Balls to the Wall

Ever get Crater's Envy? I do. And I got it hard-core upon seeing this post.
I knew I have to make my own. and the antisipation just about killed me because I could not find one of thoes shakers ANYWHERE! In the whole of the internet their seemed to be only one shop that offerd them - and they were sold out for weeks. (PurlSoho.com is the shop. Just search their site for the 'FutteFutte').
That did however, give me plenty of time to hunt down the perfect wool. I had bought roving from Penelton before for small needle felting protects, but they sold theirs for $1.50 per quarter ounce... and I needed A LOT. Thankfully I was able to find this gal. Her name is Cindie and shes about as sweet at they come. Not to mention that the price was right and the quality of her materials was superb. I was scared that buying roving in bulk would mean getting a 'mess' of wool, but this was not the case. The roving was beautifully died (didnt even bleed through the whole process) and very very soft.

I knew from playing with the stuff from Penelton that I could get approximately 4 balls out of a 1/4 of an ounce. So with my assistant, we weighed out and cut our pieces.




Then my assistant needed a nap.

So following the tut from where I first saw all of this. I got to work.
I found out some helpful tips:
1) It matters more how much soap you use then how hot the water is. I was boiling mine at first, but it didtn produce anything better then just very warm tap water. When my bubbles started to die down though, is when the balls wouldnt hold together as well.
2) With the shaker that I bought (and like I said, I'd be surprised if you could find any other), I couldnt under-fill the container or the balls would turn out lop-sided. Fill the cups up pretty full with fluff.
and #3) If you do not cut up your wool into small pieces and fluff them together before you put them in the cup, your balls will have cracks. (see picture below)

finished ball with crack in it from not pre-fluffing

I worked on these balls over the better half of two days.
And each session took me about three hours. So What happened with the lil chick if she woke up early from a nap?
She had fun too.
here is only about a quarter of the end products. my upper body hurt for days.
and here they are. Dried and strung (on heavy duty thread).


All said and done - would I do it again - not a chance. Do I love how they turned out and happy I did - absolutely.
Maybe this will help me next time my Green Monster of Envy hops on my solder as I blog surf.
But probably not :)

much love
n