Tutorial: Basic needle-felting overview

[GraceOblivious]

Needling for Newbies - a  tutorial for craftsters goofy enough to use wicked sharp barbed needles to create soft lovely felted stuff

Needle felting is relatively easy and many people can achieve a nice product.  There is a risk of injury to self or others as the needles are long, barbed and extremely sharp.  Plus the needle is jabbed into the work near holding fingers.

It is extremely important to identify a quiet work space where one can focus and remain attentive while felting.  Being bashed with a ball, bumped by someone roughhousing, or having a young child or pet grab the needle can lead to disaster.

***note to youngest craftsters***  You are welcome here as long as you use responsible judgment in the use  of felting needles, if you are allowed to use a steam iron without supervision,  can handle a sewing needle without loosing it on the floor, are good about putting away tools you most likely can manage a felting needle.  You know your parents, follow their guidelines and ask/share what you are doing with them. 

First step - Identify a safe work area and storage area.

Second step - gather supplies - felting needles, wool fiber, foam cushion/pillow for work surface


stop here if you like it brief , and commence poking the wool
- if you want details - lots of details continue reading :-)

Felting needles - to start one will do but two is grand



  look for

38 gauge -- the workhorse -- bigger of the two (needles get smaller in diameter as the number gets bigger)

40 gauge -- the finisher -- takes forever to make a project with this fine needle, however it leaves a smoother surface- so great to use at the end to finish the project

WARNING********Store felting needles with care and out of reach of young children.  The needles are loooong, barbed and extremely sharp - will really tear flesh.   Kind of like a multi fanged fish hook without the bend.  My preference is to store felting needles with the tip covered or with the tip stuck  in a wool ball  in a closed box or canister.

Felting needles are fairly brittle.  Needles break easily if twisted when poking into the felting piece or if hit on a solid object -like the table top.  Hence the foam work top. 

Some people find the skinny needle tops difficult to hold and make handles out of corks.  Personally, I use them as is when single needling.  For large jobs one can buy multi-needle  handles.  Mine is a nice turned wood one that holds 5 needles at a time for large projects (got it from Mielke’s). 




Wool fiber for felting

Wool Batt and or wool roving



white is batt     red is romney roving     purple is merino superwash    blue is romney roving rolled in a ball (this is how it  is sold)  the red and purple have been pulled off into working lenghts.

Wool batt is lightly processed fleece - it has been washed and carded.  It is  rolled off the carding drum and packaged.  (Batts come in huge big rolls - are mostly used inside quilts and comforters, also for inside of futons, and for wet and dry felt making).

Usually wool batt felts really well, fairly quick,  and gives a firm tight felt

On the other hand it often has a  dull appearance and  the surface will frequently show obvious poke holes -- pitted appearance

Batt is a good filler - for center of 3D item and good mixer with other fibers.


Roving - the next step up the fiber chain.  Roving develops from a lengthy  carding  process; the drum keeps circling until the fibers  run straight  and lay in large wrist thick strands on the carding drum.   Roving is easier to handle and dye than batt, so you will find it in many colors.  Roving is used to spin yarn - so if you know a spinner find out where they get their roving or see if you can get some odds and ends of roving from them.

There are good felting rovings and poor felting rovings.  So ask  about the roving before buying. 

I often get romney roving from Mielke Fiber Art Farms.  These felt firmly with medium level of effort, they work fairly fast with the workhorse needle (38) and will look best if surface is finished with the smaller size  needle (40) especially if a smooth surface appearance is desired. 

For beginners avoid superwash roving -
I know because this is what is available in my town - I was so excited roving was locally available- alas- It turns out it has been treated with a process called superwash to make it washable and keep it from shrinking.  The spinners like it, because they can spin it easily and then when they knit things, the item can  be laundered easily with no shrinking.  However, the superwash calms down the natural scales on the shafts and those scales are what make the wool fiber felt well.

Wool Yarn


Wool yarn will be used for details, wrapping, etc.  Felting is a great way to use up scraps and bits.  Tapestry yarn, Needle point yarn, Crewel yarn -- look for 100% wool


Foam cushion or pillow for work surface



At least 1 inch thick, 2 inches is better.  Identify a work space at a table with plenty of room for the cushion on top of the table.  Working a project in your lap - even over a cushion can be risky -  it is way too easy to poke thighs, tummy, and various tender body parts.






Resources:
Definition of carding, roving and picture of carding drum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carding

Ayala Talpai  "The Felting Needle:  from Factory to Fantasy,  second ed 2001; published by Diligence Woodwork & Design,   ISBN # 0-9706453-0-9

Anne Einset Vickrey,  "Needle Felting: Art Techniques and Projects", published by Craft Works Pub. 2002  (www.feltcrafts.com)  ISBN 0-9619053-2-8

http://www.mielkesfarm.com/flt_ndls.htm   (info about needles, etc - an internet store) there are many others as well, this is the one I happen to use most

If you have other resources to recommend let me know and I'll add them to this list. 

