Felting Shed-Hair Balls

Dog owners love their pets, but dogs shed, and nearly every dog owner I know claims that their dog sheds more than any other breed of dog. The supply of hair seems endless. What do you do with all those wads of hair that blow around the yard after brushing your best friend. Now you can tidy up the yard and make fun toys at no cost.

I stumbled on this idea, after trying to wash some of our dog's hair for a needle-felting project. The needle felting project didn't work out, but to my surprise, the hair that I put through the wash came out as small felted wad. Intriguing.

I collected all the hair from a few brushings and stuffed the hair into a small drawstring bag. This time the hair came out of the wash as a dense, almost perfectly round felted ball.

I wish I could make a more detailed instructable about this, but there really isn't much more to it.

You will need a dog (a cat might be a good substitute).

A shedding brush.

A small cloth bag, preferably with a drawstring closure.

A washing machine and drier.

I just grabbed all the hair from several rounds of brushing our dear old boy. The collected hair weighed out at a little less than an ounce.

For the bag, I'm using a small "sample bag" for collecting geological samples. This one measures 4 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. You can use any small bag with a drawstring closure. The pocket from a discarded pair of pants would work fine, just tie the opening shut after you stuff it full of hair.

Note: It is very important to turn the cloth bag (or pocket) inside out before stuffing the hair inside. If you don't the threads from the seams on the inside of the bag will become tangled with your felt.

I don't think it matters what wash cycle you use or what kind of detergent you add. Run the load of wash as you normally would, and include the bag when you transfer the load of wash to the dryer.

That's really all there is to it. When you remove the load of wash from the dryer, remove the hair ball from the bag, and massage it into a round shape, If it looks too wobbly and uneven, you can try running it through another wash/dry cycle to see if it will come out rounder and more dense. I've never felt the need to do that, but I believe it would work.

If you don't like all the guard-hairs poking out, you can use some tape or your fingers to remove them.

Here's the final felted hair ball. The black one is from a Lab-mix. They make great indoor toys. It doesn't hurt if you get hit with one, and they are kind of challenging to catch.

Best of all, they turn a tedious chore into a fun project for all ages.

Sadly, our sweet dog has passed on, but I have a few of these hair balls to remind me of him.