Felted Bracelet
If you've never tried felting anything before I think you'll be surprised at how easy it is. It's a great craft for children as well, so gather them up and have a holiday crafting day!
I bought my wool already carded, combed, and dyed from my local craft shop. If you have raw wool you will need to clean and prepare it before starting this craft.
Fill your bowl with warm water and add a small amount of a mild liquid soap. Pull off a section of wool fibers and work a hole into the middle of it. Keep your fingers in the hole to keep the fibers from working themselves back together and dip the wool into the bowl of warm, soapy water until it is completely wet (fig. A). Making sure to retain the hole, squeeze out some of the water so it's not dripping. Put a very small amount of the soap onto your hand and start to roll the wool back and forth between your hands like you would a clay snake (Fig. B).
Continue dipping, sqeezing, and rolling. The fibers will immediately start to felt. The combination of warm water, soap, and friction is what causes the felting to occur. If your water becomes cold before you finish replace it with freshly warm water. Have patience and keep rolling the wool between your hands. Unlike with clay, the more you roll it the smaller it will become. Roll it until it is the size you want to fit your wrist.
When you are happy with the size rinse it under running water, squeezing out the majority of the soap. Arrange it in a circular shape--I fit mine over a smooth drinking glass--and leave it to dry completely.
When it is dry you can sew on the beads in any kind of pattern you like. You can also wrap thin decorative wire around it for a different look. With the bracelets that are pictured here, I beaded one and wrapped the other with wire and then added bead accents. Get creative and add whatever you like: sequins, charms, etc. You could also cut the ring and add a jewelry clasp so that it doesn't have to slip on over the hand.