How to Needle felt
To start Needle Felting take a piece of carded wool, such as might be used for spinning.
A piece of foam or sponge for working on.
One or more Felting needles.
Pull a piece of wool from the bat, by holding the end in one hand and further down the bat in the other, it should come away easily, if it does not your hands are too close together.
How do I know how much to pull and use? you may wonder. A piece of merino wool weighing about 10 grams will make a mini bear. In general Merino wool reduces by two thirds in volume when needle felted. Experiment make a few balls starting with different weights of wool, you will soon see how it reduces. Different wool may reduce more or less.
Rough this piece up a little, I use a small brush. This helps the wool to mesh.
Work from the wrist with your elbow resting on the table or you will soon have arm ache. keep those fingers out of the way and don't look away while still poking, these needle are very sharp.
Always poke the needle in straight do not try to curve your jab this will break the needle. You can poke the needle in at an angle to achieve desired result.
Turning your wool while poking will change the shape of your sculpture. Poking more in one spot will depress the area creating a dent or depression in your sculpture to make, for example, an eye socket.
You can work in one piece or make limbs and join with strong waxed thread as in Bear making.
Here is a photo tutorial for you to try
I have Made a tutorial for this little Santa Figure.
It is fairly easy to do.
If its not near Christmas make him with Green instead of Red and call him a gnome :-)
You will Need -
Felting Needle
Red, White, Flesh or Pink, Red and Black Wool roving
Strong thread,waxed if possible
Needle
Small scissors
Sponge to work on
First take the Black roving and make a Fat heart Shape 3.5 cm by 3.5 cm by 1.5 cm
Make sure you work it so that the shape bulges where the yellow lines are in the photo and indents where the red line is so that it looks like two shoes.
Next take your Red roving and make an egg shape 4.5 by 3.5 cm.
Flatten it slightly with the heel of your hand.
Felt a depression starting 2 thirds down the egg and under and up the other side to the same point 2 thirds down the egg.
This is your legs.
Using a little more Red roving make two small ovals 2cm by 1 cm and felt the into position for the arms as shown in the drawing, working them in more where the Red line is to define the shape of the under arm.
Take some white roving and roll it into a thin sausage, about half the thickness of your little finger, felt it lightly into place.
Starting at the front middle neck line, going down and all the way around, joining back at the front for the fur on Santas coat
Make two small sausage shapes for the sleeve fur, felt into place as if he has his hands in his pockets. It should look something like this.
Take some white roving and make another egg shape the same size.
This time leave the surface a little rough. Do not felt it too firmly. When you are done cut the pointiest end of the egg with scissors 1 third of the way up, as shown below.
Felt lightly along the cut edges to stop fraying.
Pop this on top of your body with the two pieces front and back like this
and you will see it makes a head with long hair and a beard
Stack your bits on top of each other and take your thread and sew up through all of the pieces and down again.
Pull tight enough to hold them in place and tie the ends together, place a tiny bit of felt over the knot and felt it in to hide it..
Next use the Flesh or pink roving to felt the face and nose.
Layer it over the white evenly and add a tear shape blob for the nose.
Then using white gently add eyebrows and moustache.
With a tiny bit of Red Make a little smiling mouth.
Use a tiny bit of Black roving to make his eyes.
Next take some White roving, again make a sausage shape and felt it on gently in a circle around Santas head at a jaunty angle as shown above for the fur on his hat.
Next take some Red roving and make a flattened teardrop shape, do not felt it firmly, leave it pretty rough at this time. It should be about 2 cm thick 5 cm wide and 6 0r
7 cm long.
Now holding this rough shape in place on the head felt it inside the fur hat band to form the red part of the hat. felt it to a point and add a white bobble about 1cm by 1cm to the end . If you half form the bobble first the join it as you finish it you will not have to put a stitch in to hold it on but you can stitch it on if you think you will have problems felting it in without making the colors bleed.
I hope you enjoy this little Felting project
and I hope my instructions are clear enough :-)
any questions you can email me or contact me on my blog.