and this is how I did it
photo 1
poke a hole in the felt ball with a very sharp needle • poke ALMOST all the way through but don't ACTUALLY go ALL the way through! this hole is just to get you started
photo 2
the second needle I used was thick and dull • this needle came in a pack of upholstery needles • keep in mind that some of these were sharp but this one needs to be a fat dull needle so that you can create a hole big enough for the stem to go into the felt ball
this time you REALLY do not want to go all the way through the ball
but what you DO want to do is move the thicker needle around in a circular motion to create a bigger hole (see photo 3)
photo 4
dip the end of a floral stem wire in white glue • I used green covered wire stems that I purchased at AC Moore • 12 pieces in a pack for $1.99 • I poured some glue in the bottom of a butter tub, it's easy to use and you can put a lid on it to store it • I bought a gallon of white glue years ago for all my projects • sometimes I need a mixture of 3 parts water to 1 part glue so these butter tubs are handy for that dip about 1/2" of the stem in the glue and immediately insert the stem into the hole (see photo 5)
photo 6
no need to worry about any glue showing on your felt ball as it will dry clear • you can lay them on your work table to dry or stand them in a glass or vase to dry
NOTES
sometimes the green thread on the stem wire will push back as you insert them into the felt ball • no need to worry about that as it can make them look more realistic!
I purchased 100 felt balls in Lemon from a Felt Supplier on Etsy • and don't be fooled by the fact that they came from Poland, the turnaround time was pretty fast.
you'll notice that some of the stems are curled • that's simple!
