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I happen to have access to wonderful alpaca fiber because my mom has several alpacas. Their fiber makes amazing scarves and is naturally antibacterial. Last year I tried my hand at dying it and knitting some scarves. This year I wanted to do something quick and fun with it. Therefore I decided to make some alpaca fiber ornaments. If you do not knit try some other uses for alpaca fiber. Here are two ornaments you could make easily at home: Wooly Sheep and Wild Owl Pine Cones.
For the Wooly Sheep you need:
- alpaca fiber
- styrofoam balls around 3 inches
- cinnamon sticks- 2 per sheep
- black felt
- googly eyes
- red ribbon and/or red felt
- small bells
- dish soap
- glue gun
- ornament hook, or wire to hang it.
To begin you take your styrofoam ball and some fiber. Next soap up your hands and then grab the fiber and start layering it around the ball. Small thin amounts work best. Resoap your hands as needed, and you will want to lather it up. The friction from your hands and the soap will create a mass of hair around the ball as you continue to layer until it is completely covered and a size you like. It will look like a messy wet hair ball.
Now you can let it dry overnight. While it dries, you can cut out a sheep face in your black felt and glue googly eyes onto it, or you can glue eyes onto the ball directly once it dries. In the mean time you can cut or break your cinnamon sticks in half. When your ball is dry you can shove the sticks through the hair into the ball. I made the holes with the sticks, then pulled them back out and added glue. I glued the sheep face onto the ball. On one sheep I added a red felt collar with a bell, and on the others I tied a red ribbon on with a bell.
Lastly you add your ornament hook or wire into the back of the sheep to hang it from a Christmas tree.
For a quicker DIY project you can do the Wild Owl Pine Cone. All you need is:
- pine cones
- alpaca fiber
- feathers
- felt
- hot glue
First grab your pine cone, and stuff it with small bits of alpaca fiber. You need to push it far enough in where you will still see some of the pine cone. You can use a pencil to help get it into the deeper areas. Then choose some feathers for wings and maybe a head poof. Those get hot glued right into the pine cone crevices for the head, and to any protruding part of the cone for the wings. Next cut out some felt circles for eyes and a beak. Glue them on and you now have a Wild Owl that is so crazy looking it is cute. You could use some string or ribbon if you want to use your owl as an ornament.
Just imagine the reactions you will get to these unique, one-of-a-kind ornaments this Christmas.
Which one will you make first?