Monday, November 24, 2008

felt candy cane tutorial

this is an easy and fast way to make felt candy canes, felting around pipe cleaners to create the shape. no previous felting experience is necessary; this would be a lot of fun for older kids. for younger children, you could wrap the wool around the pipe cleaners and/or get them started, and have the kids do the last steps (roll them in soapy water).

this tutorial, and another tutorial for mini felted stocking ornaments are both included in the holiday felt making kit in my etsy shop, where you can also order felt candy canes.

UPDATE: thanks so much to everyone who has commented, and big thanks to everyone who has linked here. feel free to share this tutorial, i would like to please just ask that you credit me and the felt cafe blog, thank you!~

you will need some pipe cleaners (cut in half) and some wool roving. the amount pictured is about 1/8 of an ounce, which is enough to make at least 2 candy canes. you also need dish soap, hot water, a shallow waterproof dish, and a towel on hand.

take a strip of white wool. starting at one end, wrap the wool tightly around the pipe cleaner.

overlapping the wool, wrap the wool diagonally along the pipe cleaner, working your way to the other end.
make sure to completely cover the end.
wrap back in the other direction, making 2 layers. when you reach the first end, turn around and wrap a final 3rd layer of wool
completed 3 layers of white wool wrapped around half a piper cleaner. if you've wrapped it tightly, it will be easier to felt in the following steps. some unevenness in the layers of wool at this point will not be a problem.
take one strip of red wool roving, about 1 and a half times longer than the white wool wrapped pipe cleaner.
wrap the red wool once or twice around one end.

and then wrap the red strip diagonally along the length of the pipe cleaner, leaving white spaces that are the same width as the red spaces.
wrap the red wool one or two times around the end.
wool wrapping completed.

put a little hot soapy water in a dish, and roll the wool in it. using your fingertips or palms, roll the wool back and forth, as if you were making a clay snake.
the fibers will begin to join together. continue to roll the wool.
you can continue to work the wool: hold the stick in one hand as shown, and close your other hand around it. keeping your hands flat, rub it between your palms. you can keep working the wool as you gradually rinse out the soap.

your felt candy cane will probably have stretched a little past the wire and become longer. if you want flat ends, you can trip them off with a scissors, being careful to cut beyond the end of the wire.
bend to make a candy cane shape.

you can use the same process to make larger or smaller candy canes, or peppermint sticks (just don't bend them), or twist them into a circle for napkin rings or tiny decorative wreaths.

thanks to everyone who has left comments, i love reading them, and i love that you are trying this tutorial and having fun with making felt candy canes.

35 comments:

Gina - RoseThistleArtworks said...

This is so cool! They turn out so great. :D Thanks for sharing this great tutorial!

Anonymous said...

Wayyy cool!!

Ra said...

very nice!

Betz White said...

these are beautiful and so easy, thanks!

jenfromRI said...

What a great idea! Thanks for posting this.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

These are FABULOUS, I love them! I'll be linking.

Lulu said...

very cool, what a great festive instructional....thanks for sharing

Lindsey Cuddeback said...

Oh, this is awesome! Thanks :)

Silvia Gándara said...

Enhorabuena por tu blog tiene cosas maravillosas.
un saludo

Aimee said...

Can't WAIT to make these with my children!!! So So fun!

elena fiore said...

Wow! Many compliments! E' una creazione che fa subito Natale. ...E poi io amo il feltro. Ciao, elena

Companhia dos Miminhos said...

Great Tutorial! I just loved it!
And we can't forget, it's christmas time... ;)

Thank you... i'll try it for sure!

-------

Tutorial fantástico! Simplesmente adorei!
E não nos podemos esqueçer de que estamos no Natal... ;)

Obrigada.... vou experimentar de certeza!

ZaRa, fiELtrO y TuL said...

Woooww!! That's so cool!!!
I'll try to do it!!

Angie said...

This is a fantastic tutorial. I would like to link it to my blog if that's okay with you. Please let me know!

liz said...

angie, you (or anyone else who wishes to) are welcome to link to this tutorial from your blog, of course!! i would love this tutorial to be shared, i'd just appreciate anyone who reposts it to credit me, thank you!

Anonymous said...

oh my!! what a pretty and gorgeous tutorial :D
you should try out our tutorial contest!! we are giving away lots of things, a blog design, artwork from people like annejulie, books, etc :D
Big hugs!!!

Sónia said...

Thanks for sharing!

I've donne it today with my childrean, visite me at http://lojinhadafamilia.blogspot.com/

Have a nice weekend

Sónia

ZenCrafter said...

What a beautiful and simple idea! I'll have to try it with my older kids, though I'm not sure our results will look as professional as yours!

DeerDominique said...

What a great idea! I was wondering about my 2yo and candy on the tree....now I don't have to worry about a spun out toddler AND I can try my hand at felting AND have something awesomely cute on the tree.

Babs said...

Thanks for sharing! Those are adorable. As I'm making all my gifts this year and just happen to have some Kool-aid dyed, bright red wool, guess what I'm going to make! :-)

Babs

Maryjane said...

That is really neat! My 8 year-old daughter and I will be making these! Fun!!

Jody Blue said...

So so cute, thanks for sharing!

craftymama said...

hi there-

i love your felted candy canes! i put a link on my blog to your tutorial. my sister wants to make them next week with her 1st grade class.

glad to discover your blog as i also do work with felt (although not as much as i would like to!)

thanks- i'll be reading!

sarah

♥ maaria said...

These are so cute! I'm not much of a felter but I might try this! Thank you so much for inspiring!

Dot said...

I keep meaning to try felting, this looks like it would be fun!

I ran across your tutorial on flickr, and I've included it in our ornament tutorial roundup on dabbled.org here: http://www.dabbled.org/2008/12/bunches-of-christmas-ornaments-many.html

thanks!
dot

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this tutorial. My daughter had a lot of fun making these. I made her a Christmas Tree dress and she made the ornaments to go on it. She went off to Brownies all dressed up and so proud of herself!

pink and green mama MaryLea said...

Yay! An easy first felting project. I think I'll have to make these this weekend with my 5 year old. I can't wait to try it. Thanks for the easy photos and clear steps!!

Laurie said...

I tried this and love the results, Thanks. I blogged about it here; http://stone-belle.blogspot.com/2008/12/candy-canes.html

ForestJane said...

Betcha you could take brown wool and a long pipe cleaner and make pretzels too. :)

Leslie said...

i have been planning on making these since the moment that i saw our tutorial...today i made my first one and it was addicting. i can not wait to make more and more and more. It is so much fun

belvedere beads said...

we made these! your tutorial worked like a dream. here's the link in case you want to see.
http://lucindastorms.blogspot.com/2008/12/fancy-pants-candy-canes.html

Anonymous said...

I just found your link on Michelle Allen's blog so needless to say I'll have to make these next year. But I love the idea! I'm not sure where I would find the wool roving to use?? Is this just in a yarn shop? Thank you for the tutorial.

Scarf It Up said...

Yours is the first link I found when looking for an after-Thanksgiving project with my grandchildren. We'll make them today! Thanks so mcuh!

Laura said...

Tried these this year (well, last year now I guess). So much fun! Posted to Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauraarual/4242111905/in/set-72157623132603362/

Thanks for the tutorial!

Sheryl Parsons said...

Oooh the possibilities! Thanks for the tutorial. :-)