Welcome to Felter Skelter, your important information for needle felting inspiration and concepts!
What Is Needle Felting?
Needle Felting is the artwork of making varieties out of fibres like wool by stabbing them repeatedly with barbed needles. The fibres finally matt collectively and will be formed right into a broad vary of sentimental sculptural varieties. You’ll be able to needle felt by hand however there are additionally a spread of instruments that may assist pace up the method.
To get began you’ll need:
Wool Fibres
You need to use quite a lot of fibres and textures relying on what you’re creating, many artists use a mix of wool and silk fibres to create uncommon textures.
Felting Needle
There are lots of types of felting needle. A felting needle is an extended needle with constructions referred to as barbs that agitate the fibres and bond them collectively. This needle doesn’t have an eye fixed for thread, it’s handheld, usually with a deal with to carry to make it simple to stab the fibres with.
You’ll be able to’t use an everyday needle for needle felting, discover out what you want in our separate publish Can I Use A Common Needle For Needle Felting?
A Felting Floor
That is wanted to keep away from hand accidents. Sponges and foam pads work effectively, so long as they’re no less than an inch thick.
Artist Inspiration
For some Needle Felting inspiration to start your journey with the craft, we’ve compiled a listing of featured artists from our Felter Skelter column.
Nocik
Needle Felting artist Nocik works with animal taxidermy concepts and creates enjoyable and weird characters.
By way of their approach, the artist explains how ‘instruments differ from piece to piece, however often there’s a foam armature, core wool and wool prime all needle felted. I additionally embrace polymer clay horns, and so on and reclaimed eyeballs salvaged from outdated stuffed animals’. So in the event you begin to get assured needle felting, layering supplies and making a construction to work round is an effective place to begin!
Maria Filipe Castro
Maria creates related uncommon creatures and defined to us how; ‘Since I started Needle Felting my important considerations had been on find out how to create a sturdy piece with a easy floor and find out how to make it in much less time. The Needle Felting course of is quite sluggish, however all through the years, with a lot trial and error I’ve been looking for methods to facilitate the entire course of‘
‘Once I’m working with wool in roving, earlier than I apply it to the core of the piece I wish to mess up the fibers and make them look a bit extra just like the carded batts. I discover that this helps pace up a bit the method of including wool and in addition make the route of the fibers much less noticeable.‘
You’ll be able to be taught extra through Maria’s Web site and her Instagram.
The Mild Man Felter
The Mild Man Felter is a Northumbrian artist who focuses on hyperrealistic items.
We requested this artist if they’d any suggestions for us. during which he replied. ‘I don’t use too many instruments to create my items. Lavatory normal felting needles, scissors, pipe cleaners (my cats fave) and a really refined prime quality eye placing in instrument which is blu-tac on the tip of a cocktail stick…and tea, plenty of tea.’
So there you’ve it, you possibly can create putting items with fairly on a regular basis supplies.
Can All Wool Be Needle Felted?
Most wools will be Needle Felted, nevertheless some are simpler to make use of than others. As a newbie it’s safer to make use of merino wool roving as it’s easy and simply holds collectively when agitated with the needle felting instrument.
The place Can I Study Extra?
We now have over 100 posts about Needle Felting at Mr X Sew, in order that’s an important place to begin. There are additionally a great variety of needle felting books accessible, and we’ve reviewed some right here. Take a look at all our Felter Skelter posts for hundreds extra felty motion!
Need some Needle Felting Inspiration?
