Needle Felting

Needle Felting
NEEDLE FELTING There are some really terrific new books out there about the Art of Felting. The books that I find most intriguing are the ones that give me ideas for needle felting. I had always hated felting since I don’t have the strongest hands and felting tends to require strong hands, patience and diligence, (which I also lack) in addition to soap, water, good felting fibre and a rough surface, or a method of agitating. I would cringe each time my guild would set up a workshop for felting. But then I discovered needle felting and now I love to felt. My first foray into needle felting was a small workshop that my guild set up to felt balls and decorate them for Christmas ornaments. I very quickly decided that this “new” method of felting was fun. Soon I was felting ornaments for all my friends to attach to the outside of their gifts at Christmas time. Then one day when I had to provide a gift for a gift exchange I decided to felt a soap on the rope and make a hand towel to go with it. I was charmed with the soap on the rope as was the recipient of my little gift. Next came a pair of slippers for which I felted the fabric. First I felted several layers of wool on a foam cushion to get a fairly thick felted fabric and cut out a moccasin style slipper which I sewed together and decorated with felted embellishments. My next project was more difficult as it was a shaped sculpture of a small squirrel with an acorn in its mouth. I had a lot more difficulty with it as a 3-d felted object as apposed to a flat surface felted project. It turned out ok but I will definitely need more practice at this type of felting. The more I needle felted the more my imagination became charged with new ideas. Straight felting has its limitations but also has it uses but I find that felting with needles has no limits except for your imagination. I bought my first set of felting needles from my guild for our workshop. But since then I have discovered that there are different gauges for different projects and your project will dictate which gauge you use. I also discovered that there are felting tools that will hold a number of needles at a time making felting a quicker prospect since more needles will cover more of the surface you are trying to felt. There is even a felting machine that works similar to a sewing machine which felts very fast. Since my first project, I have invested in a felting tool that holds five needles at a time. The needles retract each time you stab the wool. However a single needle is what I like to use when I get to the point that a piece requires more detail and definition. A single needle can be controlled better and therefore when small adjustments need to be made to a piece it is easier to do this with just one needle. My felting interests have been piqued by this wonderful tool and method. It enables my creativity another outlet. How great is that....