5 Simple Steps to Drying Acorn Caps

There are about 90 different oak trees in North America. All of which produce acorns. The red oak tree group takes two growing seasons to mature and grow acorns, whereas, in the white oak group, the acorns occur in one season.

Want to turn your acorn caps into colorful felted acorns? Our Wet Felting Acorn Kit has everything you need.

5 Steps to Drying Acorn Caps

1. When picking acorn caps, use a brown bag and try to get as much debris off them and check the lids to ensure no holes or cracks

2. Clean the acorns to remove any dirt by soaking in a large sink with a little Dawn dish detergent. With your hands, swish them around. Let soak for 5 minutes. You may want to use some old rags to scrub the dirt off the acorns.

3. Remove from the sink onto a thick absorbent towel and air dry outside for a day.

4. Line the acorn caps on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil—Bake in the oven for two hours at 200°F. Check them every half hour and shake the pan to prevent burning. Baking the acorn caps will kill any small bugs. We dry our acorn caps in our kiln. If you have a kiln with a temperature setter, place the acorns on the kiln shelf and set the kiln to 200°F with an automatic shut off time in two hours. Cool completely before opening kiln.

5. Let the acorns utterly cool before you start crafting with them.

Make felted acorns with your caps
Interested in learning how to wet felt and make these adorable acorns? We have a kit for that! Choose the colorful Wet Felting Acorn Kit with assorted color wools (makes eight acorns), the classic ivory Wet Felting Acorns Kit, or try one first with our Make One Felted Acorn kit.

Contact us if you want a craft kit to make lots of acorn ornaments for large groups.