A Heart Shape Needlefelted Bowl

How many of you remember the coiled clay bowls you made in art class as a child?  I bet you gave one to your mom for Mother’s day.  Well you can do a similar type bowl with needle felting.  It is my favorite way to make a bowl.  And to make it even more fun I do them in a heart shaped cookie cutter.

You start the bowl like you would a needle felted cookie cutter ornament. This one is a 3 ½” heart. (See my blog on “Needle Felting in a Cookie Cutter”).  Put some roving or wool batting in a cookie cutter and start to needle felt the roving to the shape of the cutter.  This will be the bottom of the bowl.

After you have felted in the shape for a while, turn it over and felt on the other side.  This will make it stronger and more firm.  I like to take the shape out of the cutter and look at it in front of a light.  If you can see light coming through the roving then add a little more there and felt it in.  Once you have the bottom of the bowl at the firmness you want felt around the edge of the shape to smooth it out.

roving in cutter

felting roving

                              

felting edge of bottom

Now it is time to build the bowl.   Take some of the roving and roll it between your fingers to make a coil.  Lay it on top of the shape right along the edge and start felting it in.  It might be easy to start with small pieces and just add as you go along.  Don’t flatten it out; remember this is the wall of your bowl. in fact I often pinch the coils as I am felting it to make it stand up and not flatten out (just don’t poke your fingers).

coil of roving

starting the wall of the bowl

        

pinching edge to keep it from flattening

felting all around the edge

                  

 

Once you have roving coiled all along the edge, start with another layer.  Gradually build up the wall by adding roving coils and felt it in.  You can as you go along smooth out the sides by felting the outside and inside of the walls.  When it is as high as you want, stop adding coils.  Smooth out the walls again checking it against a light source so you can see where there is a weak spot and then add roving there.

felting the side

felting the inside of bowl walls

       

I usually use simple smooth shapes like circles and hearts.  I haven’t had any luck with shapes like a star or multi-petaled flower.  But it might be different for you, so try it if you would like.

side view of finished bowl

top view of finished bowl

     

Occasionally I add beads at the top edge of the bowl just to add some sparkle.  I like the clear glass beads.  It doesn’t distract from the color of the wool and gives a little light to the bowl.  I either sew them on with invisible (or mono filament) thread or with thread that matches the color of the roving so it blends in.  If I am not able to pull the knot into the felted roving, I just add a tiny bit of roving on the thread knot and felt it in to hide the knot.

bowl with beads

© 2017  Cheryl Fillion