A wonderful Waldorf teacher introduced one of our team members to these gorgeous felted snowdrops. She spent a few days lovingly showing and helping the children make them in preparation for Imbolc. To celebrate the arrival of spring they head outside with the children, to wake up the flowers by ringing the little bells.
Imbolc is also called Brigid's Day and is a Gaelic traditional festival marking the beginning of spring. It is largely observed in the Northern Hemisphere on 1 February, or about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.
The word Imbolc means 'in the belly'. A just visible, barely showing, pregnancy. It is the promise of renewal, of hidden potential, of the earth waking up and life-force stirring. Imbolc is hope - where we welcome growth, the returning light and natures rebirth.
We have prepared a video tutorial for these gorgeous snowdrops, along with the written tutorial below. We hope you and your little ones can enjoy welcoming spring with them ... or simply enjoy making and admiring them.
Below you will also find a step by step photo tutorial.
Materials
- Wool roving - white and a little bit of green
- Bar of soap
- Warm water
- Cold Water
- Wooden Bead
- Scissors
- String/Cotton/Thread
- Small Bell
- Needle
- Towel
Setting up
Gather all your supplies and have a towel or two nearby for drying your hands and surface as you start felting.
Prepare a bowl of warm water and keep a kettle of hot water close by for topping up the bowl of water if needed. Also prepare a bowl of cold water for setting the felted fibres later on.
Step 1:
Roll the bead in some wool roving.
Add a little bit of warm water and soap and start rolling it gently in your hands. You are working toward creating a nice firm texture that will hold its shape. Little hands love helping during this stage.
When the roving wool starts to feel firm, do a little pinch test to see if it pulls away easily or is holding strong in position.
When the little ball feels nice and firm, rinse it in cold water for the fibres to set.
Then, dry your felted ball with a towel.
Step 2:
Carefully use little scissors to snip a cross shape through the "top" of your felted ball. Remember you have a bead inside, so don't cut too deep!
Once you've snipped a cross, remove the bead from inside.
Step 3:
Next, thread your needle with some string. Now pull your string through the base of your flower, then through the little bell and back out the bottom of your flower. Your bell should be nestled inside the hollow base of your snowdrop.
Step 4:
Before removing your needle, first take your little bit of green roving and roll it a little, into a small ball.
Then, insert your needle and thread into the little green ball. Position it snugly on the bottom of your flower base.
Step 5:
Lastly, join the ends of your string to create a hanging loop as long as you desire. Now admire your cute little snowdrop and get ready to welcome spring and wake up wee flowers.
We'd love to see what you make, so please join us in the Twig + Tale Facebook Group, a friendly place to ask questions, look for inspiration, and share photos of your projects!
Come and find us on Instagram too - we love seeing your images in our stream. https://www.instagram.com/twigandtale/
