Needle Felting

A few weeks ago I made a blog post with Needle Felting for Beginners  where I made a simple project with a flat surface.  This week I want to show you how to make 3 dimensional objects! If you haven’t tried needle felting I really think you should give it a try! You will be amazed how easy and fast it is and you can be free when shaping your design, it is like sculpting in clay but less messy.

 

 

You will need:

• FELTING NEEDLE – It is a special needle that has very sharp, barbed blades. This is what helps agitate the wool.
• FELTING SURFACE – A felting surface to put under will help prevent damage to the surface of your working area and stop you from poking your leg or other body parts. I use a needle felting mat but sponges or foam pads work well.
• WOOL –  You need roving wool for needle felting.
• STYROFOAM BALL – To use as a base.
• THREAD – Any kind of thread to hang the ornament.
• GLUE – Hobby glue to fix the thread loop to the ball.

 

 

How to:

First you need to glue the thread loop to the styrofoam ball. Then start off with creating a round ball by taking small pieces of wool and fuse the fibres together by repetitively jabbing your barbed felting needle so it goes through the wool and into the ball. When you have a finished ball, you can then continue to add more details. When creating the ears it is good to use a felting surface at the back, to prevent you from poking yourself with the sharp needle.

Please be careful – felting needles are sharp.

It is important to keep the needle straight up and down, if you twist, it will easily break off. If you want to create a flat look, keep on stabbing to get the fibers really tight. If you want more 3 dimensional look, keep adding even more small pieces of wool to get the look you want.