Needle Felting from the Beginning

I've decided to upload all of my current tutorials, so that if anyone who buys a general kit wants to attempt a new project, there's something available and to provide a bit of support to any craft groups who have purchased materials and need workshop resources.  There are a lot of different versions of the same kind of projects out there on the internet - these tutorials are based on the way I do things and have been constructed from scratch without reference to anyone else's materials or resources in an attempt to provide a single, easy to find and access reference point for basically anyone I know.

So I'll start here, right at the beginning..

Basic needle felting

You will need-

Felting needle

Foam pad (any firm/ high density block of foam will do, you can cut down upholstery foam and use a block of that if you don't have access to anything else).

Merino wool (or any colourful wool roving will do - it doesn't have to be merino)

Core or filler wool

The Wool.

Merino comes in long soft strands, often known as roving or tops.  The coarser wool comes in carded ‘batts’.  The difference in the wool comes from both the length of the fibres in the different sheep fleeces, and also in the way in which it is processed to make it useable.  When the merino is processed, it is carded and then combed.  The combing process forms the wool into long thick strips, by aligning the fibres.  The coarser wool does not have the same structure as the fibres in the fleece are shorter.

As merino is softer, it will not stand up to as much wear as the core wool, nor will it form as solid a structure for 3D work, however, it comes in lots of colours and felts quite easily, making it a popular choice for felters.  When you do 3D work, you can use core wool for the base of your project and then merino to ‘colour it in’ by layering it over the top.

The Needles.

The needles are come in a number of gauges.  The higher the gauge, the finer the needle. Each needle has a series of barbs on the shaft.  These barbs all run in one direction, so that when you stab them into the fibre, they catch the strands and pull them together so they mesh and form a fabric.  Industrial felt is made in this way,  on huge needle covered rollers. As a backing fabric, it can be quite satisfying to felt directly onto pre-felted fabric, and some great effects and motifs can be created this way.

To make flat felt:

This can be used as the base for many flat projects, such as pictures or flat brooches:

1. Take some of the coarser white roving.  Spread it apart on your foam mat until it covers the surface.  Add extra wool to the foam where you can see gaps, so that the whole surface is well covered.  

2. Begin needling the white wool until the surface is fairly firm so that it will hold together nicely when you lift it from the foam and does not tear.  Use more of the white wool to repair it where it seems necessary.  Hold your needle with your fingers in a tripod formation, similar to the way in which you would hold your pen.  Stab downwards into the wool making sure that you don’t bend the needle while you are doing it - straight up and down works best.

2.  Lift the wool piece from the foam and place it down again.  This is just to make sure that the foam does not become embedded in the back of the wool.  

You can use the above method with any cookie cutter to shape your wool too - more on this later..

To Form a 3D shape:

1. The cylinder -

Take some of the coarser white roving.  Roll it up like a tight sausage roll.  Try to keep it as firm as possible as this will give you a better base.  Needle it lightly while you are rolling to keep it together.  You should have a cylindrical piece of wool. This shape can form the body of a whole range of animals and objects.

2. To make a sphere - this is a good shape to master for both beads and animal heads among other things:

Stand the cylinder up on end and starting from the centre of the top, needle down into the end of the cylinder and down the sides.  This will further compact the piece.  Keep going all the way round the piece, then up end it and continue from the other side.  Keep working on it until you have a round firm ball (bottom of second pic).

                                     

                                   

So welcome to the basics!  I hope these will give you enough  information to give you a start on a few projects.