[GraceOblivious]

Lets start needling --- Make a needle felt ball - to store your needles or to use as a bead.



Step 3 ------  Organize your tools and fibers

Step 4 ------  Start needling

A good first project for both getting the feel of the needle, the fiber and developing your needle style is making a ball.  One with a final  size of a ping pong or golf ball, or at least a big shooter marble. 

I know, I know it isn’t flat - but still it is the place to begin, you will spring on to flat and to 3D easily after making a ball.

Needle felting a Ball


Pinch a bit of fiber into a wad, needle it some,  add more fiber - I like to roll a pencil size strand around the core then wrap it with wool yarn* (- needle all around until fairly smooth ball - roll the ball between your palms to get a feel of firmness and to help round out the ball -  keep alternating fiber addition and needling until the ball is the size you desire. 

Needle pokes do not need to be hard,  and only need to go in 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch into the piece you are felting - just enough to have the barbs tangle and agitate the fibers. 

Effective needle pokes go  in and out at the same angle, no J hooks or twisty movement.  This “straight needle use” will give the best results and put less strain on the needle -- hence longer lasting needles and less breakage.

The fiber will felt in the direction of the poke -
if pokes are repeated in one place, a cavity or depression will develop;
if pokes are repeated up and down a line a valley or indentation along the line will occur;
random light pokes all over the surface will produce a drawing-in and overall tightening. 

If there are hills on the ball surface- poke about on the hill until it is reduced to same height as the rest of the ball surface.

*Learned basic ball with wrapped yarn in Ayala Talpu  "The Felting Needle:  from Factory to Fantasy
She suggests using the ball to store felting needles - so you have lovely cushion for the sharp ends.

OK that's it for those who want the short version (Sorry that’s as short as I could get) :-)

For those who like more detail - read on

Needle felting a Ball

Step 3 - organizing - the details

Pull out your tool tray - Here is mine.


 Using this tray has helped me keep the sharps together and to put them away again.  Just in case littles or pets find their way into my studio, there are no barbed needles left out.

Lay fibers out on your foam cushion. Always separate the fibers from a larger hunk by pulling. With one hand on each side gently pull the fiber off the roll of batt  or the roving rope--- DO NOT CUT the fibers.
 




Here you see  three hunks of basic felting fiber -- my plan was to make a ball with each to get the feel of the different types of fiber.  White is generic wool batt, Red is Romney,  Purple is Merino Superwash.  If you have different types of fiber this is a good way to get a feel for them and how they felt.  Knowing that helps you choose fiber for specific projects and also knowing how each behaves under the needle can help you in making mixes.

Wool yarn scraps are at the side.


If you have wool batt - start with that as it is usually the easiest to handle.
 
Pinch a bit of fiber off the hunk and press it into a wad about the size of a large pea or a bit larger.


 needle it some, just to get a core and round shape started - it does not need to be real firm.



This is how I hold the single needle -

try this and try other ways too.  You want a grip that works for you.  Effective needle pokes go  in and out at the same angle, no J hooks or twisty movement.  This “straight needle use” will give the best results and put less strain on the needle -- hence longer lasting needles and less breakage.  For me this hold makes the needle an extension of my finger and is the way I can best get the straight in and out movement.

 add more fiber - I like to roll a pencil size strand around the core then wrap it with wool yarn* (- needle all around until the surface is fairly smooth and round -

Needle pokes do not need to be hard,  and only need to go in 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch into the piece you are felting - just enough to have the barbs tangle and agitate the fibers. 


The fiber will felt in the direction of the poke -
if pokes are repeated in one place, a cavity or depression will develop;
if pokes are repeated up and down a line a valley or indentation along the line will occur;
random light pokes all over the surface will produce a drawing-in and overall tightening. 


If there are hills on the ball surface- poke about on the hill until it is reduced to same height as the rest of the ball surface.



Roll the ball between your palms to get a feel of firmness and to help round out the ball -  (sorry no photo of this.)
Needle some more.


Keep alternating fiber addition and needling until the ball is the size you desire.  It should be firm but not rock hard.  When you squeeze it the ball should squish uniformly - not have a soft spot-  if it is too squishy or has soft areas, needle it more.  You can fill in valleys by adding a few wisps of fiber and needling it into that spot. Leave the ends of the fill fiber wispy and needle them into the ball surface around the valley, leaving most of the fiber fill in the valley - this gives a better adherence of the added bits and leaves a smoother surface.  If you roll the fiber in a little ball and just poke it into the valley it will look like an addition with demarcated edges around the fill.


