Introduction to Needle Felting

Are you ready to explore the amazing world of needle felting wool? You’ve come to the right place!!
The following videos feature some of my best time-saving tips and tricks for needle felting, as well as some important safety info before you begin. There will be a quiz later! Nah kidding.. or am I? 🤔

Needle Safety!! Felting needles are sharp, similar to a sewing needle, but they have tiny barbs on them that catch wool fibers and tangle them into ‘felt’ with each poke.

If a child is old enough to sew, they should be able to needle felt, but always under supervision!!

*Always work on top of a foam pad, or any similar material that allows the needle to penetrate into without breaking.

*ALWAYS keep eyes focused on your project– stay attentive while felting!

*ALWAYS work ON top of your foam pad- don’t hold a project in your hand, or on your lap, as the needle can and WILL poke all the way through.

*Poke straight up and down to avoid a bent needle– If a needle breaks, stop right away and find the broken tip- it may be embedded deep within your project.

*I store my needles by carefully poking them deep into my foam cube. For broken needles, I carefully wrap the broken ends in a piece of tape for safe disposal in the garbage.

*One last BIG money-saving tip:: my projects are 95% white core wool!– save the colorful wool for detail work, as it typically costs about 2x as much. If you follow the ‘less is more’ motto, on only use it for details, your sculptures will look more realistic AND save you big time!!!

The ‘Secret Glue’ is kind of a joke 😅 In needle felting, it is what I call those loose, fuzzy wool ends! I always leave a fuzzy edge on the base of each addition I made, which allows for maximum attachment. Trying to felt together two already-felted items will never be a smooth or secure connection, but fuzzy edge on the bottom edge of your ear will make that ear look and feel seamlessly attached.

**This next advice is some of my best time- saving advice**

Wrap the wool up really tight into the shape you want BEFORE poking with the needle – this compresses a lot of the air out, so the felting will go MUCH faster!

For example, to make a fox ear, I fold the wool into a triangle shape before I begin to poke! For arms/ legs, try rolling the wool up into a long tube to get the shape you need!

A couple more of my super secret, best needle felting tips– for anyone still reading!

I always advise students to create ‘indents’ where you want to ‘see the eyes’. This helps with getting the placement right, for both ears and muzzle, but also makes the eyes appear to be flush inside the face, and not like a frog with bulging eyes ( a mistake MANY felters make!!)

Those eye indents also help to instantly define the brow and cheek!

Best of all, I’ve found you can ‘sculpt’ quite successfully this way with wool and a felting needle — rather than always adding more on top, you can compact the fibers down, creating hollows and very accurate realistic portraits, rather than cartoony ones.

Think of it as a stone sculptor carves away- the more you poke the more you are ‘carving away’ the material..

Its time to go ‘back’ to making our little animals !!

Don’t have a tutorial to follow yet? Visit my etsy store to see tutorial downloads AND full felting kits!

The following animals are available as individual, and as group tutorial downloads:

— Classified Information — WOOLIZA –Not Sponsored– Favorite places to BUY wool & needles!! —

❤️❤️❤️ Links go direct to the items listed ❤️❤️❤️

White Core Wool	‘Eco’ Craft wool- sold in 1, 5 & 10lbs — www.shepherdsdream.com *visit them in downtown Ashland, OR (where I also have artworks!)
Colored Wool	‘Home spun Carded’ Romney: www.wiercrafts.com Corriedale Wool : www.woolery.com Mc-1 Merino: www.livingfelt.com (EXPENSIVE! But recommend 10/10)
Felting Needles	Favorites: 36gauge ‘coarse’ Triangle needle, and 38g ‘fine’ star-shape – also recommend: www.wiercrafts.com
Work Surface	Upholstery foam sheets from JoAnns, also options on wiercrafts.com