OK, so now that you've gathered your goods let's make a felt ball or 2. After you have you wool snake (see yesterday's post) you have to rip up the fluff into smaller pieces and fluff it up more so it will go into the futte futte cup better and it will also felt better.
*Fluffed wool in 1 half of the futte futte*
Put the other half of the futte futte on then dunk the whole thing in your SUPER SCALDING HOT tub of soapy water. This is where reading the japanese directions may come in handy. My interpretation is that you have to stir the water with the futte futte. (it's not for the waters sake but for the felting process.) For the 1st ball I "stirred" the water for about 2min.
Then remove from the water, this is where it's nice to be outside if you can. Shake that thing, and shake it! In my dream world (why I ordered the futte futte in the first place) you would be done. Sadly, you are from from it. Re-dip in HOT water, stir, shake, dip, stir, shake, dip, stir, shake, so on and so on.
*My 1st ball midway through the process*
It took me about 15 min. to achieve a ball I was happy with (green ball in the last picture). I changed my approach slightly with the 2nd ball.*Red/yellow roving snake for 2nd ball*
I used a bit more roving (which makes a bigger ball) and did the whole dip, stir, shake in a fast progression. It didn't cut down on the time or how much stirring and shaking had to be done.
I used a bit more roving (which makes a bigger ball) and did the whole dip, stir, shake in a fast progression. It didn't cut down on the time or how much stirring and shaking had to be done.*2 finished felt balls (2nd attempt on the left)*
All in all the Futte Futte Felt Ball Shaker makes nice balls and totally saves your hands from the hot water, but I don't think it's any faster or better then doing it by hand (aside from not burning your hands off, which I admit is a huge plus). I guess I thought it would take less time. My main motivation in getting the futte futte was to make some christmas garland ("popcorn" and "cranberries") because my 1st string took me a million hours and I didn't even make it that long. I didn't do it though because I lost my motivation when I realized that my time would not be saved.
All in all the Futte Futte Felt Ball Shaker makes nice balls and totally saves your hands from the hot water, but I don't think it's any faster or better then doing it by hand (aside from not burning your hands off, which I admit is a huge plus). I guess I thought it would take less time. My main motivation in getting the futte futte was to make some christmas garland ("popcorn" and "cranberries") because my 1st string took me a million hours and I didn't even make it that long. I didn't do it though because I lost my motivation when I realized that my time would not be saved. It's totally possible I'm doing something wrong as I do not read Japanese. I tried translating the page in google but it didn't really help. If you have any tips or tricks please share. I'd love to hear them! I'll keep working on it too.
HAPPY SHAKING!
