A Caring Heart Painted with Berry Inks

A Caring Heart Painted with Berry Inks

This sweet tradition comes from my years spent in the Waldorf Kindergarten realm. There were many times a little one came to me with a bump, bruise, or some invisible cut... What was one to do?

We go to the freezer and take out one of these caring hearts!

A lovingly made felt heart, stuffed with lamb's wool and kept in the freezer, cools to the perfect temperature for soothing tender skin. Placed gently on said ouchie, it goes a long way toward letting a little one know that someone knows about their plight, and genuinely cares. You can choose a larger heart for a bruise, or a tiny one for an itchy bite.

To decorate your Caring Heart with Berry Inks you only need a few items:

Supplies

Wool Felt

Milk (soy, dairy or almond)

Fresh or Frozen Berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries)

Wool stuffing

Thread, Sewing Needle, and Scissors

Method

Cut out two matching hearts from the wool felt.

                       Cut out felt hearts


Drop them in some milk, shake so they are coated, and let them soak for 30 minutes to an hour. This coats the felt with protein from the milk and helps the dye to stick.

                           soak in milk

Take them out, squeeze out the extra milk, and lay flat to dry.

For a solid color, place a berry on one of your hearts. Cover the berry with another felt heart and Smash the berry between them!

                         

The juice from the berry will saturate the felt and attach to the milk protein in the fibers. (If you only have frozen berries, lay them on the felt heart and allow them to thaw, or microwave for 30 seconds, and then smash the berry. It will be hot - so be careful!)

Rinse off the berry seeds and lay flat to dry.

Sew the two sides together with a blanket stitch and stuff with lamb's wool before sewing it shut.

                                  

 

If you want to paint a picture with the berry juice, freeze your berries. Then take them out to thaw. They will release their juices as they warm up. Simply paint your images with the berry juice that seeps out in the thawing process! So easy!

In these images, I used Blackberries, Blueberries and I added a little turmeric powder to my blueberry juice to make a green ink.

Keep your Caring Hearts in the freezer to be ready when you need them!

                                   Felt heart