Move on to another fiber type and see how it reacts to the process.  With the roving, I found it was easier to start the ball by tying a knot in the center of a pencil thin length of the roving, wrapping the edges around  the knot and needling it.  Then added more roving, wrapped it with yarn, needled, rolled in hand --- and repeated that 3 or so times. 

The red romney roving took a bit longer (more needle pokes) to become firm, but was easy to handle and manage.  To make it more decorative, on the last wrap with the yarn, swirl the yarn around the firmed ball and needle the yarn in place.  Also, if you want it to sit flat, focus needling in one area - about the size of a dime and needle until flat.  A decorated ball like this, but left in the round, would  make a nice bead for a necklace or to use on a zipper pull.  Just take a length of yarn or ribbon on a large needle and run it through the ball.

The purple merino superwash roving was a bit of a challenge.  It was slick and slippery - took lots more needling- definitely needed the knot to start.  I found that twisting the yarn and roving together helped some. 

When rolling the ball to round the shape - it flew out of my hands and I chased it about the floor numerous times.  However, it did eventually become a nice looking ball.  But much squishier and less firm and durable than the other two.  I think it would fray with use - so not a very good bead or needle holder, but pretty and would be good for use in a 3D sculpture that could just set and be admired.


*Learned basic ball with wrapped yarn in Ayala Talpai (2000)  "The Felting Needle:  from Factory to Fantasy" p 19   http://www.fiberfanatics.com/
She suggests using the ball to store felting needles - so you have a lovely cushion for the sharp ends. 

Thanks and Enjoy!!!!!

[mayerlove]

i have a ball almost done using the generic white batt because i got my supplies today! thanks. i think i'm already addicted....

[corduroy cat]

nice tutorial! you should add the word 'tutorial' in the subject line of this thread so people can find it easier!
i have only been felting for about 5 months, but i'm addicted and trying to learn all i can. i started out by trying to wet felt beads based on the tutorial here on craftster, then saw what the needlers were doing and decided to try my hand at that. i'm much more confident with the needle felting than i was with the wet method. i dig making little creatures and such cause i can't sew them.

[jelly]

Just wanted to say thanks for the tutorials!  I haven't started needle felting yet, but plan on it soon.  I live next door to a sheep farm, so I might  be going on a midnight raid soon to shave me a sheep!! 

J

[Ember77]

Hello everybody! I'm pretty new to craftster but I'm already addicted. 

I do have a couple of felting questions and it might be a bit silly. I did my first felted piece yesterday and I was wondering when you know to stop poking it! I just kept going and going and going...

2. Is it normal to have tiny little fly away fibres that you can only see if you squint and hold it up close? Or should it be fairly smooth?

3. Does it matter how you arrange the roving before you start jabbing at it? If you just want to make a uniform bunch?

Thanks! I appreciate your opinions!

[mel-my-issa]

bookmarking this. I really can't afford to take up another craft but what the heck!

[GraceOblivious]

Hello everybody! I'm pretty new to craftster but I'm already addicted. 

I do have a couple of felting questions and it might be a bit silly.

Thanks! I appreciate your opinions!

Welcome, we love new felters and also love to see your work.

I did my first felted piece yesterday and I was wondering when you know to stop poking it! I just kept going and going and going..

this is the neat thing....... it is done when YOU decide it is done.  You may want a soft piece that is light and airy and only gently felted, you may want a firm, dense, heavy piece.  If you look at a variety of needle felted pieces by a variety of people you will see this "artistic license" in play.  Oh, you can also do both in one piece, perhaps a lion face - the face may be dense and firm, the mane may be light to wispy.

2. Is it normal to have tiny little fly away fibres that you can only see if you squint and hold it up close? Or should it be fairly smooth?

Usually needle felt has a bit of a hairy surface-  depends on the fiber - how thick, how long, amount of scales on the shaft. degree of crimp or wavyness.  If you have to hold it up close to see them, I'd guess you made a dense firm piece.  Sometimes going to a smaller needle for finishing will give a  smoother piece,  Some fiber shows needle pokes or looks pockmarked - if you don't want that go to a size 40 needle to finish the surface. 

3. Does it matter how you arrange the roving before you start jabbing at it? If you just want to make a uniform bunch?

Again it can vary with the fiber as well as whether you use batt or roving.  The layering so fibers cross helps to get a more uniform felt for a flat piece.  The top layer will often show direction of fiber so again depends on what you want the piece to look like.  Try something with it done each way and see what you like.

The key, at least to me, is figuring out what you want from the piece; and then working the piece to that performance level.  I often do a small project to get the feel of particular fleece/fiber before deciding how to approach a larger project.  Sometimes, this tells me to try different fiber or to blend fibers to get the desired result. 

Hope that helps.

[infeatheredeyes]

alright, i've found myself a new hobby...

[GraceOblivious]

Welcome, infeatheredeyes!  We will be starting a needle feltalong in Jan so gather your supplies and join the fun.