Tutorial on needle felting Part 1.......Needles and Mat

tutorial on making simple needle felt dog<---(not by me)


Above is a link on making a needle felt miniature dog . I didn't write it but it has some good basic information and shows how to use pipe cleaners, which I seldom do . If your interested in making a larger, more intricately detailed sculpture , we can start at the beginning...materials and tools .

Tools: Needles, finger protectors, pads

Needles> I began felting using size 40 triangle needles only . I then discovered that 38 star gave almost as nice of detail and was much faster . I now use 38 triangle to begin "prefelting and shaping" , 38 star for smaller more delicate areas like paws and face and 40 for doing fine detailing . I would recommend these as a good beginning set and more then one just in case you accidentally break one ....(very frustrating to have to wait for new ones in the mail mid felting)

=There are several different suppliers but I usually plan on paying around $1 per needle or half that if buying in bulk . I buy most of my supplies on Etsy .

=You can buy different holders for the needles or make your own holder out of femo . I made my own handles out of craft supplies I had around the house . If you can find a thick two sided tape....the kind using for tacking carpeting down works great....place it on leather, suede or craft felt and roll several layers around the needle . then cover the needle top(L shaped head where you hold it, with another strip and to cover the metal end and tuck in and continue rolling outer leather around to holed in place . You can wrap the needle as thick as you want but I find that about an inch or less in diameter gives me a comfortable hold on the needle . I felt by holding my pointer finger on the L shape end and thumb and middle finger on either side but do what ever you feel gives you the best control of where the needle tip is going into the fiber .

Matting>I've tried several different types of matting base . I like to work on my lap instead of a table so I need a very thick foam . Some people cover the foam with a thin fabric to prevent cross contamination for fiber colors and to avoid the surface from breaking down as quickly . This does work OK but it should be a thin jersey...like an old T-shirt...so you have a bit less wear on your needles and you have to be careful that you don't poke into a thick fabric wrinkle which can break your needle . I generally work without the fabric but that is just a personal preference .

+denser the foam the better it will hold up to needle poking
+when felting a something flat, like an ear, keep picking item up and flipping it over to avoid felting it to your mat .
+a large enough felting surface will allow you to wrest your arm and wrist to avoid joint strain

Buying foam matting ....you can buy on-line but check local sources, like sewing supply stores, AXman, or thrift store < for a thick foam pillow form . I felt alot, so I prefer buying children or crib foam mattress and cutting up squares to use .


FIBER....one of the most confusing things there is to learn about felting is what fiber to buy and what to pay for it . I began by buying all my fiber on Etsy with no idea on what I should be paying . I would often buy hand dyed merino at around $5 an Ounce including shipping and sculpt a 12 ounce sculpture from it . That gets expensive and is a waste of beautiful fiber . I've since learned the economy of using a fiber filler . I think the best filler is a nice, clean quilting batt of fiber around 26-30 < refers to the diameter of the fiber hair ,( more on that later) . Fiber is a huge topic so I will cover that later and try and break it into digestible bits . To start though, please check out my right corner links under (learning and cute) and click sheep fiber . It's a good reference in learning a few sheep names .

New needle felting lessons on Wool Gatherings blog and some of my own mistakes

This is how I am feeling today.....angry and fed up with endless days of rain . It's 2pm but looks like night outside . Although I love the sound of rain and am not a fan of bright sun, this weather is getting in the way of my plans of taking pictures of my animals to list on Etsy . It's been a full week of cloudy skies and no rumor of sun until Tuesday....

On the bright side...the world did not end yesterday, as internet rumors were suggesting , although the skies over New Hope looked like it was thinking about it .

The real purpose of this post however, is to show some of my first attempts to needle felt somewhat "realistic" animals that I plan on redoing . Each has some fiber colors I don't like, bad faces or misaligned body parts . If you have ever seen my first needle felting, you can see that I tended to make really wild looking fantasy creatures . At the time, I just wanted to play with all the different colors and textures of the fibers and thought there were already enough "realistic animal" felters and I wanted to try something different . 

Although they might share some basic features with real animals....they were just twisted enough to be interesting to my eyes .

 The above dog???? was one of my first attempts to actually make something based on a real animal and I did not like the result . It took over 20 hours and looked "pop-eyed" and front legs never stood well...(no wires) . The front legs were to short after felting and this is when I first realized that allowing for shrinkage while felting was a pretty big deal and it takes a lot of practice .

 Although I liked this pup better, I was still having problems figuring out how firm to felt my animals . I made the core very solid but then added very loosely tacked on roving on top . I wanted to simulate both the look and feel of real fur but what I found was....loose merino tends to mat up over time and with handling . Also, some of the wool that looked brown in my dark apt. looked pink in sunlight . ...another "do-over" .

As to the last "dog".....eck! I'm not sure when I made him but it was back when I was still "poorly" needle felting eyes and a poor choice of fiber left his snout totally distorted . Another "do-over" .
But here is the really good part . I put all these animals in the closet and waited until I felt ready to try again . Perhaps they will never be my best work but, the past 2 years I have much more experience in what fibers and needles to use and how to pre-shape body parts before I add them to the body . I believe that I can at least make them better so......Don't ever through out your first projects, stash them until you are ready to see them with more experience and fresh eyes .


I just found another blogger who shares this basic philosophy and who is willing to share some of her own lessons learned . SO, if your interested in learning....(I know I am not very good at explaining what I do when I am needle felting as It is more tactile then cerebral)..... please check out her blog ....I will also have her listed in my "lessons" section top right of blog .


woolgatherings

Perhaps she can give me some tips to make this dog a bit less.....hidious and how to make my animals not look like they are going to commit homicide or suicide < Wish me luck and happy felting .